Reggae as a global culture scape

Jamaica, the forgotten kingdom of ReggaeA once solely Jamaican based music style took over the world in the ’70's: reggae. It started in the Jamaican dancehalls, inspired by ska and rocksteady. By 1974, Bob Marley and The Wailers had released their 7th record Natty Dread which ncludes iconic songs such as“No Woman, No Cry” and “Revolution”. From the seventiesseventies onward, reggae and Rastafarianism were no longer only parts of local Jamaican culture but instead had become global phenomen. Little did Marley and his Wailers know that their international success would spark a global following for the reggae music, aesthetic, and even for the Rastafarian religion.

Nowadays, reggae is played all over the world with entire festivals dedicated to it. From big cities to small towns, yes every continent has been affected by the reggae and Rastafari culture. As of 2012, Rastafarianism counts at least 1 million followers worldwide according to History.com. However, this culture scape is global but not homogenous. All these affected places have their own particular way of practicing this culture. Reggae tells the story of the people living in rags and tags struggling for their freedom, and to explain this we have to take a look at Jamaica from the moment European colonialists set foot on the island.
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This colonial history still shapes the culture of the island and its people to this day. The extinction of the natives of Jamaica and the many slave rebellions have had a huge influence on Rastafarianism, the main religion on the island. And in turn on reggae music.The feeling of reggae can be traced back to this history. The rol reggae has in the world today, however, is in many ways a consequence of the rise of Rastafarianism. The religion adoring their divine leader Ras Tafari, king of Egypt and descend from King Solomon.

The natives, Spaniards, and Brittish

Jamaican, like many other Caribbean islands, has a past filled with slavery and colonization. But the real history starts with the natives that inhabited the island long before any European colonists were there. Before this, native tribes Taínos and Arawaks lived on the island, which they called the island of wood and water. They lived a peaceful life making anything they needed from the fruitful Jamaican nature. 

However, everything changed when Christopher Columbus conquered the island in 1494. For a few years, he used Jamaica as his own private island but by 1517 the Spandjards had taken over the island and had brought the indigenous tribes to extinction through slavery, war and the new diseases they brought with them from Spain. To keep their global trade going the Spaniards brought in African slaves to do the work the indigenous were forced to do. 

Then in 1655, the Brittish attacked the Spanish island and by 1670 the island was officially a Brittish colony. Many sugar cane fields were laid and the slaves continued working but under new oppression.Several slave rebellions broke out and more and more slaves were escaping to the inland they were called the Maroons. The Maroons eventually signed a treaty with the Brittish in 1739, promising to help go against any further slave rebellions if the Brittish would stop their punitive expeditions against the Maroons. This treaty didn’t last long and after many rebellions, the slave-trade ended in 1807.

The new African-centric Christianity and Emperor Selassie  

So far the history of Jamaica was filled with murder, slavery at the hands of Europeans and many slave rebellions. Out of this history of continuous rebellions a new religion would grow, Rastafarianism. 

In the 18th century a movement idealizing Ethiopia and Africa, the homeland, started within the slave communities in the Americas. Most slaves had (forcefully been) converted to Christianity but in the Bible, they found a passage that gave them hope: Psalm 68:31.

“Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.”

And in the 19th century this belief was strengthened by the prophecy of Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican-born activist who started the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1914. His prophecy was as follows: “Look to Africa where a black king shall be crowned, he shall be the Redeemer.”. 

Not long after this, 1917, The Holy Piby was published. A new version of the bible written from an African perspective with God and prophets described as dark-skinned as the followers of this Afro-centric Christian religion believed Europeans had wrongly translated the bible and made everyone white. Finally the Jamaicans, and many African citizens had a God that reflected the color of their face instead of that of their white suppressors. The rise of many Afro-Athlican Constructive Church (by Black Supremacists) in Africa followed and by 1925 an “AACC” also appeared in Jamaica.

