Achis' Reggae Blog: Texting Garvey: The Influence of Marcus Garvey In Modern Reggae

“Teach the likkle children about him”

-Mosiah Chant by Yahadanai from the album One Atonement

In my not so far in the rearview mirror college years, I can recall having the privilege of writing a paper on Reggae music (duh) for a class on Pan-Africanism and the single greatest bit of information I remember in regards to that paper was the LOVELY opening line which I’m sure I must have subconsciously plagiarized from someone: “Reggae music is the unofficial soundtrack of the Pan-African movement”. I would go on to subsequently make my case largely on the fact that many of the names which we were studying in the class (and now in retrospect I can probably rather safely say ALL of the names we were studying) were names that I know had been mentioned and mentioned in-depth in Reggae songs, even at the time. We would go on to learn of names like the late and great poet and Négritude activist Aimé Césaire from Martinique and former President of Senegal, Léopold Senghor and, even in their cases, especially now, I’m quite sure I could find Reggae music mentioning them also. That entire, all encompassing branch of the story and hopefully the future of the children of Afrika, meaning Pan-Africanism, in all of its various forms has been covered in Reggae music. That’s first. Not to mention, also, that the music has been relatively close to what could be defined as ‘mainstream’ culture, worldwide and its BEAUTIFUL would ultimately lead me to declare, in the paper, that the story, specifically of Pan-Africanism could be DIRECTLY EXPLAINED through Reggae music and specifically Roots Reggae.

Pan-African Flag

Now, in retrospect, what was one of the most interesting bits that resulted from that paper was the fact that my professor (who I believe was Nigerian and a HUGE), a fan of Reggae music (he specifically mentioned to me at one point that King Yellowman was a pretty big star in his land of birth), would, after giving me my deserved ‘A’, make the case that although I had presented a relatively fresh point in the paper, that he failed to see that it was still the case with modern Reggae music. He would, of course, point to people like Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Burning Spear and deem them the ‘keepers’ of the Pan-African movement within Reggae music. Of course, I had a problem with that because out of the three, in particular, two are and were deceased at the time. He would build his point largely surrounding the case of the Honourable Marcus Garvey who he would point out as being so prominently supported in Reggae of yesteryear, whether directly being mentioned by name or indirectly, through adoption or promotion of his ideology and it was his case that the influence of Garvey had been slowly drained from Reggae music and, by extension Reggae culture as a whole, worldwide. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Think of it this way. Go on any retail site, Amazon, iTunes, Emusic, Rhapsody, Napster, whatever and search Marcus Garvey’s name within the scope of music and in specifically Reggae if you can. Then go and do the same thing for ‘Black Star’, then ‘Black Star Liner’ and notice the mammoth amount of returns. Two things about that will COMPLETELY, modernize that in my opinion: The first is that the artists and songs themselves may actually be newer artists who have emerged since the days of Marley, Tosh, Dennis Brown and Winston Rodney (even though the days still belong to him) and I‘ll deal with that in a moment; And the second is that, even if they’re not newer artists and you run into people like Fred Locks (who would be somewhere between the generations), what you’re mainly going to be dealing with on those sites are either actual CD’s or, even more fitting, digital downloads. Maybe they did but I don’t know if Marley or Tosh and the likes would have forecasted a day where people, all over the world, would have been able to access their ENTIRE catalogues with just the push of a button. Somewhere, right now, someone is downloading a copy of Burning Spear’s IMMORTAL catalogue of specifically Marcus Garvey headed material. That’s a very modern occurrence and even though it comes within a scope of being decades and decades old, you wouldn’t dare place such an album on a digital site in specific thinking, “Okay, great, all the old Reggae fans will buy these”. NO! It is your intention to catch the eyes of new fans, the type of fans who’ll read this and maybe haven’t heard that no one, supposedly, remembers old Marcus Garvey. Reggae, like most musical genres, has slowly (and definitely a bit too slowly) managed to catch up to the times and with it, it has brought a whole heap of ideas and faces and names, some of which may have been otherwise completely lost (and definitely Garvey’s is not one which fits in here, however) to the masses and, quite honestly, have made a blog like mine easier to run because I know that not only is the reference material available but the actual material is also. I could talk almost endlessly on any topic and know that, for the most part, save the most obscure of my moments (and even those will likely become available someday), it is available and in no small part. We therefore can claim a rather small but burgeoning and POWERFUL chunk of the past, as the present. Marcus Garvey is alive and well in that chunk also.

