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UNESCO adds reggae to global cultural heritage list
PORT LOUIS, Mauritius, Nov 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Reggae music, whose chill,
lilting grooves won international fame thanks to artists like Bob Marley, on
Thursday secured a coveted spot on the United Nations’ list of global
cultural treasures.
UNESCO, the world body’s cultural and scientific agency, added the genre
that originated in Jamaica to its collection of “intangible cultural
heritage” deemed worthy of protection and promotion.
“This is a historic day. We are very, very happy,” enthused Jamaica’s
Culture Minister Olivia Grange, speaking by phone from Mauritius where the
listings were announced.
“Anywhere you go and say you’re from Jamaica, they answer ‘Bob Marley,'”
said Grange, adding that the distinction “underscores the importance of our
culture and our music, whose theme and message is ‘one love, togetherness and
peace.'”
UNESCO noted that while reggae started out as “the voice of the
marginalised” it was “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,” Paris-based
UNESCO added in a statement.
Reggae joins a list of cultural traditions that includes the horsemanship
of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, a Mongolian camel-coaxing ritual and
Czech puppetry, among more than 300 other traditional practices.
Jamaica applied for reggae’s inclusion this year at a meeting of the UN
agency on the island of Mauritius, where 40 proposals were under
consideration.
They included Bahamian strawcraft, South Korean wrestling, the Irish sport
of hurling and perfume making in the southern French city of Grasse.
– Hope to the oppressed –
Reggae emerged in the late 1960s out of Jamaica’s ska and rocksteady
styles, also drawing influence from American jazz and blues.
It quickly became popular in the United States as well as in Britain, where
many Jamaican immigrants had moved in the post-WWII years.
The style is often championed as a music of the oppressed, with lyrics
addressing sociopolitical issues, imprisonment and inequality.
Reggae also became associated with Rastafarianism, which deified the former
Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie and promoted the sacramental use of ganja,
or marijuana.
The 1968 single “Do the Reggay” by Toots and the Maytals was the first
popular song to use the name.
Marley and his group the Wailers then soared to fame on classic hits such
as “No Woman, No Cry” and “Stir It Up.”
Peter Tosh, a core member of the Wailers, established a successful solo
career with hits including “Legalize It,” while Desmond Dekker also enjoyed
international success with the song “Israelites.”
Toots and the Maytals rose to prominence with “Pressure Drop” and Jimmy
Cliff became an international sensation with “The Harder They Come,” also the
title of a 1972 movie he starred in.
The reggae sound, with its heavy bass lines and drums, has influenced
countless artists and inspired many genres including reggaeton, dub and
dancehall.
The steady beats and smooth grooves have also proven key to hip-hop: Sister
Nancy’s anthem “Bam Bam,” for example, has been heavily sampled by superstars
like Kanye West, Lauryn Hill, Chris Brown and Jay-Z.
The award will help “normalize reggae” which has always been a little
marginalised on the world stage because of its “whiff of cannabis and
libertarian revolt,” according to Jerome Levasseur, the director of the
Bagnols Reggae festival in southern France.
While largely symbolic, inclusion on the UNESCO cultural heritage list can
serve to raise the profile of the country and the practice.
BSS/AFP/RY/1630 hrs