tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/dub-29343/articlesDub – The Conversation2022-08-11T15:25:24Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1880802022-08-11T15:25:24Z2022-08-11T15:25:24ZHow Burna Boy set the world alight with his mixed brew of influences<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478504/original/file-20220810-590-s2rtpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Burna Boy promotes his new album Love, Damini in the US.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Prince Williams/Wireimage</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nigerian Afrobeats star <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/burna-boy-mn0003297650/biography">Burna Boy</a> burst onto the global stage in 2018 with a slew of irresistible hits on his third album, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4wXXJEoblA">Outside</a>, accompanied by mandatory fiendish good looks and charm. <a href="https://www.grammy.com/artists/burna-boy/251682">Grammy</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsvCb59TcDk">BET</a> awards helped firm up his status within a highly competitive global music industry. </p>
<p>Before his international success, which has been cemented by his latest offering <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/burna-boy-love-damini-album-stream-1235109630/">Love, Damini</a> (2022), Burna spent years experimenting with different sounds in London and South Africa and his ragga-inspired vocal style became distinctive.</p>
<p>His 2014 contribution to South African hip hop mainstay AKA’s infectious song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIuXDU-V954">All Eyes on Me</a> first put him on the African radar. His smouldering hook on the multiple award-winning track made all the difference and demonstrated he was an artist to watch, channelling both West African and Jamaican musical flavours.</p>
<p>Although he was deemed talented by his South African hip hop peers, his shine remained somewhat muted. He had to return to his native Nigeria to attain the level of success he obviously yearned: awards, global tours and A-class industry connections.</p>
<p>Although he rose in a whirlwind, with an enigmatic combination of singing styles and influences, Burna Boy has, at least for the moment, become mainstream; a slightly compliant agent of the commercial music industry. (The same is true of most of today’s Afrobeats stars, even if this is a Faustian truth everyone might choose to ignore.)</p>
<p>On Love, Damini (he was born Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu) Burna still exudes just the right amount of foreboding and palpable intrigue to remain credible as an artist. But how much of his much-touted originality does he have left? Perhaps a way to begin to answer this question is to revisit his musical influences.</p>
<h2>Spotting his influences</h2>
<p>It is difficult not to love club bangers such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-h7ltwACLs">Soke</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPe09eE6Xio">Ye</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7WfPHHXCAY">Gbona</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecl8Aod0Tl0">On the Low</a>, all produced before Burna Boy’s groundbreaking 2021 Grammy win with his fifth album, <a href="https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/burna-boy-twice-as-tall/">Twice as Tall</a> (2020). </p>
<p>In most of these songs, Fela Kuti’s influence is crystal clear in samples and the unequivocal lifting of various hooks. For many, it seemed like Burna was Kuti’s heir apparent. </p>
<p>From the late 1960s Nigerian musician and singer Kuti, along with his amazing bands, almost single-handedly pioneered a genre called <a href="https://www.masterclass.com/articles/afrobeat-music-guide#what-is-afrobeat">Afrobeat</a>. This sound incorporated strong Pan Africanist politics, intricate call and response singing, and heavy West African drumming laced with enticing jazz and funk riffs. <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/afrobeat-history">Afrobeats</a> is an umbrella term for a more radio-friendly and commercial version of Kuti’s Afrobeat. </p>
<p>Burna Boy’s Kuti credentials appear impeccable. His maternal grandfather, the broadcaster and jazz enthusiast Benson Idonije, had <a href="https://guardian.ng/art/dis-fela-sef-a-benson-idonije-memoir/">managed</a> Kuti in the 1960s. In one <a href="https://www.okayafrica.com/bose-ogulu-burna-boy-mom-manager-fela-kuti-dancer-okayafrica-100-women-2019/">interview</a>, his mother and manager, business woman Bose Ogulu, reportedly refers to Kuti as the closest thing she had to a godfather.</p>
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<p>Burna has also been influenced by ragga, dub and grime ever since his days as a student in the UK. The foundations of these genres were laid mainly in Jamaica but found fresh creative wings in urban UK music scenes. This culminated in a hit like Burna’s 2017 song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xho39TPlL4Q">Rock your Body</a>. </p>
<p>Even before the arrival of Love, Damini, Burna Boy had succeeded in melding his diverse cultural and sonic experiences into one powerful aural stew.</p>
<p>Burna has not only cribbed the Jamaican sound. He’s also adopted the rude boy persona with tales of <a href="https://guardian.ng/news/burna-boy-faces-police-probe-for-the-second-time-in-six-years/">private security gunshots</a>, <a href="https://dailytrust.com/burna-boy-shatta-wale-and-rape-culture">rape allegations</a> and a trail of broken hearts that have clouded his already threatening aura.</p>
<h2>Ways to weigh Burna</h2>
<p>Obviously, Burna was aiming to act as some kind of generational spokesperson for a restless and burgeoning <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/17/world/africa/who-are-afropolitans/index.html">Afropolitan</a> brigade. It couldn’t have been otherwise after being fed on a diet of Kuti-inspired Pan Africanism and neocolonial resistance. By most standards, this is heavy stuff for a market and generation captured by instant gratification.</p>
<p>And then he struck musical gold with his eclectic brew of West African rhythms, West Indian jungle grooves and the ubiquity of hip hop. Burna once <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa6DweKPf1A">described</a> part of this gumbo as “pepperoni pizza” with Kuti’s Afrobeat as the dough. There is nothing particularly unique about this recipe. Instead, the X factor can be found in his own winning combination of ingredients – bound with an arresting personality. Of course, there’s also his amazing dexterity in sampling to ponder.</p>
<p>He has <a href="https://theconversation.com/setting-the-record-straight-burna-boy-didnt-create-a-music-genre-called-afrofusion-187189">proclaimed</a> that his brand of music is a new genre called Afrofusion. Probably this is just a way of leveraging newfound success for greater effect. A way to distinguish himself from the teeming throng of Afrobeats aspirers. </p>
<p>To the undiscerning, Burna Boy’s sound is pure genius. But for those conversant with Kuti, with Jamaican godfather of dub, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/reggaes-mad-scientist-65011/">Lee “Scratch” Perry</a>, and similar genres of <a href="https://jamaicansmusic.com/learn/origins/toasting">Caribbean toasting</a> (lyrical chanting over dancehall music), it all seems a bit déjà vu. </p>
<p>There are different ways to weigh Burna. If we put him against Kuti, Perry and the greats of dub, he is arguably minor. But in an incessantly Instagrammed era, endlessly photographed and reproduced, he is a giant bristling with substance, creative menace and yet to be decoded signification. </p>
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<p>Burna was birthed from robust foundations of Afrobeat, hip hop, ragga, grime, drum ‘n’ bass and dub-related sounds. There are hardly any other foundations as deep as these. His work, up till now, has mainly consisted of translating and reconfiguring those jungle-laden sounds for a mass audience. </p>
<p>In this regard, he is a faithful conduit, a vehicle for simmering, unadulterated and quasi-spiritual grooves. Sometimes, it isn’t even certain that Burna recognises the depth of what he is channelling. If he did, he wouldn’t be so eager to pair up with every hot music star that pops up on the scene.</p>
<p>Burna’s lyrics in hits such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=421w1j87fEM">Last Last</a> (2022) are replete with profanity, inanity and nonsense rhymes that sound good to the ears especially if you happen not to understand West African <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-38000387">pidgin</a>. This is yet another aspect of his work that can be quite bewildering; the sudden swings between sense and nonsense, pseudo-philosophical gravity and outright puerility.</p>
<h2>Rolling in dollars</h2>
<p>Lately, Burna has launched a campaign to gain even greater success. Just look at his high profile collaborations with the likes of US musicians <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aiCPsNcRMU">Pop Smoke</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxb5GItBjJI">Beyoncé</a> as well as UK pop stars like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byO74UGa8bI">Sam Smith</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDZ25anwgjc">Ed Sheeran</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXeOBkKdiAg">Stormzy</a> or Nigerian singer <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNTkoLf5x5U">Wizkid</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/100-years-of-pop-music-in-nigeria-what-shaped-four-eras-181298">100 years of pop music in Nigeria: what shaped four eras</a>
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<p>Already, some of his hits are beginning to sound a little laboured, over-thought or under-thought. But perhaps this hardly matters as long as the dollars, brand endorsements and festival invitations keep rolling in. In today’s music industry, that’s all that counts. </p>
<p>Burna Boy has won the world and retained his brooding sense of menace, but it remains to be seen how much of his true creative soul he has left. </p>
<p><em>This article was updated to more accurately reflect the biography of Bose Ogulu.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188080/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sanya Osha does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With his new album Love, Damini he has conquered the world. But how much of his creative soul does he have left?Sanya Osha, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Humanities in Africa, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1215142019-08-09T13:09:57Z2019-08-09T13:09:57ZLost in translation: subtitles and dubbing help viewers, but can also cause problems<p>Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón’s masterpiece <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6155172/">Roma</a> was greeted with critical acclaim and three Oscars at the 2019 Academy Awards. But, even as Cuarón was basking in the spotlight, he <a href="https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/01/10/inenglish/1547125380_758985.html">was outraged</a> at the way Netflix had decided to subtitle the film for Spaniards.</p>