Then November 2 (1930) Ras Tafari Makonnen, believed to be descend from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, was crowned Emperor Haile Selassie I of Egyptften referred to as King of Kings, Lord of Lords and the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah.,And i

 crowning fulfilled both prophecies and gave the new African-centric Christian movement a name, based on his former name, Rastafarianism.

And its followers believe Salassie to be the living embodiment of God. Meanwhile, the English government wasn’t happy with the uprising religion as it involved the practice of marijuana smoking (in order to self-reflect more). Again Jamaicans rebelled against their Brittish government until, in 1962, Jamaica  independent. Still, this island will never become free of the traces from its Brittish oppression. Their English-Creole language Patois and many geographical places with Brittish names are reminders of the past.

By now the Rastafari religion was quite widespread through black supremacy activists, the Holy Piby and through Jamaican migration to England, America, and Canada since the 50s. This migration also made Jamaica's music more globally known.

But globalization really sped up after Bob Marley got inspired by what is now known as Grounationay. The holy Rastafari day when their God made contact with the Jamaican soil. On April 21st, 1966 Haile Sellasie visited Jamaica for the first time. Of course, many Rastafarians came to see their God land on the island that day. A crowd formed around the vehicle with drums, firecrackers, Abeng horns (instruments made out of animal horns) and a cloud of marijuana smoke. After about 30 minutes the door of the plane opened and Sellasie stood at the top of the steps. 

This was the groundbreaking moment where Rita Marley, who was standing in the crowd, saw what looked like scars from crucifixion on Sellasie’s hands as he waved to the crowd. Rita, who prior to this day was a Christian took these scars as a true sign of Selassi’s divinity and told her husband, Bob Marley, about this evidence of divinity. 

In 1967 Bob converted to Rastafarianism through the influence of his wife. Marley started writing music largely inspired by Jamaican ska, reggae, and rocksteady music and by his beliefs on Rastafarianism and Haile Sellasie. Thus, Marley played a huge part in why reggae and Rastafari culture are so intertwined. This was the start of reggae becoming a global phenomenon and the moment Bob Marley became a pioneer of reggae.

Why reggae became a global phenomenon and stayed relevant :

Nowadays, reggae is known all over the world and is even part of our global cultural heritage. However, this culture is often seen as deviant because they are associated with marijuana smoking culture. Still, we find reggae culture scapes in countries where marijuana is highly illegal because the content of the music speaks to people in a way not many other music styles can’t.

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Of course, Bob Marley didn’t invent reggae but he is the biggest reason reggae reached such a global audience and became a global phenomenon. The release of the movie “The Harder They Come” with an entirely reggae soundtrack in 1973 had an impact on bringing the music style to a global audience but what people remember is Bob Marley. Marley’s first international album released in 1974 and “Bob Marley & The Wailers” being Rolling Stone Magazine’s “band of the year” of 1976. 

But originally this music style gets its name from the Jamaican phrase rege-rege which means rags (of clothing). thetheir

In reggae music you can hear the Jamaican history and their centuries-long struggle for peace, freedom, and independence through protest and perserverance.

This music tells the story of people living in rags never giving up on fighting for their freedom, it is a music style with a message of social change. That is why UNESCO’s recently added reggae to its cultural heritage list. As they put it

“Its contribution to international discourse on issues of injustice, resistance, love, and humanity underscore the dynamics of the element as being at once cerebral, socio-political, sensual and spiritual”. 

Reggae is the voice of the people, that is why the world reacted so positively to Marley’s music. People all over the globe are living an underprivileged life. These people relate to the messages in reggae. It brings these underprivileged groups together on a global scale and creates a global culture scape. In addition, this globalization is nowadays also intensified through the internet. Which makes global communication much easier. The powerful combination of reggae music, the Rastafari religion, and its ritualistic marijuana smoking form a culture many people admire, relate to or think is cool. 

