Reggae Music against the World

By:Anastasia S Vaughan

In August of 1962 the small island of Jamaica gained independence. Since becoming an independent developing nation Jamaica has accomplished great things across the world from sea to shining sea.Though this 3 rd world nation has come 1st in a number of things throughout society today's flash entry is dedicated to the music in which this nation has proudly displayed for the world to see,love, experience and enjoy. In honor of Independence day I decided to create an entry that attempts to make the reggae music genre transparent to all of those who have yet to give it a listen. Below this article is the concept that if reggae music were a dish below are the ingredients listed to serve it up and spicy just the way the island has always executed their daring out there style. Happy Birthday Jamaica as person brought up under Jamaican culture I am damned proud to say you look damn good for 50.

It’s a typical Friday evening around 6:30 or so and I’d just walked into the door. The sound of reggae bliss hits my ears like a soft soothing romantic nibble to my right earlobe followed by a warm breeze that gives your whole a body slightly resisted chill. I remember strolling into my aunt’s house to the fresh festive smells of Jamaican food (often light dishes such as fish and bammy or patties with coco bread maybe even jerk pork with hardough bread waiting) that came from the locally rude Jamaican restaurant Sango’s. As the key turns thought the key hold a whole new world of faint romance and charisma begins to instantly exist to me. The song on the CD player entices me as the man on the microphone says to me “(talking to the ladies/link we fi link up we fi link up) meet me at the corner.” As my face lights up like a Christmas tree in late September my body rocks to the beat as he as answers his own question than replying “down here at noon.” Just when his words couldn’t seem anymore real his low seductive smoky island voice whispers in the softest vocal “oh I like it like that.” Instantly you’re a reeled fish caught at the root of your drooling tongue sink and hooked.

My mother and aunt are home as my mother is eating touched jerk pork. Her belly reminisces as it has tasted better days. While my aunt comes closer rocking her hips in typical island fashion prompting me to dance with her from the moment I reach the front door. The next song on the CD player kicks back into a melodic stress free style. It’s Usher yet it isn’t really the R&B artist we’ve come to know and love as his song has been redone in reggae melodies. The now highly up-tempo “You Remind Me” becomes a slower much more breathy vocal mixed with in and out rhythms leaving you in a daze as all the vocals bring a tropical sense of emotion filled with a Don Juan-esque charm. The vocals bob and weave trying to catch an island tempo that I never could have dreamt possible for this particular song.

Yes, it’s another anxious Friday evening. Yes, it’s too late to restart the day again, its gone already. Yet the reggae music is there, catches you rocks you like water washing over the body against the sticky injustices of wet sand, for the moment your form is unsteady. Confused as what has happened to the life you once knew to be flowing, you whip out a CD as the reggae music has spend all day calling you, me, and everyone like us. The CD says baby “don’t worry Beres Hammonds is waiting around the corner to hold your emotions steady.” Beres starts his song out cooing in unashamed feminine tones asking you what you’re trying to prove. The water is with you in each note and yes, this is the one time you won’t need a life vest to travel out too deep into the deep blue sea of passionate melody and tropical chivalry. Beres is the one whose music you extend the olive branch of your vulnerable willing ears to when you seek the fairytale vibe that all the Disney fantasizes have painted in the cornerstones of our fragile media influenced minds on what an enamored heart should feel and look like. If true lovers were to be transparent in the concept of music and song they’d reincarnate themselves in reggae harmony. From apologetic tunes pleading for companionship in spite of the flaws of having cope with mortality to those roughed up cuts blabber mouthing away on a vision of a brand new era where 20 years from now that teenage mothers baby will be robbing your home. Island harmony of Jamaica seeks to explore, rejuvenate, romance, inspire, whisk away your worries leaving the rest of the real world a quarter posts the last 240 second capsule of life in the moment. The vibrations hit your chest as each song in its notes aim to serve a sensation streaming through the flow of your life wither it be peacefully serene or vibrantly enraged. Reggae is there when deep in your heart you long for inspiration while your lifestyle yearns for the taste of romantic salvation even when relationships (of all kinds) go bad and you’re still unsure of where it all is going. Are your dreams beaten or battered? It’s that feel good rhythm that may just save you in desperate moments as you indulge in the moment that the sweet serene sound your ears hear may just be in moment all there is to know. Reggae music was once described as the newspaper of the people. It attempts to stay current in its content, playful at times in its nature, universal in its lyrical sounds, and simple with a faint twist of complex emphasis on vocal emotion.