<p>The movie was shot using Mexican Spanish and <a href="http://elalliance.org/languages/meso-america/mixtec/">Mixtec</a>, a language spoken by about half a million people in the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Puebla and Guerrero, and in California in the USA. Netflix decided to give the Mexican Spanish and Mixtec dialogue subtitles in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peninsular_Spanish">Iberian Spanish</a> for its audience in Spain. </p>
<p>Cuarón considered this decision to be “<a href="https://www.efe.com/efe/america/cultura/cuaron-me-parece-muy-ofensivo-para-el-publico-subtitular-roma-al-espanol/20000009-3861249">parochial, ignorant and offensive to Spaniards themselves</a>”. According to him, the Spanish audience was capable of connecting with the film without subtitles. As Mexican author Jordi Soler <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/movies/roma-spanish-subtitles-alfonso-cuaron-netflix.html">told the New York Times</a>:</p>
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<p>It’s like if you have an American film showing in the UK and the character says he’s going to the washroom, but the subtitles say he’s going to the loo. It’s ridiculous. They’re treating the people of Spain like they’re idiots.</p>
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<p>Reactions from viewers, writers and translators on social media denounced Netflix’s decision as paternalistic and highlighted its colonial connotations. The media, both in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jan/09/alfonso-cuaron-condemns-netflix-over-roma-subtitles">English</a> and <a href="https://elpais.com/cultura/2019/01/08/actualidad/1546979782_501950.html">Spanish</a> followed the discussion closely. Ultimately, Netflix <a href="https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/01/10/inenglish/1547125380_758985.html">removed the subtitles</a>.</p>
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<p>The world <a href="https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/e4d5cbf4-a839-4a8a-81d0-7b19a22cc5ce">used to be divided</a> between those countries using subtitles (including, in Europe, the Scandinavian countries, Portugal, Greece), and those opting for dubbed versions (France, Italy, Spain, Germany). In <a href="http://blog-de-traduccion.trustedtranslations.com/el-auge-del-doblaje-en-america-latina-2014-10-04.html">Latin America</a>, it tended to be the medium that dictated the type of translation: subtitles were popular at the cinema and on cable TV, while dubbed versions reigned on public and free-to-air television.</p>
<p>These days the situation tends to be more fluid. My research has shown that even in countries that have traditionally dubbed movies, some <a href="https://publications.aston.ac.uk/id/eprint/30109/1/Subtitling_video_consumption_and_viewers_impact_of_the_young_audience.pdf">viewers prefer subtitles</a>. Subtitles are faster to produce than dubbed versions – and users claim they give a viewing experience that is closer to the original because they maintain the original actors’ voices.</p>
<h2>Subtitle boom</h2>
<p>The function of subtitles is also changing, depending on where you are. In the UK, for example, subtitles have traditionally been aimed at deaf and hard of hearing viewers and viewers of foreign language cinema. But subtitles are now <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jul/21/subtitles-tv-hearing-no-context-twitter-captions">also becoming popular</a> among the wider TV audience.</p>
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<p>Subtitles are being used by viewers as a way to stay focused on the content and to watch videos on their smartphones and tablets while commuting or in busy or loud places. Viewers also use subtitles to improve their language skills, as <a href="http://obs.obercom.pt/index.php/obs/article/view/1300">my research</a> on the use of subtitles in Netflix’s House of Cards has shown.</p>
<p>Subtitles are being used in multilingual storytelling. Netflix’s Narcos was shot in both Spanish and English which was seen as a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/30/arts/television/netflix-looks-to-narcos-for-a-new-audience.html">clever move</a> for a distributor looking to expand its audience into lucrative new markets. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287248/original/file-20190807-144838-1fqpicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287248/original/file-20190807-144838-1fqpicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287248/original/file-20190807-144838-1fqpicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287248/original/file-20190807-144838-1fqpicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287248/original/file-20190807-144838-1fqpicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287248/original/file-20190807-144838-1fqpicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287248/original/file-20190807-144838-1fqpicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Subtitles in Narcos.</span>
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<h2>Dub-style</h2>
<p>But since 2015, pay-TV television channels in Latin America, such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_TV">Warner Channel</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_Sony">Canal Sony</a>, have decided to switch from subtitling to dubbing for US television series and films. <a href="https://altapeli.com/series/furia-y-polemica-el-doblaje-en-warner-channel/">Warner Channel argued</a> that the decision was in line with industry trends and suited the younger audience’s tendency to multitask while watching TV. While not everyone seemed to be <a href="https://altapeli.com/series/furia-y-polemica-el-doblaje-en-warner-channel/">happy at the time</a>, dubbing has become standard for these channels.</p>
<p>Netflix, meanwhile, claims to have “<a href="https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/netflix-inspires-subscribers-to-embrace-foreign-language-content-look-beyond-subtitles-and-dubbing-5563491.html">brought back the lost art of dubbing</a>” for the English speaking audience. The distributor offers its content subtitled and dubbed into different languages – 27, for the recent Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, according to vice-president of product, Todd Nellin. “If you want to watch Ghoul, you can watch it dubbed into English, watch it in Hindi with English subtitles or dubbed into English with English subtitles,” Nellin told Forbes magazine in 2018.</p>
<p>The distributor is also taking pains to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/arts/television/netflix-money-heist.html">make dubbed versions sound more natural</a> and less “dubby”, hiring directors and specialist actors to make dubbed versions of films less like a new recording and more like a new production.</p>
<h2>Stop making sense</h2>
<p>So distributors such as Netflix are attuned to the benefits of providing flexibility to increase the appeal of their product to different people in different countries speaking different languages. This is a positive trend – up to a point. But translation is not neutral; translation decisions carry ideological and social consequences.</p>
<p>In June 2019, Netflix re-released the cult classic anime <a href="https://www.polygon.com/2019/6/21/18693526/neon-genesis-evangelion-netflix-redub-cast">Neon Genesis Evangelion</a>, with new English translations for subtitling and dubbing and a new voice cast. The launch was hugely anticipated – but the new translation was greeted with a heavy backlash on social media from hardcore fans.</p>
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<p>Fans baulked at the way some key themes <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2019/06/neon-genesis-evangelion-netflix-controversy-explained-guide.html">appeared to have been altered</a>. The most contested change involved an exchange between two characters that radically changes a relationship that has been <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/6/24/18701179/netflix-neon-genesis-evangelion-kaworu-gay-backlash">understood as queer</a>. </p>
<p>The Neon Genesis Evangelion controversy <a href="https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2019-06-27/japanese-fans-official-translator-weigh-in-on-netflix-evangelion-english-subtitle-debate/.148305">shows the complexities of translation</a>. It is a good example of how translators need to find solutions between their commitment to the source product and the audience’s expectations. It’s not just a matter of offering subtitles, but providing viewers with quality subtitles that facilitate their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jul/21/subtitles-tv-hearing-no-context-twitter-captions">social integration</a>. This is something that YouTube needs to consider when using AI to subtitle the videos it hosts.</p>
<p>All the different forms of translation available offer opportunities to increase accessibility and support integration. The efforts by distributors to provide multiple options for viewers, besides making commercial sense, are a positive move both socially and culturally. But sensitivity, rather than purely commercial reasons, must be at the heart of the process. Otherwise all their efforts risk getting lost in translation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121514/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Orrego-Carmona receives funding from The British Academy. </span></em></p>Giving a movie subtitles or dubbing it into multiple languages makes commercial and cultural sense, but the process can be riddled with potential pitfalls.David Orrego-Carmona, Lecturer in Translation Studies, Aston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1081142018-12-03T15:59:55Z2018-12-03T15:59:55ZWhy UNESCO was right to add reggae to its cultural heritage list<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248478/original/file-20181203-194932-sk71m9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Weinberg</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When UNESCO announced that “the reggae music of Jamaica” had been <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/reggae-music-of-jamaica-01398">added to its list</a> of cultural products considered worthy of recognition, it was a reflection on the fact that reggae, which grew from its roots in the backstreets and dance halls of Jamaica, is more than just popular music, but an important social and political phenomenon.</p>
