What's happened to Reggae? -- Final End

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Date Posted: 23:52:48 08/07/02 Wed
Author: Drummond
Subject: What's happened to Reggae?

I attended Reggae on the River this last weekend.

http://www.reggaeontheriver.com/lineup.htm

It's ostensibly the largest Reggae concert west of the Mississipi, and is a fundraiser for the Mateel Center, for which I am president of the Board this year (that's what happens when you miss a meeting).

http://www.mateel.org/

Anyway, our local population doubles with this event (the event sells 10,000 tickets, about our local population in a 30 by 40 mile area), and all the hippy college kids from up and down the west coast come here to frolic in the woods, get high, and listen to reggae. Or at least what is being billed as reggae.

I get claustrophobic in large crowds, so I've avoided the concert since I moved here 6 years ago. However, since I was on the board, I got free passes (backstage and all) and a great parking pass. And being president and all, I had to make my obligatory appearance for all the little people to look in awe.

Anyway, not much surprised me. I was offered "magic carrot cake" and "laced poptarts" and plenty of other goodies, much of it for free if I wanted. I got to meet Julia Butterfly, and some people I'm told are famous. Good food. I even got to hold a press conference with some of the other board members and answer lame questions with lame jokes. All fine.

But the music. I had to work Friday, so I missed Steel Pulse and some others, but what I heard on Saturday mostly did not sound like Reggae. It was loud, and the push was to get the ticket holders to "get down and boogie."

I guess I'm a curmudgeon at 38, but I remember reggae as an offbeat hypnotic rather than rowdy dance. But some of the younger bands, not only was their music anything but hypnotic; a lot of it was in 4:4, lacking even the signature backbeat. Some of it was more calypso like, but most of it was just rock, and not particularly good rock.

I waited for the Marley kids to come on (well, they're in their 30s now, but still "kids" compared to, well, Bob Marley). The name "Marley" makes me think of Redemption Song, or Rastaman Vibrations, or War (one of his better songs with the lyrics taken from a speech by Hailey Salasie). Not what they were playing, not at all.

The third day, Sunday, was much better. More "roots" reggae, with Burning Spear (when did he get so old?) closing out. A band called "Lucky Dube" preceded them (they had to borrow a base guitar from the band before them because it was stolen right from backstage). Dube was okay, but again, it sounded more like world beat rock fusion than reggae.

Fortunately, Burning Spear was what he always was. Most of the college kids were gone by then, which is probably how it was planned. Brought back the memories...

It's not hard to get the best reggae bands to come to Humboldt County, where the best indica in the world is grown.

Or so I've heard...

Eric

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