Reggae is protected under UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, therefore Olivia Grange, minister of entertainment and culture, has reassured Jamaicans that it cannot be “taken away” from the nation and that international Reggae producers shouldn’t be looked down upon.
She was answering to inquiries about how Europeans, Americans, and Africans are stepping in to fill the hole “since the requests for positive music are falling on deaf ears” recently during a Television Jamaica interview.
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The Minister said, “What we have nobody can take away from us.”
“We have given it (Reggae) to the world. We had it inscribed by UNESCO on the Intangible Cultural List of Humanity…. We have penetrated all corners of the world, so if others take it and embellish it or make that much more out of it for their market, I don’t have a problem with that because nobody can take our space. Our space is our space; our music is our music. And they say imitation is the greatest compliment…,” she noted.
In November 2018, five years after the Maroon Heritage of Moore Town in Portland was included, reggae became the second Jamaican element to be listed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Reggae was the subject of a decision made at the 13th meeting of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Republic of Mauritius, which came about as a result of a vigorous campaign by the Government of Jamaica, led by Minister Grange.
The United Nations remarked that Reggae Music of Jamaica was inscribed because it “originated within a cultural space that was home to marginalized groups, mainly in Western Kingston, the Reggae music of Jamaica is an amalgam of numerous musical influences… While in its embryonic state, Reggae music was the voice of the marginalized, the music is now played and embraced by a wide cross-section of society, including various genders, ethnic and religious groups”.
“Its contribution to international discourse on issues of injustice, resistance, love, and humanity underscores the dynamics of the element as being at once cerebral, socio-political, sensual, and spiritual. The basic social functions of the music – as a vehicle for social commentary, a cathartic practice, and a means of praising God – have not changed, and the music continues to act as a voice for all…” UNESCO stated.
Despite the UNESCO listing, certain members of the music business have recently expressed worry that foreign nations—including France, which in some circumstances has been dubbed the world’s Reggae capital—had stolen Reggae music.
Dr. Sonjah Stanley Niiah, the head of the Institute of Caribbean Studies at the University of the West Indies (UWI), had warned that Jamaica could need to undergo another reggae revival soon since the genre was in danger of being monopolized by other nations and it looked that the country’s musicians were once more refraining from releasing songs in the genre.
Around 2010, Jamaica’s Reggae Revival movement started to revive what many had dubbed as a dying genre, one that was not only losing its appeal but was also no longer able to captivate the youth, who was moving toward American hip-hop and trap music. This movement was seen as a breath of fresh air from the crassness that had taken a stronghold over Dancehall.
Artists like Chronixx, Iba Mahr, Protoje, Jesse Royal, and Kabaka Pyramid were at the vanguard of the Reggae Revival movement, which sought to promote positivism and bring attention to the social issues of Jamaican culture by fusing 1980s Dancehall components into Roots Rock Reggae.
However, Dr. Stanley Niaah stated in 2021 that Jamaican Reggae was in jeopardy right now as a result of the acts of its own citizens in both academics and the music business.
The senior lecturer, whose works include Dancehall: A Reader on Jamaican Music and Culture, Reggae Pilgrimages: Festivals and the Movement of Jah People, and Dancehall: From Slave Ship to Ghetto, has stated, among other things, that it shouldn’t be left up to the UWI alone to be able to provide programs in reggae studies.
She said that instead, every Jamaican institution at the basic, secondary, and tertiary levels should be considering how to teach students about Jamaican music and “on what Jamaicans have given the world.”
Dr. Stanley Niaah stated, “Because guess what? In a few years, the time we will be hearing that Japan, France, Germany – all of these places – all of the major festivals are happening in these places, and as soon as COVID is over and the festivals go back into full swing, and the production of Reggae music gets back into focus; because Jamaica is no longer interested in producing Reggae for example, or we need another Reggae Revival – you gonna hear about those countries as the centers of Reggae production and consumption.”
Reverend Al Miller, the pastor of the Fellowship Tabernacle in Kingston, made a prediction during his sermon at the beginning of Reggae Month two Sundays ago that Jamaica will start to get its proper money from Reggae music, comparable to France and Japan. He also made a statement on the “takeover” of Reggae by foreign nations like France and Japan.
“Yuh si all di millions weh di French man dem a meck outta di Reggae an we naw meck none. Come on man meck wi face it…”
“Mi hear seh all when yuh guh a Japan… when yuh hear how much millions Japan a meck outta di Reggae. All di Chiney man dem een pan it too. How much di French a meck outta Reggae; an how much we a meck?”
Continued the pastor: “No man. Wi haffi wake up and see what we need to do…. Wi naw trouble dem enuh. Meck dem do weh dem a do, but wi ongle a seh ‘a fi wi’. Suh wi haffi get a likkle piece…”