<p>Jamaica’s application to the committee mentioned a number of artists from <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/move-over-bob-marley-peter-tosh-is-finally-getting-the-recognition-he-deserves-8914028.html">Bob Marley and Peter Tosh</a> to <a href="https://rootfire.net/chronixx/">Chronixx and the Zinc Fence Band</a>. Some observers may be wondering whether such musicians are a good enough reason to include reggae on this prestigious list. What those readers don’t fully understand is that reggae is far more significant than its musicians. Not only is social commentary “an integral part of the music”, the application argued, but reggae has also made a significant “contribution to international discourse concerning issues of injustice, resistance, love, and humanity”. </p>
<p>Reggae has “provided a voice for maligned groups, the unemployed and at risk groups and provided a vehicle for social commentary and expression where no other outlet existed or was afforded”. It has also “provided a means of praising and communicating with God”. Not only are these big claims, but they are all true.</p>
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<h2>Deep roots</h2>
<p>Culturally, politically, religiously and musically, reggae has done much heavy lifting. Born in the back streets of Kingston in the 1950s, it is proudly Jamaican. Raised in difficult circumstances, it has matured into a friendly and generous music that travels well and warmly embraces the other cultures and music it meets. Hybridisation is part of reggae’s genetic makeup. Its DNA can be traced back to West Africa and out into the world of popular music. It came into being through mento (a form of Jamaican folk music), ska and rock steady, absorbing influences from the Caribbean (especially calypso), rhythm and blues, rock, and jazz.</p>
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<p>However, not only has reggae embraced other musical styles and ideas, but in so doing, it has influenced them and given birth to new sub-genres. Particularly significant in this respect has been the innovative recording techniques developed by Jamaican producers such as <a href="https://www.factmag.com/2015/05/19/king-tubby-beginners-guide-dub-reggae/">King Tubby</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/lee-scratch-perry">Lee “Scratch” Perry</a>, and <a href="https://www.trojanrecords.com/artist/bunny-lee/">Bunny Lee</a>. What became known as “<a href="https://www.factmag.com/2014/04/16/dubbing-is-a-must-a-beginners-guide-to-jamaicas-most-influential-genre/">dub reggae</a>” has inspired generations of artists and producers around the world and is still an important influence in popular music.</p>
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<h2>Politics of resistance</h2>
<p>As well as its musical contribution, reggae hasn’t forgotten its roots. Not only does it comment on current political events and social problems, but it also provides a multi-layered introduction to the history, religion and culture of what music historian Paul Gilroy called “<a href="https://sites.duke.edu/blackatlantic/sample-page/exploring-the-black-atlantic-through-sound/">the Black Atlantic</a>”. While some reggae cannot, of course, be considered religious or political – “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/sep/22/lovers-rock-story-reggae">lovers rock</a>” for example, focuses on romantic relationships – much of it is.</p>
<p>A key moment in Jamaican political history (as well as the story of reggae) happened on April 22 1978 at the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/16/bob-marley-peace-concert">One Love Concert</a> hosted by Bob Marley at The National Stadium in Kingston. Marley famously called bitter political rivals Michael Manley and Edward Seaga to the stage and persuaded them to join hands. Few other people could have done this. Although the concert did not bring an end to the turmoil in Jamaica, it did showcase the significance of reggae as a political and cultural force.</p>
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<h2>Rastafari</h2>
<p>It is of particular significance that reggae is inextricably related to the religion of Rastafari, which emerged as a direct response to oppression within Jamaican colonial society. Often articulating the ideas of Jamaican political activist <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/garvey_marcus.shtml">Marcus Garvey</a>, who is understood by Rastafarians to be a prophet, Rasta musicians such as Marley and Burning Spear developed roots reggae as a vehicle for their religio-political messages. </p>
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<p>Even if some musicians are not committed Rastafarians, they typically identify with the movement’s ideas and culture. In particular, many wear dreadlocks, consider smoking “the herb” (cannabis) to be a sacrament, and reference the religio-political dualism of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/rastafari/">Zion and Babylon</a> (the social systems of the righteous and the unrighteous). There is a hope often articulated within reggae of a better world following Armageddon and the fall of Babylon. “Babylon your throne gone down”, declared Marley in his 1973 song, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBBTitBMEMA">Rasta Man Chant</a>. These biblical ideas are also creatively applied to a range of political issues, from local injustices to climate change and the nuclear arms race.</p>
