There has been only a handful of times when someone has made me feel alive and electrified and in love, but only for a moment.
There has been only a handful of times when someone has made me feel alive and electrified and in love, but only for a moment. On the other hand, I have hundreds of songs that give me that feeling for three to five minutes at a time, and when those three to five minutes are over I can hit repeat and feel it all over again. These notes and back beats and minor chords create something that has the ability to grab my heart, make my feet move in rhythm.
Music a universal language; it cuts through all the boundaries created by race and culture. People everywhere around the globe have used music as a tool to express themselves and share new ideas. Reggae is no exception; reggae musicians over the years have used their music to preach love, peace, freedom, political revolution and unity. Music in general opens and lifts the heart, and Reggae music is designed to uplift, comfort and awake the masses. A friend of mine described the music as "a massage to the soul”, a description I find very fitting.
During the time when Jamaica was looking for her identity as a country, Reggae music was born. The unique combination of R&B, blues, jazz, traditional African music, and religious tradition enriched with political messages, religious connotation, and beautiful sound was ideal for the changing society of the time. It took many years for true Reggae to reach international audiences, complete with the ideology and messages the music was intended to portray. It took lyrical geniuses like Robert Nesta Marley commonly known as Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and many others decades to bring the true message of Reggae music to international light.
A lot of people dismiss the idea of Reggae being music, those I have heard say it’s a bunch of bored people with dreadlocks smoking marijuana. I beg to differ, first of all "One love, one heart…let’s get together and feel all right.” These ten immortal words from the Legendary Robert Nesta Marley have been sung in all the corners of the globe and then some. He assured others that every problem could be better solved with the expression of feelings, rather than by hostility and violent acts.
"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.
None but ourselves can free our minds...” ~ Bob Marley, Redemption Song
The message is that everyone should be treated equal and we should stand together as the human race and fight for these rights. Bob Marley stresses that the people who are experiencing discrimination must let their voices of injustice be heard and there is no better time than the present. A little too meaningful for "a crazy man simply smoking marijuana”, don’t you think?
"When I feel there’s no way to go, and my best is nothing to show. There is the almighty showing me the way…Saying don’t give up…. Just be strong there’s joy through your sorrow...”-Duane Stephenson, Heavens will rise up
Reggae denounces the Babylonian hypocrisy of the modern church. It rejects judgment of people by their appearance. As Duane Stephenson would say, "you judge a man by the length of his hair…”
I am not preaching Rastafarianism; I am simply sharing the richness of Reggae music. The struggle is destruction of darkness and oppression, both physical and mental. Unification of the human race and one love is the message, learning and standing up for your rights is the way, giving glory to the creator is the path, and peace on earth the goal.