Reggae/Dancehall: Jamaica’s Contemporary Mythology – An Essay
Concerning The Real and True Importance of Stories & Myth
Turn the eye of your mind toward the beginning of the human being’s residency on Planet Earth. Before we came to know the sobering procedural mannerisms of contemporary society. When the early human relied on their stories and their symbols, to communicate the necessary and elusive murmurs from the unknown regions of the human psyche. When Kings, Magis, Inyangas, Shamans, dragons, and demons were just a few of the archetypes and allegories employed in distilling the output of the collective and individual unconscious. Now come back to the present, where postmodern life labels these great representations of our untapped internal systems as non factual, thereby attempting to delegitimize any wisdom or catharsis to be had.
This is the era where we critically assess these remnants of ancient societies and try so desperately to intellectualize them in hopes of deciphering the nature of the unknown world. Truthfully, these unconscious systems, both collective and individual do not exist in a space of meaning. Meaning is a product of the conscious mind and therefore, our efforts to overexpose the world of mysteries, using the language of the rational 21st-century human will fail. The way of this communication between the conscious and the unconscious has always been through grand symbols, stories and allegories.
It’s sad to say, but the new era of man has all but abolished the phantasmal tales of our Gods and Devils that serve as the necessary dialogue between our hidden selves and that which we are aware of. Nietzsche proclaimed the death of God, and predicted the decay of humanity in its wake. Of course, this was in reference to religion which was also born from the story mechanism. In short, he believed that with the advent of science and more practical areas of study available to us, the systems of old would give way to a morally bankrupt society who no longer walked in the faith of a greater purpose beyond paying the bills. Perhaps he was right in some way. Without the tethers of vehicles like story, myth, ritual, or religion to the unseen world, there will forever be lapses, missing puzzle pieces of our soul. Voids that moan and wail at us from the recesses of the mind, which, try as we might, will never be silenced.
The churches are losing their grip on society, and so the space once occupied by religion, for many, has been filled by other means. Some seek, without any luck, to fill the voids using ephemeral or unsustainable means. The things being used the most for inspiration, motivation, or just emotional catharsis in this era is entertainment. It is a way for us to play out the tension that builds up between our conscious and unconscious minds over time. For America, the primary medium has been film and television. Here In Jamaica, the primary mythology, medium or vehicle for the dialogue between the conscious and unconscious, is music.
In many ways, I see our musicians as the best and worst of us. They are a microcosm of the greater, more complex melting pot that is the Jamaican population. I think in some ways we give artists license to express certain things we won’t because we know that those things need to be expressed regardless. We are perhaps unconsciously aware that the artist is one of the vessels through which the human experience becomes the subject, something Stuart Hall insisted was the impetus for evolution. He felt that the human being, in order to evolve, must have a self-aware experience, where they are able to observe themself at a distance. The resulting dialogue lays the foundation for our continued growth as a species. I think, however much of my pursuing music journalism has been for me, that much of it has been about learning the Jamaican through conversations with these musicians/artists. They are the very public, dreamlike projections of what we could become when we begin to achieve the kind of independence that liberates us from “the system”. And yet, at the same time that it liberates these artists and untethers them from the system, it connects them inextricably to the people and their fates. Although they are not dependent on the system, they are powered by the people and thus subject by law to the rights of a citizen.
The artist then finds him or herself in a precarious position, possessing influence on the level of a politician but with the civic power of an average Jamaican. And so even though they are greatly influencing the culture, rivaled by none in that way, their greatest power becomes their voice and their ability to reveal. In the end, they can only speak and do as much as any other wealthy person. In order to create real change in this country, the system must experience a renaissance of its own. That change can only be directly affected by someone who is a part of the system. Political and institutional change is what’s needed the most in Jamaica, musicians and artists have been doing their jobs for the better part of the last four to five decades. People often complain about the subject matter in the music pretty much remaining the same but if the society remains the same, the music can only deviate so much until it becomes disconnected and inauthentic. Not only is music one of our greatest exports as a nation, but Jamaican music also remains relevant and current to its people, a feat which not many Caribbean Islands, much less countries can claim. It’s always relevant, and I think because of that it was a good place to really observe the culture and the way it shifts in the present conjuncture.
The Mythology of Jamaican Music
For a country so small, it is often lamented as a testament to its power, that Jamaica’s cultural footprint far exceeds its size. We have multiple forms of indigenous music that has not only spread to the corners of the earth but also tie heavily into the language and social psychology of our fair island. Perhaps then, what mythology meant for the superstitious people of old, is what our local music means to contemporary Jamaicans. It’s a psychological aid, a complex system of meanings, cultures and archetypes that have built up over time, which help us through many of the changes and phases associated with life here.