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<p>Sometimes reggae itself is understood to be a form of direct action, in that musicians are understood to “chant down Babylon”. As Ziggy Marley put it:</p>
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<p>Babylon [is] a devil system … who cause so much problems on the face of the Earth … And by ‘chanting down’ I mean by putting positive messages out there. That is the way we’ll fight a negative with a positive.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Examples of this include Yabby You’s Chant Down Babylon Kingdom and of course, Marley’s own Chant Down Babylon. This type of thinking is rooted in Jamaican history. Following violent confrontations with the police during the 1940s and 1950s, Rasta elders – particularly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/mar/23/guardianobituaries.religion">Mortimer Planno</a> – appealed to Jamaican academics to study Rastafari in order to increase popular understanding and tolerance. And in 1960, three scholars (M.G. Smith, Roy Augier and Rex Nettleford) published their <a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL13865081M/Report_on_the_Rastafari_movement_in_Kingston_Jamaica">Report on the Rastafarian Movement in Kingston, Jamaica</a>. </p>
<p>For Rastas, the destruction of Babylon came to be interpreted less in terms of a violent overthrow of oppressive social structures and more in terms of a conversion to new ways of thinking, central to which was the strategic primacy assumed by the arts. Reggae emerged as part of this process. From the outset, therefore, it was understood by many to be far more than simply “pop music”. It was “rebel music”, a powerful political tool for the peaceful resistance of oppression.</p>
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<h2>Reggae international</h2>
<p>The potency of reggae as an educational and inspirational force became conspicuous shortly after its arrival in Britain. In 1976 it was central to the founding of the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/rock-against-racism-remembering-that-gig-that-started-it-all-815054.html">Rock Against Racism campaign</a> and by the late 1970s, reggae, dub, ska, and the terminology of Rastafari were informing punk culture as part of an emerging “dread culture of resistance”. </p>
<p>For example, in 1979, the same year that witnessed the Southall race riots, during which a teacher, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/apr/27/blair-peach-killed-police-met-report">Blair Peach</a>, was killed, the British punk band <a href="https://www.forcedexposure.com/Artists/RUTS.DC.html">The Ruts</a> released their dub reggae influenced single Jah War, on which they sang, “the air was thick with the smell of oppression”. </p>
<p>The Ruts subsequently achieved chart success with Babylon’s Burning. While some may have been bemused by the reference, for their fans – for whom <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/jul/20/urban.popandrock">punk and reggae</a> were first cousins at the very least – the message was obvious: Babylon was the principally white political establishment, which oppressed ethnic minorities and the unemployed poor of the inner cities, and which would eventually be dismantled. </p>
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<p>At the same time, Jamaicans who had moved to Britain in their childhood, such as <a href="http://www.lintonkwesijohnson.com/linton-kwesi-johnson/">Linton Kwesi Johnson</a>, used a creative blend of poetry and reggae to comment on the injustices they faced: “Inglan is a bitch, dere’s no escapin it.” One of Johnson’s poems commented specifically on the murder of Peach, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHrlmwudYuA">Reggae Fi Peach</a>. Since then, reggae music has continued to “speak truth to power” – from <a href="https://www.caribbeannationalweekly.com/entertainment/queen-ifrica-releases-powerful-song-hitting-back-domestic-violence/">challenging domestic abuse</a> to protesting against <a href="https://jamaicans.com/reggae-songs-nelson-mandela/">apartheid in South Africa</a>. </p>
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<p>For these political, religious and cultural reasons – as much as for the music itself – UNESCO was right to finally give reggae the recognition it deserves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Partridge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More than just a musical accolade, UNESCO has recognised the social and political importance of Jamaican music.Christopher Partridge, Professor of Religious Studies, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/617262016-07-19T18:37:57Z2016-07-19T18:37:57ZReggae pioneer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s lessons in good music as good magic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130568/original/image-20160714-23365-10a41ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Balazs Mohai/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As electronic music shape-shifts its way through the early years of the 21st century, the influence of dub – reggae’s stripped-down mutant version – on contemporary production is becoming more apparent. In “<a href="http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/display.asp?ISB=9781780231990">Remixology</a>”, Paul Sullivan <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=4deKAwAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=remixology&pg=PT6#v=onepage&q&f=false">captures the fluidity</a> and complexity of dub as a diasporic form:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Ethereal, mystical, conceptual, fluid, avant-garde, raw, unstable, provocative, transparent, postmodern, disruptive, heavyweight, political, enigmatic … dub is way more than “a riddim and a bassline”, even if it is that too. Dub is a genre and a process, a “virus” and a “vortex”.