Music as a cultural and social genre may be used to communicate various aspects of people’s cultural and even political systems. Several Jamaican music songs convey different messages that depict the political and cultural aspects of the Jamaican people and the values in the society. The use of characters in these genres is also significant in conveying a variety of messages to the intended audience. Using the literary style of repetition, some of these songs we listen to tend to emphasize their message to the public by always mentioning the keywords and messages of the artists. In this essay, I will make use of the Jamaican music “Babylon” and Zion as the songs that I listen to a lot to demonstrate the cultural, religious and political messages that each of them communicates to the audience. The thesis of this paper thus is that music genre portrays different cultural, political and religious messages about a given society and its members.
Description of the Kind of Musical Characters and Ideas
The kind of songs that I like listening to a lot is the Jamaican reggae music. The song Babylon describes a place with an oppressive cultural and social system whereas the music Zion describes a place in Africa known as Ethiopia where African-Jamaicans believe would offer them more freedom than is the case where they currently live, to practice their traditions and culture without harassment and discrimination. This message of liberation and liberty is repeated a lot throughout the song. Music may be described regarding parameters such as rhythm, harmony, genre, texture, form, melody, tempo, instrumentation, temperature, and dynamic. The pace of these songs ranges from high to low density with a steady beat and alternating on and off beats. The tempo of this music is fast, the harmony simple, the melody is happy and uplifting, and instrumentation of the songs is the use of electric guitar and piano. The texture of the music is polyphonic, dense and thick while the genre is contemporary reggae music and the form of the songs is repetitive and instrumental. According to Smith (n.d), the songs of freedom by the late Robert Nesta Marley contain vibrant Rastafarian religious beliefs and “combines a ‘feel-good’, slow-paced rhythm with a militant call for justice and protection against oppression” (p.).
Clayton (2003) argues that “the whole advancement of music is idealist” (p. 38). The kind of ideas in these types of music varies but is mainly predicated on the Jamaican culture and political society. Both of them contain the concept of cultural and political oppression and the need for freedom to practice religion in a free environment. They also communicate the idea that music can be used to express people’s fears and cultural pride. The words or ideas that I hear a lot in these kinds of music are mainly Jamaican and the fact that the Jamaican culture is oppressive and lacks freedom. These words mean that there is a need for cultural change so that Jamaican musicians can use their musical talents to explore and promote the Jamaican culture.
The subcultures that are associated with these words include the culture of freedom and political culture. Other common words in these songs include “Jah” to mean God or Jehovah and “Faddah” to say Father also referring to God the Father. Father, about Ras Tafari Makonnen, Haile Selassie I, and the character in these songs uses the words “Negus Negast” meaning the King of Kings. The word “Babylon” itself is used to refer to an evil force, a system or institution of thought that is anti-progressive and one that invests in division and oppression of people throughout the globe. Further, instead of ‘understand’, the singer uses “overstand” and instead of the word oppress’ he uses “downpress” in order to convey a message of oppression. There is also the frequent use of “I-words such as “me”. Thus, these songs in their nature bring out the idea of cultural imperialism to which the musician is opposed. They also depict or represent the idea and spirit of resistance to cultural oppression. Also, these songs communicate the message that music can be used as a weapon to fight various social ills in the society such as oppression. It can be employed successfully to bring about social change in the society and at the same time convey important aspects of people’s cultural, political and religious norms and beliefs.
These songs indicate the social, religious, political and cultural functions of music in the society regarding the message that they communicate to the audience. In the context of the Jamaican Reggae music, Dagnini (2010) observes that “its (reggae music’s ) slow, jerky rhythm, its militant and spiritual lyrics as well as the rebellious appearance of its singers, have influenced musical genres, cultures and societies throughout the world” (p. 1). Further, music plays the role of political mobilization, immigrant representation and participation and racial or ethnic minorities’ cultural identities (Martiniello & Lafleur, n.d). According to these authors, music has some political and cultural meaning that it portrays in the society due to its interpretation as a potential source of social and political power in the community. It organizes and brings together members of the society and is the decisive factor that makes the nation move as a single entity. Moreover, music is used as a tool for resistance or struggle and preservation of cultural or social philosophies, self-identity, cultural ideologies (Adegoke, 2011, p. 150)
References
Adegoke, A. A. (2011). Language and identity representation in popular music. International Journal of Innovative Interdisciplinary Research, 1, 150-163.
Clayton, M. (2003). The cultural study of music: A critical introduction. New York: Routledge.
Dagnini, J. K. (2010). The importance of reggae music in the worldwide cultural universe. Etudes Caribeennes, 16, 1-30. Retrieved July 7, 2016, from https://etudescaribeennes.revues.org/4740?lang=en
Martiniello, M., & Lafleur, J.-M. (n.d.). Ethnic minorities' cultural and artistic forms of political expression: A review of the literature and a theoretical discussion on music. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1(1), 1-20.
Smith, W.A. (n.d.). Songs of freedom: The music of Bob Marley as transformative education. Retrieved July 7, 2016, from old.religiouseducation.net/member/05_rea_papers/wasmith_2005.pdf