This triple threat speaks to underprivileged (minorities and majorities), people fighting for their rights or for peace, people who smoke marijuana (which is a huge global group), people who enjoy the music and people interested in the Rastafari religion. Reggae culture is easily consumable, relatable and especially inspiring.

The reggae culture scape

Rcommodification; they buy themselves into the scape. This identity/stereotype they buy into, of a person with dreads and a Bob Marley shirt, is formed through the commercialization of the culture. Commodification is how the global identity of Reggae is constructed. And, because we now live in a digital age, the mediascape of Reggae also strengthens this through commodification constructed identity.

R in its identityR

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China and Chinese Jamaicans have one of the most unique stories in reggae culture because they weren’t just inspired by Jamaicaey lived there and some even had significant roles in the Jamaican music scene as producers or performers. 

Already in the mid-1800’s you could find Chinese migrants in Jamaica, often people from the south of China who had been abducted by the Brittish and taken to the Caribbean to be indentured workers. 

One of those significant Chinese producers was Vincent “Randy” Chin, the owner of Randy’s shop, a recording studio and a record label (VP records, located in New York since 1979) whose parents permanently migrated to Jamaica in the 1920s.

Randy's record shop in Kingston, Jamaica during the 60's and 70's N/A/Public domain

“Randy” had many talented artists in his studio since the early 60s including Marley & The Wailers and Johnny Nash. He has built a true Chinese-Jamaican reggae empire in which his eldest son, Clive Chin, still find success to this day.

Around the same time, 1967, a Chinese man named Stephen Cheng released the song "Always Together" that combines a rocksteady beat with Chinese opera style lyrics inspired by the Taiwanese folk song “Girl from Ali Shan”. The great diversity of cultural inspiration in this record makes it sound revolutionary. And this song was released before Jamaican music had taken over America in the seventies, so the Chinese were one of the first to be part of the global reggae scape. But unlike many others, the Chinese had an integral part in really the entire Jamaican music industry. Topic Magazine even says:.

“Chinese reggae is a story of migration, shared identity, and colonial struggle”.

As you can see that is very reminiscent of the story behind original reggae. Here you see how these scapes, the original Jamaican scape and its Chinese periphery, create convergence in this global culture. Their stories are quite similar and because of this connectedness of their history, China has a large reggae scape to this day. In Shanghai, a center for reggae in China, for example, you can find local Shanghai reggae artist local Shanghai reggae artist Jado performing in underground clubs. 

Western Reggae-scapes

When reggae took America by storm in the 1970s, popular rock artist Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones was inspired to dip his toe into the reggae scape. Already in 1976, the Stones released the record “black and blue” with its quickly recognizable reggae beats. Later in 1978, Jagger showed his love for reggae again in a duet with the late member of The Wailers, Peter Tosh, named “Gotta Walk And Don’t Look Back”. Jagger's inspiration by this music style helped reggae reach an even broader, mostly to rock music listening global public. The Stone's lead singer's most recent addition to the reggae scape is his collaboration with Damian Marley and  other artists to form the band Superheavy in 2011. In their song, “Miracle Worker”, you can hear Jagger's raspy, wailing voice mixing perfectly with the reggae beat. The Stones, Mick Jagger specifically, and Bob Marley and The Wailers have helped reggae reach the global public they have today.

Weapons of Mass Entertainment

So, his Brittish band and Jagger did partially spark the love Europeans have for reggae today. It’s easily identifiable in Europe. You can find a wide international reggae scape consisting of even smaller inter-city scapes. From Uppsala, Sweden, to Vertheuil, France artists like Ms. Lauren Hill, Elephant Man and Ziggy Marley visit Europe for the many annual reggae festivals. 

But even small European peripheries like my hometown, Zoetermeer, are affected by reggae culture. Rastaplas is a Dutch reggae festival that has been held annually in Zoetermeer since 2004 and has been a pretty significant influence in my social life as a teenager living in “Sweetlake City”. This shows that reggae culture has even found a place in the utmost peripheries, it even has found a role in small Dutch towns and the social life of its citizens. 