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The work of <a href="http://www.upsetter.net/scratch/">Lee “Scratch” Perry</a>, who turned 80 in March 2016, is central to the way we perceive dub today. His influence is audible in the liquid electronica of <a href="http://pitchfork.com/artists/30594-arca/">Arca</a> and <a href="http://pitchfork.com/artists/30936-twigs/">FKA twigs</a>; the Afrocentric spiritualism and vivid sound collaging of <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/flying-lotus-mn0000717419">Flying Lotus</a>; the sonic murk and vast reverberant spaces of <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/burial-mn0000643682">Burial</a>, <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/laurel-halo-mn0002613655">Laurel Halo</a> and <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/actress-mn0001399533">Actress</a>; and the work of countless other cutting-edge producers. </p>
<p>Seen in this light, Scratch is a cornerstone of modern electronic popular music. But his work is so richly allusive, his persona so layered, that it’s possible to frame his contribution any number of ways.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Magic Music’ by Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Good music is good magic</h2>
<p>Interviews with Scratch amount to a hall of mirrors for anyone searching for simple answers or posing simple questions. <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=KQ2WFvz6GXUC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA128#v=onepage&q&f=false">John Corbett notes</a> that “[Scratch’s] is a discursive kingdom, a creative world of hidden connections and secret pacts exposed in language.”</p>
<p>Common strands do emerge in Scratch’s elaborate discourse though, ideas that recur and so seem central to his worldview and musical philosophy. I’ve <a href="https://dj.dancecult.net/index.php/dancecult/article/view/681">written previously</a> about outer space, cyborg, natural/ecological and religious imagery in Scratch’s work. Another concept that recurs as frequently is that of magic. </p>
<p>In an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/mar/21/lee-scratch-perry-at-80-birthday-reggae-interview">interview</a> with the <em>Guardian</em>, a newly octogenarian Scratch was uncharacteristically direct on the subject: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Music is magic. If you have good music you have good magic. If you have good magic you will be followed by good people. Then they can be blessed by the one God. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s obvious to identify Scratch as a practitioner of magic in relation to his use of language, his virtuosity with spoken and written words. Maybe it’s missing the point, though. By restlessly repurposing language, Scratch pushes it towards an adequate secondary expression of the complex, layered reality he expresses so effortlessly in sound. </p>
<p>What’s exciting here is not that we might think of Scratch as a maker of magic because of what he tells us. Rather, it is that we might calmly and with a sense of intellectual or academic rigour acknowledge the magic in his art.</p>
<h2>Production as the practice of magic</h2>
<p>Positioning Scratch’s work as attaining the qualities of magic is not the same as essentialising the image of the man himself, making him a caricature musical mystic or shaman. Similarly, I’m not looking to reduce the work to a set of instinctual, unintellectual functions either. On the contrary, the proposition is to properly acknowledge Scratch’s work as irreducibly complex, deeply layered, subtle and nuanced. </p>
<p>Reggae historian <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bass-Culture-When-Reggae-King/dp/0140237631">Lloyd Bradley</a> has touched upon this quality of his work. Bradley attests to “an intrigue and multidimensionality too seldom even attempted in reggae”, and to musical ideas taken “way past the point at which logic would tell most people to stop, into a place where the instrumentation took on ethereal qualities”. </p>
<p>Filmmaker and author <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=KQ2WFvz6GXUC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false">John Corbett</a> similarly observes that the producer pushed his rudimentary four-track <a href="http://www.soundonsound.com/people/lee-scratch-perry-daniel-boyle-recording-back-controls">Black Ark studio</a> in Kingston, Jamaica, “way past conceivable limits”.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Bob Marley with ‘Natural Mystic’, as produced by Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry in the latter’s Black Ark studio.</span></figcaption>
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<p>It seems pressing now to reassert the status of record production – in the hands of a master of the art like Scratch – as the practice of magic, because from an educational perspective it’s increasingly difficult to do so.</p>
<p>It may have always been the case that to teach production as a creative discipline one has first to overcome some preconceptions: that it is primarily a technical activity; that there are right and wrong ways to do things; and that the success of a production can be assessed objectively. </p>
