Reggae Music In South Africa By Luckeez Mfowethu Reggae Music in South Africa at the moment is at an interesting phase. Reggae was big during the times of the apartheid administration mainly because the majority of the scoceity was exposed to it, the message in the music spoke to their problems in a global sense and artists like Lucky Dube globalised our local problems. Poor people in South Africa and the rest of the Continent paid to see and buy Lucky Dube, yes the promoters and the record producers were mainly white brothers and sisters, so were the funders and the majority of the concert goers overseas. I mention Lucky Dube because he is undoubtably the pinnacle of the Reggae scene of his time and to alude to a point that even though we use his stuture to measure a possible reggae success, there was no South African Reggae Industry at the time. There was father Lucky Dube as far as the average citizen is concerned, but ofcourse you will remember great works of Jambo, Ringo and many many others. These artists are reportedly to have made most of their success overseas like many other serious South African musicians. Since we have entered the Democratic Governance phase Reggae has also experienced some interesting developments. We have seen many cultural exchange programmes taking places with many young South African artists finding themseves touring the world because of Reggae Music. Cape Town has been one of the champions in developing serious Reggae practitioners inspiring the rest of the country and the world. Countless musical recordings either a collaboration between a singer and and a producer, or an Engineer and a Producer and so on, proves this point. The one challenge has been for Reggae Music to get space to build itself into a viable and sustainable industry, in the mist of the popular culture. By space I mean in public plartforms like media, concerts and most importantly the minds and the hearts of the present future generation. One might argue that Reggae must work hard like other genres and win the hearts of the people without sounding political about the matter and that, Reggae must set up platforms to solve its challenges, ie. Magazines, Reggae Concerts, Reggae Radio Stations and that Reggae must try to be relevent to the youths and so on. I however have my own un-certainties, how can love be irelevent, and have you taught the average South African youths about the power in the words in reggae music ? In terms of working in isolation to set up structures, the idea might sound tempting and yes feasible for the long term but how can a single hand clap on it own? Reggae teaches love and unity. Lucky Dube was not performing on Reggae Concerts but he was perfoming in concerts. One might want to explore the relationship between Reggae Music and Rasta to prescribe to this challenge of Reggae Music being overshadowed by popular music in South Africa. My advocacy on the irelevency of such a prescription is that, the Rasta and Reggae Music relationship is still a matter of debate. When we look at the evolution from the plantation inspired Rasta Music, to Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae Music, Dancehall, Ragga, Soca and so on ,we are reminded that Reggae was born as a result of musicians who practised the art but were not of the Rasta Religion. It is however an undesputed fact that Rasta Is The Champion Of Reggae Music, and humble enough to call it The Champion Music, The Music Of The People. A lot needs to be learnt from Rasta in this sense. It is therefore my diagnoses that to unite under the reggae spirit would attract the Jimmy Cliffs in the Nathi Bs and the Odwas of our times. I would urge artists to unite and create magic, a jazz band and reggae artist, promoters to afford Reggae artist time on their concerts, Magazines to feature Reggae artists like any other artists, Radio and TV producers to feature Reggae artists like any other artists, Reggae promoters to feature other genres on their line ups, and so on. This will be true respect. This will motivate the highly skilled Reggae producers to produce more and subsiquently will build into an industry. I say highly skilled because if you listen to Black Dillinger and Nathi B you will affirm my point. There are many we dont know about but are rather dis-empowered and slowed down by the above spirit and many other spirits that bother the average South African artist like, piracy, social media culture, broadcast support and government support. Others are shining the South African flag abroad, Nkulee Dube, Crosby Bolani, Janet Tafari, Blak Kalamwi and many many others. Some reggae lovers say it wont make business sense for the government to help develop reggae by supporting its innitiatives because reggae music has a tendency to point fingers at the governement. This is a scary thought because if that happenes to be a fact it would be the same as some sort of inteligent sensorship, I say an idea hasnt failed until it has been tried by all means neccesary, thefore lets rally the powers that be to support Reggae artists by giving them work and business support like any other practitioner. On the other hand reggae artists should find in their inteligence to try and see if the idea of having some artists doing their music in Nguni languages will work or not. By working I mean by songs working their way into the heart of citizens with the lowest living standard measure. I humbly ask of this because to me, there are a lot of things that go into falling in love with a tune. Ntando tried it and it wont be fair to say he has abandoned it on his new offering because he did justice when he majored in Reggae as well. I am yet to ask of his intentions to go back to majoring in Afro-pop because intentions is everything when measuring. Nathi B champions it for the Xhosa understanding supporter. Also, history shows that succesfull artists did not depend on dialect of delivery for their success. Brenda Fassies biggest song Weekend Special was not a Nguni song in dialect but was speaking to a situation Nguni people were experiencing. I believe the idea that black people understand their languages better is extreme, however a position that our languages need to be promoted and developed as well sits well with me but not as an absolute imperative, hence I urge artists to investigate this matter practically. I admire,salute and respect practitioners like Jah Crucial The Reggae Embasador, Sister Fikile of Lioness Productions SA, Nathi B, Jah Congo, Crosby Bolani, Daddy Spenser,Ras Sugah, Ras Gideon on Soweto TV, Bongolution, Blak Kalamawi, DJ Fanta, Black Dilinger, Lord Harmony, Negus I aka Ras Mabandla, Ras Vuyo of Azania Band, Jah Seed and The Admiral, Malaki of Tru FM, many I am yet to be blessed with an opportunity to meet. I am also truly humbled by Umhlobo Wenene FM for having Reggae Music one song per time channel (3 hours) during prime time broadcast business. It is not rare to hear a Reggae song during BEE the Breakfast Show. This is Huge when you account the 7 to 10 songs sometimes squeezed on the hourly Umyezo We Reggae on Saturdays. This strategy simplifies to a promo effect hence the increased listernership from 480 000 to 520 000 listerners during the past calender and that comes with some Outside Broadcasts. This means someone is buying into the station and its reggae music brand. This is mainly because Reggae Music is presented like any other music. There is no cultural and steriotypical conotations attached to the presentation. Rasta is respected as the Champion Of Reggae Music. People now ask where they could buy Lord Harmony, Nathi B, Nkulee Dube, Negus I, Odwa, and many other great artists yet to be unleashed. This is progress whether RAMS mean anything to you. Could this be the formula needed so dearly by this great music in South Africa? Luckeez writes in his personal capacity as a fan of music, is a broad-caster and a Technical Producer. Reachable at luckeezmfowethu@gmail
Posted on: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 10:23:50 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015