Jamaica, the forgotten kingdom of reggae 

Even though Rastafarianism and reggae have wide and abundant global scape, Jamaica itself is forgotten. This is likely because Jamaica is a developing, third world country.Wzones of primary materials, and low surpluszones of transit economy, semi-finished products, and moderate surpluszones of product innovation, finishing, and marketing with high surplus.'the'zones of primary materials, and low surplusisSo, why is Jamaica not prospering? Some factors in determining this standout, one of which is the climate. This country of 2,95 million people is located in the Caribbean which means the island has a tropical climate. Plants do worse in hot weather; the soil is dry and produces low carbohydrate food.

According to (export.gov) “Jamaica’s agriculture policy seeks to diversify the production of agricultural goods to build self-sufficiency, promote exports, and service the growing tourism industry”. Here, again, Jamaica strives for independence but the hot weather and poor soil make this quite difficult. 

However, a countries culture and its institutions are more important factors, like its educational system and religion. Statistics show that the poorest countries also have the biggest percentage of religious citizens.

Furthermore, these two components together form a cycle. One theory about this, supported by many social scientists, is that religion plays a more functional role in the world's poorest countries, helping citizens cope with a daily struggle to provide for themselves and their families. There is clearly a lack of desire to develop oneself in poorer countries which in turn affects the development of the entire country. However, Jamaica does have the second-largest amount of universities in the Caribbean following Trinidad.

Yet still, only 66,2% of students go on to high school. This low percentage cannot come from a lack of educational institutions and must, therefore, be caused by the quality of the education or the general consensus about education in the country. 

The low level of development s a consequence of many things. But in the context of religion, because religionhas a big impact on a country, there are two values in Rastafarianism that may illustrate why development is low. “To remain true to the love of Rastafari, and not be swayed by the riches of the western world” and “To reject the pleasures of western society”. How a Rastafari interprets these values may determine their desire to further educate.itselfRastafari do not believe money makes you rich, as Bob Marley once said in a now-famous interview: 

• : “Are you a rich man?”
• : “When you say rich, what do you mean?”
• : “Do you have a lot of possessions? Do you have a lot of money in the bank?”
• : “Possessions make you rich? I don’t have that kind of richness. My richness is life, forever.”

sHoweverNevertheless, this lack of motivation in the public to pursue higher education could also be caused by the quality of Jamaica's educational institutions. Often the reason education is of poor quality in these countries is that the country doesn’t or can’t invest in their educational institutions and the lack of funds can be traced back to corruption. According to tradingeconomics.com Jamaica is the 70 least corrupt country out of 185 but that is still 9 places under Cuba, a country that has been known for being corrupt since the ’90s. Most likely Jamaica's educational system suffers from a combination of both factors.

Basically reggaeRastafari culture is the only thing Jamaica has to offer the world. This country is a periphery in every sense except for Reggae culture and Rastafarianism. Unlike other third world countries or colonized Caribbean islands, this island has turned its century-long struggle for freedom into a religion and a very successful music style. So jamaica is, partially, a prosperous country because it is the center of a huge global culture scape and many cultural peripheries. However, their struggle for freedom has only recently ended, leaving Jamaica, much like other independent Caribbean islands, for the first time in hundreds of years in charge of itself. And that is a huge contributor as to why Jamaica is a peripherdeveloping country. Independent Jamaica is as old as a toddler in comparison to many first world countries that have existed for at least hundreds of years.

I. (2004). World-systems Analysis. Durham Duke University Press.

History.com Editors. (2017/5/31). Rastafarianism. https://www.history.com.

BBC. (2018/9/21). Rastafari at a glance. https://www.bbc.co.uk.

Elizabeth A. McAlister (2019/6/20). Rastafari. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com.

Erin MacLeod. (2016/4/21). When Emperor Haile Selassie went to Jamaica on this day in 1966.  https://africasacountry.com.