Reggae, a force for dialogue.

• Author: Ainouche, Linda
• Position: Essay

Reggae music blew up with a bang to the resistance movement against imperialism in the 1960s. It started in Kingston, Jamaica, and has conquered the world and acquired an emblematic Rastafarian character, but an understanding of its fundamental nature is still lacking.

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At each phase of its evolution, music inescapably matches the biographies of those who make it and those who respond to it. Nonetheless, not too long ago, reggae music was condemned to the precarious periphery, almost out of the social sphere. The anthropologist, Claude Levi-Strauss (1) firmly defended the idea that music prevails upon the core of mythology and, therefore, composes a capital societal aspect. In this sense, the function of music simultaneously epitomizes a relevant form of prediction and communication. Hence, here is an outlook on reggae music, which has flowed out of Jamaica for about 50 years, as a vigorous force for dialogue.

The underpinnings of reggae are of a unique sensibility and broadcast an unprecedented state of mind, harshly opposed to despotic prejudice and race riots.

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Reggae resonates with Rastatari, a spiritual resistance nucleus and Back-to-Africa identity which has been a triggering factor for the music. However, at the twilight of decolonization in the 1960s, reggae matured in the Kingston ghettos from a synthesis of poignant sounds of African and Afro-Caribbean rhythms.

Originating in Jamaica in the 1930s, Rastafari thrived as a popular protest of the black cultural resistance movement and flourished in later decades. It has been strongly nourished by the guidance of messianic preachers, such as Leonard Howell, and the pathfinder, Pan-African Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Rastafari pledges a response to African heirs to recover and rebuild their culture, which was suppressed by brutal, stultifying European domination. It is an attempt for the survival of African culture and an upfront anti-slavery, anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggle.

Rastafari is derived from Ras Tafari Makonnen, the pre-regnal title of Haile Selassie I before his coronation in 1930, when he became the last Emperor of Ethiopia, Elect of God, known as Jah. The Rastafari movement began with his crowning, and was deemed as the fulfilment of a prophecy of deliverance. It has since evolved into a philosophy and way of life rather than a strictly organized religion pertaining to the Old Testament.

Although the pugnacious Rastafari resistance is emblematic of the strong social and cultural attributes that characterize Jamaica, it did not confine itself but flew throughout the Caribbean and Diasporas, notably, into England with the Jamaican exodus. Thus, its origin reveals itself to be secondary to the...