Today I was having a conversation with a friend who is one of the top music producers in Jamaica. He is extremely successful and he is a professional whose thoughts I truly respect. I respect him because of his consistent success, work ethic, and commitment to the process.
Musicians and Non-Music
He asked me a question about the young Jamaican musicians today and why they seemed so disconnected from the passion and discipline of music.
I said to him that I thought it was because our music is primarily a "non-music" and that these musicians were not as committed to music as they were to making connections with other people.
This is one of the most difficult conversations for me with people. The idea that our music in Jamaica is a "non-music" is challenging because there are still a lot of sensitivities around the subject of our culture. The reactions range from dismissive (You do not know what you are talking about) to rage (Are you saying that we are inferior to Western music and white people!").
I expressed that I had a theory that Jamaica's experience of music was indeed not musical, it was something else. I proposed to him that it was more ritual than musical. More the experience of empathy in a community than it was based on analysis and appreciation for musical structure and form.
Thankfully, my friend's reaction was quite thoughtful as he has had several decades of experience in the Jamaican music industry at all levels and he agreed with me.
How many fiddles?
How many fiddles?We discussed the role that ritual plays in our process and the music is often secondary if not even lower in priority. The focus is on feeling energy, the "vibes" so to speak. Musical form and artistic expression are not as important. The "vibes" must be present and then there is the importance of immediate feedback from the community. This is often referred to as the "rail". Then the message, whether or not it is a cultural, slack or violent one, it does not matter. After those three, musicality and form come in fourth place.
So music is not only not a primary concern, it is a quaternary one.
- Vibes
- Rail
- Message
- Music
Coda
We are now celebrating 60 years of independence and just prior to the festivities there was a crisis regarding whether or not the country could choose 10 songs for a Festival song. There was a lot of hand wringing as to how we got to the place where we could not produce songs of good quality for a national celebration. Are we not a nation of music?
I would say not. Methinks we are first a nation of vibes