Jamaican music known as reggae faced challenges before it became popular, both in Jamaica and in the United Kingdom. During the sixties, reggae was mostly listened by people from Caribbean community who had immigrated to the UK, carrying with them the reggae music from Jamaica. The larger white working class community were also attracted to the new sound after a while even as new artistes and production techniques made the reggae sound better. Desmond Dekker who is known for the hit the Israelites who played a role in making reggae popular in the UK and the rest of the world. Dekker’s brand of reggae had won admiration due to the fusion of pop and brilliant lyrics according to ex UB-40 band member Ali Campbell. (Reg. Brit I 2.00-3.15)
The reception that met the reggae song the Israelites is seen as the starting point for the ascendancy of reggae music to the world. (Reg. Brit I 1.48-1:54) Other artistes like Dave and Ansell Collins among others emerged during the sixties and early seventies with different styles but the same genre as Don Letts says in the film. (Reg. Brit I 3.25-3.56) The themes that were carried in the reggae music was protests against injustices, according to Prince Buster who was interviewed for the Reggae Britannica Film. (Reg. Brit 1: 6.08-6.22). But the music wasn’t taken seriously due to the negative feelings on the music that was motivated by racism and it was banned by high end clubs and by the giant British Broadcasting Corporation which refused to play the music on its media platforms of television and radio. (Reg. Brit I: 13:01-14:29)
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Independent producers like Jamaican born Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island records faced a challenge of trying to promote from producing and distributing reggae music in Jamaica as in the UK. (Reg. Brit I 9:26-55). To popularize the music in Jamaica, huge trucks mounted with public address systems playing the music went around the Island state of Jamaica (Reg. Brit I 8.32-8.37). Despite the successes, there was no accountability and the artistes were not able to get their rewards from the record companies. They were cheated out of their earnings by the companies and discouraged, most of them left the music after recording singles. (Reg. Brit I 11.56-13.00). In the UK where reggae was being ignored, the challenge was how to make the music more appealing, which meant producers had to experiment with new production techniques like fusing new sounds to attract a snobbish British audience. (Reg. Brit I 14:46-15:11)
References
Reggae Britannia Documentary Part 1. (2012, May 14). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQXyK1uxTps
Reggae The Story Of Jamaican Music BBC Documentary. (2012, December 11). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv1Iy26qlLk