<p>For me, this means that while we need to be aware of the dangers of an uninterrogated mystical/mythical perspective on an artist like Scratch, the opposite danger of a reductive position that assumes his work can be understood simply, technically, that all of its qualities are tangible and replicable, is equally significant.</p>
<p>Auteurs like Scratch provide direct and convincing counterarguments to all of the above. We can analyse and deconstruct a production like <em>Bird in Hand</em> (from his album “<a href="http://www.allmusic.com/album/return-of-the-super-ape-mw0000174624">Return of the Super Ape</a>”, 1978). We can identify the tools and techniques used, and even demonstrate and replicate them with the nearest equivalent technologies available. But in doing so we still don’t really provide a template for remaking the particular sound of that mono-mix.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s ‘Bird in Hand’.</span></figcaption>
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<p>We certainly don’t get close to the strange magic that resides in a near infinite number of contributing factors, including myriad tiny decisions made by Scratch and the <a href="https://thenewperfectcollection.com/2016/03/27/74-the-upsetters-the-return-of-the-super-ape-1978/">Upsetters</a> live to tape in his <a href="https://www.discogs.com/label/273585-The-Black-Ark">Black Ark</a> studio.</p>
<p>These include nuances of performance and recording; the needle pushing into the red as the kick drum hits, the character of the resultant distortion dependent on the reel of tape used that day; the temperature in the room; dust and dirt on the tape heads; the same factors affecting each layer of echo provided by a tape delay unit, the variation of the speed of the motor inside that unit; hands on faders and filters; the physical circuitry of the studio, then near the end of its life. As soon as we look closely, the character, the sound of the mix, reveals itself to be fantastically complex, ultimately impossible to unravel. </p>
<p>In some ways, this is clear and simple. It’s easy to assert in the face of a reductive approach that art just doesn’t work that way. But changing educational climates make the alternative position – that the art of production can’t be delivered and measured so simply – more difficult to defend.</p>
<h2>Beyond reductionism</h2>
<p>A neoliberal educational context requires that the learning product sold by universities is neatly delineated, the success of the enterprise easily assessed. This model of “knowledge transfer” founders if the thing to be known is in part intangible, too complex to communicate in the course of, say, a two-hour lecture, and is itself born of experience.</p>
<p>If the question is how do we fit the magic of artists like Lee “Scratch” Perry into this framework, I’d propose the answer is that we cannot – and we should not seek to do so. </p>
<p>In “<a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/teaching-art-in-the-neoliberal-realm-realism-versus-cynicism/oclc/795528575">Teaching Art in the Neoliberal Realm</a>”, Stefan Hertmans grapples with what art might mean as a subject to be taught:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Perhaps art “works”, simply and incomprehensibly at the same time, precisely because we do not know what it is and cannot predict it. Because artists create art, they can afford to sidestep the question about its essence: it is clear from what they do. They embody its essence in their practice.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I don’t think this goes quite far enough. To observe that there are elements in any work of art that are essential but cannot be easily explained in a technically reductive sense is not to “sidestep the question about its essence”. It is to provide the most substantial, nuanced and truthful answer to that question.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">One of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s best known songs, ‘Disco Devil’.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Seeking an example of record production as the practice of magic, we could wish for none better than the extraordinary work of Lee “Scratch” Perry. As an educator, if I’m obliged to ignore that aspect of Scratch’s work, I’m dismissing much of what it can teach.</p>
<p>To argue for the magic in this music is to argue for its status as art – sophisticated, compelling and profound. When <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/mar/21/lee-scratch-perry-at-80-birthday-reggae-interview">Scratch tells us</a> that “the breath of live God” can manifest in his work as “perfect magic, perfect logic, perfect science”, he’s emphasising not a plurality of expression, but a one-ness. Magic, science and logic here are intertwined, inextricable and indistinguishable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61726/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Harries does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>One of popular music’s most influential artists, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, turned 80 this year. It is a good time to acknowledge his work as irreducibly complex, deeply layered, subtle and nuanced.John Harries, Lecturer in Popular Music, Goldsmiths, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.