At different points in our development as a country, different genres of music have been birthed and most of them rose out of people’s need for an archetype to give a voice to their messages. Most Jamaican music was born out of that great need and to that great purpose, therefore the people develop a relationship with the music that is interactive. Both Reggae and Dancehall, present the audience with two main guarantees; that their way of life is represented accurately by one of their own, and a consistent source of inspiration.
These artists and musicians present as archetypes and symbolize the general hopes, dreams, fears and passion of the population. Hence, for all intents and purposes, they are likened to the heroes or saints of old, appointed by divine providence to bear the power of higher forces, who are worshipped in catholicism and mythology. We do not worship them, but they do represent for us the hope of redemption and the possibility that we ourselves may rise above the mundane restrictions of economic strain and postcolonial traumas. Unlike the higher powers appointed by the state and its democratic process, for example, governmental institutions, these artistes or folklore figures maintain a presence in the lives of everyday Jamaicans. It is not our members of parliaments or area representatives that are with us in our darkest hours of need, but the music in the speakers speaking life to our truths. This familiarity breeds a sturdy kind of exchange between artistes, who must take the time to be perfectly aware of the average circumstances of their listeners in order to generate appeal in their music, and the audience themselves who consistently invite these artistes into their homes. This is not to say the relationship is one of complete adoration, and this is perhaps what finally sets it apart from superstition, because the audience undoubtedly conceives these archetypes as fallible and will on short notice discard one who violates their personal bias. Yet, the relationship holds a kind of sacred understanding and a status that is above that of policy makers. We are aware on some unconscious level, aware that it is the duty of these artists to challenge the ruling structures and balance the absolute power they hold by forcing the space open with criticism. A task that if not consistently kept in check can lend to the corruption of that absolute power.
Besides the evident power dynamics which the artists offset, perhaps the richest and most powerful aspect of these figures are their stories. The personal legends and myths of each and every dancehall and reggae artiste in the history of Jamaican music has added such vast beautiful tapestry to our culture. Vibrant stories of struggle, evolution and triumph that ring out from the older centuries to now. Tales of great deeds and trials of extraordinary men and women who have called upon their highest natures to perform feats of great renown. Bearers of light who have come to show us the way to our latent powers, envoys with messages from the ancestors of great unfoldings and of unending cycles. Then there is the way in which these individual mythologies coexist and the kind of atmosphere it breeds over the general population.
What is Myth?
Let’s start with what it’s not, which is untrue. Many people associate the word myth with the concept of a lie, something fake or unreal. English can be complicated, and in the same way there are multiple words to a single meaning, there are multiple meanings to a single word. The secondary meaning of the word myth is a widely held false belief. This is not the myth that we refer to here. When we say myth, throughout this paper, we refer to the primary meaning of the word; Mythology.
Mythology is a language that arises from the collective human unconscious, where dreams along with the primordial drives of our ancestors reside. The conscious mind or ego, perceives and communicates in terms of meaning, meanwhile the collective unconscious speaks in symbols and other representational systems. These two parts of the individual must communicate, and yet they speak two different languages. Mythology is the language that was born out of the need for this communication. What we understand as a way of life, is a harmony between the conscious and unconscious mind. Myth and story structures are used by the collective unconscious, in communicating with the conscious self. Culture is achievable because of the balance facilitated by Myth through this communication.
Initiation & Coming of age
For most of our young lives, we yearn for adulthood and all the things we imagine it means. We yearn for the freedom that we associate with being “grown” and calling our own shots just for the fun of it. The irony is, there’s a lot less fun in it than we allow our young minds to conjure, and we never truly appreciate the freedom and innocence we enjoy in childhood until it is lost to us. Sadly, it never occurs to us what the trade-off for this new found freedom in adulthood really is. No one tells us that the real reason we are suddenly gifted with more options when we “grow” up, is simply because choosing becomes vastly more difficult. Or perhaps someone does but somehow we never hear. In truth, modern life requires so many things of us as members of society that it necessitates a truly wise mind to rise to these expectations. It takes wisdom to know when to speak, when to act, when to give, when to take and even when to stand your ground. Pubic hair, menstruation cycles, raging hormones, these are not signs of adulthood, they are signs of a mature body. An adult mind is equipped with the faculties necessary for sustainable decision making in a jarring twenty first century world. Coming of age does not automatically make us ready to be older. So what exactly does? As one of the the most poignant writers of our generation Damian Marley, so succinctly put it, “Are we growin wiser? Or we just growin tall?”
