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EVERYONE loves a bit of reggae. Even the pastor at your church listens to it. Anyone with a different view is out of touch with reality. It is either they are too old or may be living where music is taboo. All over the country, young people are listening to reggae beats. Mbare, Harare’s oldest suburb, counts among many ghettos where reggae and dancehall music commands crowds.
You just have to see how Winky D pulls crowds. It is the music! Most radio hit lists are reggae rhythms or ‘riddims’ to be appropriate. Listen to Star FM’s reggae show on Wednesdays, every young urbanite tunes in. The radio programme can win a listeners’ choice award in any country!
Local musicians fall for the Rasta culture and many of them will admit being influenced by reggae musicians. This space cannot allow a list of the musicians who have willingly surrendered to the Jamaican influence. Thomas Mapfumo is a close example. There are many local dancehall artistes coming up from the cities. It is not only Winky D and Templeman. Some are still trying to find ground.
Here is the issue. The generation born in the 1990s and the millennium babies are fanatic about all things Jamaican. Slowly, this pack of youngsters is ushering in a new wave of living. Parents feel their children are confused. Why are they listening to reggae out of a thousand playlists? There is no confusion. We are just seeing the growth of a global youth culture.
Other music types had their time, now it is the Jamaican style. Do not fret. Complaints were there even when hip hop music influenced teenagers. Now reggae and dancehall music is filling up space.
Olova, our unemployed brothers, also jostle to download the best of reggae music. People hardly do the traditional handshakes. They bump the fists. This is a Jamaican norm that was popularised by reggae musicians. Thanks to television, we saw it and made it our own.
Call it reggae or ragga, this genre is invading the space. Hip hop artistes are fading while reggae musos are recording daily. Would it not be apt to say the Rasta culture has taken over the streets? The Rasta movement went viral because of the musicians. Ask your toddlers, they know about Bob Nesta Marley.
Even the old folks are smitten on reggae. Your mother knows the beat of reggae. She grew up listening to it. That loud preacher at church knows a reggae song or two.
My historian friend says almost every house had a reggae vinyl at independence in 1980. Freedom fighters played reggae for inspiration.
Do not be fooled to be told not to listen to reggae. This music liberated Africa. It gave freedom so that you are able to read and take part in such conversations.
Politicians, nurses and lawyers are part of the multitude of reggae fans. Young people are not crazy, they are listening to what everyone else glues their ears to. Bob Marley played to the 1980 independence celebrations. Sizzla once entertained people at President Mugabe’s birthday bash. Since then, Jamaican artistes have been booking flights to land in Zimbabwe.
Why reggae artistes? Zimbabweans owe a lot to the Caribbean musicians for giving hope at a time when colonialists shamed African pride. Songs that championed righteousness, love, human rights, justice and self-determination were in the reggae genre. Even now, the music remains a vital tool in the struggle against vice.
There is no explicit content in reggae, so let your children listen to it. They will learn how to live and appreciate being African. Not only is there a liking for the music, people are following Jamaican fashion trends too. Almost every black man wants to wear dreadlocks. So foolish are those who call dreadlocked people names.
One looks cool putting on the black, white, green, red and yellow apparel. In street language these are Rasta colours. We all remember the colour blocking craze. Jamaicans had that fashion trend long before designers marketed the style.
T-shirts have Bob Marley’s face and young people buy them without a blink. Anything close to reggae is a sellout. It took a clever designer to put reggae musicians’ style to the shop. Jamaican fashion and reggae music are shooting the popularity barometer.
I laughed at my grandmother when she wanted her hair twisted. It sounded odd. Later I learned she was a big fan of Peter Tosh. Young people are associating themselves with reggae music and its culture because it represents more than being African.
The same encouraging message that influenced freedom fighters in Africa rings well for many ghetto youths in despair. In the wake of joblessness, HIV and corruption, it takes music such as reggae to change people’s perception for the better. Of course there are musicians in other genres doing the same, but reggae does it better.
Reggae tells of African stories in ways that other genres cannot. Telling a story through music is an endowment. Reggae musicians have a rare gift, to influence many ashore. The few that do not understand the power of reggae should ask the elders. After doing so, they must watch how young people follow in the culture.
So many musicians, some genuine and others trying to make a mark, have been influenced by Jamaican artistes. Promoters should take advantage of reggae popularity in same way fashion designers have done.
If you still doubt the sudden influence of reggae, please share this thought with a neighbour. You will learn of vibrant youth culture.
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Online Reporter