Reggae Revolution

By Crispin Sartwell

When the dictatorial government of Ivory Coast was overthrown recently, the folks who took over gave credit to reggae. Reggae made by Jamaican and African artists, smuggled into the country on cassette or made in Ivory Coast and distributed secretly, helped give the rebels an identity, helped form them into an effective fighting force, helped inform them of their own history. Such artists as Alpha Blondy were close to the coup leaders. In a situation where the government controlled the media, they were overthrown by music.

The coup leader, Robert Guei, was so taken with Serge Kassy's music that he called him up. Kassy in turn wrote a song about Guei that made him a kind of folk hero, rallying the people to his cause. Ivory Coast reggae, like the music of Bob Marley that inspires it, is a song of freedom. I'm betting the new government turns out to be democratic. (For an excellent representation of African reggae including Blondy and Kassy, and a demonstration that the best reggae made today is made in Africa, get ahold of *Fly African Eagle* from Shanachie Records.)

African reggae displays both the local power and the international scope of music. Reggae itself has its roots in the music of West Africa, and in African-American rhythm and blues. And then through electronic reproduction, it returns from Jamaica to Africa, bearing in its utterly compelling skank a message of liberation, and West Africa is transformed by its own gift to the Americas.

The effect of music on human beings is at once obvious and deeply mysterious. Music has altered human history and is a key aspect of cultural and personal identity. The other day I had the realization that although I'm a TV junkie and a computer addict, I would give up either or both before I gave up my stereo. It's always on. One of the deepest divisions in my marriage is that I like bluegrass; she doesn't. This says something profound about our personalities. I'm into tradition; she's into Prince.

When I tell you that the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen are wildly overrated and should be replaced in the pantheon by the Stones, John Prine, and Elvis Costello, I am expressing one of my dearest beliefs, something that is central to my personality. Plus as you may have just noticed, saying that to a Beatles or Springsteen fan is often regarded as a personal assault. In fact after I argued on this page that I could prove that the Stones were better than the Beatles, I got death threats from people who regard themselves as Branch Davidians and John Lennon as their personal David Koresh.

Watch a serious opera buff at the Met: eyes closed, with a sort of post-orgasmic expression on her face. Look at the shirts people wear, or their hairstyles: often these are tributes to their favorite band. Get a bunch of pre-teen or teenage guys together and see what they talk about: girls, sports, but above all DMX and Jay-Z.

The ancient Chinese philosopher Hsun Tzu argued that music was the organizing principle of culture: that when the music was right, the people lived harmoniously, and that bad music caused war, poverty, and divorce. And indeed, music is one of the principal organizers of culture: think about the role of rap in uniting young black folks, and as in Public Enemy's "Fear of a Black Planet," telling them truths they wouldn't read in the papers: truths about police brutality, ownership of media outlets, and so on. The contribution of Dylan and the Grateful Dead to the peace and civil rights movements, as well as to the culture of drugs, was inestimable. And, thanks to Hank Jr., a country boy can survive.

Music is also central to forms of division and prejudice. The skinheads in Germany are organized around Oi! music, and folks usually go marching off to war to the strains of a national anthem. Music helps people kill (though sometimes killing is your best option) but it also helps people heal. When I was nineteen and broke up with my first girlfriend, I spent a year in my basement apartment listening to Billie Holiday.

So reggae is a good occasion for a revolution, and John McCain really should get into Nine Inch Nails. No matter to what degree giant corporations control the flow of music, music, like you, wants to be free. Music is something you can make yourself and out of which you can make yourself and into which you can make yourself. As Kid Rock puts it, giving a shout out to his heroes at the methadone clinic: Get in the pit and try to love someone.

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