And even if he weren’t, it isn’t like he would be invisible, he still exists today. Indirectly, the cases could be endless and even though (YOU KNOW) I’d love to sit here and try and identify each and every reference to The Prophet, that is the kind of time that even I don’t have. Instead, you’ll do it for me: How many times have you heard a Reggae song speaking of repatriation? Its gotten to the point that of the several things I include in my mental ‘chart’ when reviewing an album (and almost always they’ll make it to the finish product also), is “obligatory repatriation anthem”. I would say that approximately three out of every five modern Roots Reggae album will have at least one. You’ll see complete albums also built around the subject, you’ll hear it mentioned on intros, liner notes and even on album promos. The case for Repatriation for people of Afrikan descent is one which I wouldn’t even attempt to make to any large degree sans the name Marcus Garvey and although you will hear tunes which don’t mention him BY NAME, almost ALWAYS, they’ll find a way to call upon Him still. For example? How many times have you heard either Black Star or Black Star Liner mentioned in a song? Recently, I was going through the archives and re-ran across such a tune, very inconspicuously, Black Star Liner from Jah Mason’s No Matter The Time. Its certainly not the only such tune the very modern Mason would have to his credit and it’s just kind of there being overlooked, which isn’t the problem (at least not in the case of this piece) but, lest you think Garvey’s gone (or exactly what book Natty King was reading on his album cover). . . That’s just a single example sitting out of undoubtedly dozens at my current disposal right now. What about one of Bushman’s early hits, the HEAVY Black Starliner? Forget that one too?

Prince Malachi's album Prophet Priest & King (1999)

Completely more forgivable would be if you’ve forgotten Marcus Garvey’s spiritual standing. I purposefully made the decision not to stress, too heavily, Garvey’s representation in Rastafari and in Rastafarian culture because it is a very easily researched topic and another topic within its own (one with a far more historical anchor than I’ve intended for this piece) and while many, if not all, of the artists you’ll read about in this piece will be Rastas, this article’s author is a Rasta and the music itself is ripe with Rastafarian imagery, I hope I can successfully get the point across, specifically His presence within the music with respect to time. HOWEVER, I would be doing you and also myself a disservice if I didn’t directly touch on the matter at least a SOMEWHAT because, again with the different modules of media today, you can approach such a subject with lean towards time. Whenever you’ll hear an artist speak of something to the effect of, “Prophet, Priest & King, you will surely know that the “Prophet” in that equation is Garvey. Even further on that is, from a historical point of view (I had to do it), it was Garvey who prophesied the coming of a Black King, who was to be Emperor Haile Selassie I, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of The Tribe of Judah, the literal pillar upon which Rastafari is built. Thus, a rather GLARING indirect way in which Garvey is forever linked to Reggae music, Reggae culture and the entire Reggae listening world. Every time you hear a reference to Rasta, in any way shape or form, there is a subtle reference to Garvey as well. When will they Reggae and Rasta NOT go hand in hand, at least in the minds of most people? Never. Black Unity is also in the same situation as one of the core values of Pan-Africanism and one which was stressed by Garvey. I wouldn’t go as far with this concept as I did with Rastafari but definitely it isn’t rare at all to hear references to The Prophet when an artist is dealing with the concept of Black unity and unity of all people, in fact.

Another brief phenomenon that I’ve noticed is the (BIG) inclusion of segments of Marcus Garvey’s speeches in music and on albums. Most recently, Lutan Fyah’s album, African Be Proud had a cut of one used as its intro but it wasn’t the first time the ‘duo’ had linked together as on one of Fyah’s earlier projects, the WICKED Time & Place, the tune Ithio First had also a piece from a speech from Garvey. Also, as the header mentions, a very fiery Garvey appears on One Atonement, Yahadanai’s only album, from 2004, on a tune appropriate titled ‘Mosiah Chant’ (which literally takes the credit, “featuring Marcus Mosiah Garvey” on the album) which was an excellent touch an, subsequently a BRILLIANT song.

At the very end of this piece you’ll see album cover after album cover referencing, in some way, shape or form, Marcus Garvey. Be it by his own picture (photo or drawn) or through mentions of his ideology. All of these albums are definitely what I would call modern Reggae and what would be the very first thing you notice about an album? The cover, of course. While Marcus Garvey certainly needs no ‘promotion’ at this point, I might even go as far to say that, outside of Selassie I and ONLY Selassie I, not Bob Marley and not after any other prominent figure, his is the face which resonates most with the music and also.

So, in closing, I would mention that the legendary Burning Spear once said in his unforgettably TIMELESS classic, Old Marcus Garvey, “No one remembers, old Marcus Garvey”. I’d have to most respectfully disagree with Winston Rodney. We remember him well Father. Have a look: