Music Rant #1 - Civilize Reggae
Harken unto the first of God knows how many installments of my Music Rant.
As anyone who knows me can confirm, I have opinions about music. A lot of them. You could easily call me a music geek, or an elitist, or an annoying audiophile. As such, I like talking about these opinions, mainly because there's no better feeling than getting people to broaden their horizons or try new music based on your recommendations. That and venting my musical frustrations is very soothing. So without further ado, here's Music Rant #1.
Reggae is a genre which gets hopelessly misunderstood by a lot of people in the circles I end up in. Too many people's knowledge of reggae ends after Bob Marley. Or worse, they listen to slow stoner music made by white guys with a slight reggae-ish rhythm, and think it qualifies as actual reggae (you know who you are!). Don't even get me started on derivative-of-a-derivative dancehall. That kind of lack of knowledge is a shame - reggae, at its best, is one of the most soulful and resonant genre-sets out there. Marley really doesn't capture the spirit of the genre well, which makes sense since he was always the tame, white-accessible artist who most Jamaicans considered behind the times. There's a whole list of greats that anyone with real interest in reggae should check out, but I'm going to start out with the man who recorded the first roots reggae single: Burning Spear. Born Winston Rodney, the Spear has been setting the standard for roots since 1969, when his single "Door Peep" basically invented the style, with a lot of help from the legendary producer Coxsone Dodd. Rodney has one of the most distinctive and strong voices in reggae, and his backing instrumentals are no slouch either. He may be rather less accessible than Marley for the average listener, especially since he's far more confrontational politically (he dwells upon subjects like Marcus Garvey, pastoralism, and slavery), but listening to him is incredibly worthwhile, throughout his 35-year career. Enough talk, though, here's a song:
Burning Spear - "The Ghost (Marcus Garvey)"; off his "Marcus Garvey" album (1975, Mango)
I know the upload sucks, but I'm looking into a better format for the future. Enjoy, and expect many more Music Rants in the future.
As anyone who knows me can confirm, I have opinions about music. A lot of them. You could easily call me a music geek, or an elitist, or an annoying audiophile. As such, I like talking about these opinions, mainly because there's no better feeling than getting people to broaden their horizons or try new music based on your recommendations. That and venting my musical frustrations is very soothing. So without further ado, here's Music Rant #1.
Reggae is a genre which gets hopelessly misunderstood by a lot of people in the circles I end up in. Too many people's knowledge of reggae ends after Bob Marley. Or worse, they listen to slow stoner music made by white guys with a slight reggae-ish rhythm, and think it qualifies as actual reggae (you know who you are!). Don't even get me started on derivative-of-a-derivative dancehall. That kind of lack of knowledge is a shame - reggae, at its best, is one of the most soulful and resonant genre-sets out there. Marley really doesn't capture the spirit of the genre well, which makes sense since he was always the tame, white-accessible artist who most Jamaicans considered behind the times. There's a whole list of greats that anyone with real interest in reggae should check out, but I'm going to start out with the man who recorded the first roots reggae single: Burning Spear. Born Winston Rodney, the Spear has been setting the standard for roots since 1969, when his single "Door Peep" basically invented the style, with a lot of help from the legendary producer Coxsone Dodd. Rodney has one of the most distinctive and strong voices in reggae, and his backing instrumentals are no slouch either. He may be rather less accessible than Marley for the average listener, especially since he's far more confrontational politically (he dwells upon subjects like Marcus Garvey, pastoralism, and slavery), but listening to him is incredibly worthwhile, throughout his 35-year career. Enough talk, though, here's a song:
Burning Spear - "The Ghost (Marcus Garvey)"; off his "Marcus Garvey" album (1975, Mango)
I know the upload sucks, but I'm looking into a better format for the future. Enjoy, and expect many more Music Rants in the future.
posted by Sasha at 12:31 AM
2 Comments:
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