I almost feel as if perfection isn’t a goal, but the true point is to come to terms. Coming to terms, is perhaps the quintessential summary for adulthood. Ironic. We come of age, but we come to terms much later.
Different minds
The difference between the child and adult psychology are so distinct that they occupy two separate disciplines in the science of the mind. Child and adolescent psychology are often grouped together in study, but adult psychology is it’s own pursuit. This is largely due to the fact that navigating the world and or nature in all it’s uncertainty and chaos, requires an adult mind. The child psyche is not equipped, and thus depends on an adult figure to offer support, protection and care. As the child psyche slowly enters adolescence, it gets a taste of the chaos while still sheltered by their adult parent figure. It is a very important transitionary period. The shift from child to adult psyche is complete, and often requires a forceful experience that symbolizes a changing of guard where the child is no longer dependent, but responsible. Responsible for itself, it’s environment and it’s community.
For many indigenous people, the traditional way to ensure that this transition happened, was initiation.
In particular, women are initiated by nature itself when their first periods come. This visceral experience and the seriousness symbolized by the blood, heralds their role as agents of nature, womb bearers. The ability to carry life, becomes the immutable sign of maturation taking place. It creates a bond with other women, the seasons, and cycles of life which endows her with a strength and flexibility, the likeness of which can be found only in nature’s mountains and rivers. Women, in this way, are arguably more equipped to deal with and usher change; a skillset which proves effective against the constant change in nature that sometimes manifests as the one true disaster and at other times, the one true gift. This deep and inexplicable bond marks them as initiates, young women.
Men, as agents of the world/society, are initiated by society through rites and rituals that rip the child(often physically) from his mother’s bosom and plunges him into a world devoid of that anchor. A world where the boy must find himself, fend for himself or be consumed by the wilderness. In many cultures, the boy must also return with a trophy or evidence of their conquest over the chaos. They must show their ability to tame the wild and create a bounded space that is secure, survivable and sustainable. Sustainable enough for young humans, their partner/s and at times, the family at large. In other words; they must return with proof that they can create the order necessary for building a home, in a world of uncertainty. If the boy accomplishes this, he is an initiate, no longer a boy; now a young man.
In today’s world, things have changed A LOT, obviously. But if you were keeping up, you’ll recall the gender more equipped to deal with change. Women have their fair share of discontent and oppression to their disadvantage. To their advantage, however, is their ability to adapt, their communal bonds with each other, and a keen intuition. Women are thriving more, fighting for more of what they deserve and getting it, largely due to these advantages. Most of the imbalance present in society is a result of the maladjustment of the male gender within the human species. Not men as such, but boys that have failed to mature.
The institutions, and traditions like rituals and rites that are meant to facilitate or forcefully initiate the child into maturity are slowly becoming lost to us. Men are no longer initiated through dangerous rituals and they have not been for a long time. Another key element meant to aid in this transition is also slowly being lost to us, or else changing forms. Mythology, or storytelling has been this key aid for many indegineous people all over the world. This practice goes back as far as drawings on cave walls, stories by the fireside or even song and dance festivals. We have used these often performative and coded mediums to teach our young about the world through narrative/story. It is a platform that simplifies, translates and facilitates the passage of adult wisdom into the vast imaginative psyche of the child. This is what myth and story does. What is is–well that’s something else completely.
Conscious and Unconscious
All this mind talk can seem very, heady, but here is a bit of context to help.
As human beings, we experience the world through senses that have a limited range of focus. In order for things to be perceived or processed by the conscious mind, they must be in focus. However, even though our senses have a limited range of focus, which defines the conscious experience, they still have great capacity for retention. This means that we undoubtedly retain large amounts of information that escapes conscious attention. This information is stored in the unconscious memory, a place that has it’s biological root in DNA. In earnest, it is our ability to recall information or skills stored in our genes that has spurred a lot of our evolution. Our upward mobility as a species has a direct correlation with the ancient dance between the conscious and unconscious faculties of the human being.
The Archetypes
At a certain point in any human life, for a myriad of reasons, we consider behavior and the patterns that we come to observe through interacting with each other and the world around us. What we are able to observe consciously and unconsciously is stored and preserved for later access. This is the concept of archetypes. It reasons that specific behavior patterns go with particular types of personalities. Mythology is made of a collection of these archetypes, conscious, unconscious, human and otherwise. Traces of these archetypes can be found in every story ever told. From the Magician, King, Warrior, Lover, to the Sage/Mentor, Trickster or even Guardian of the threshold; they all occupy spaces in our stories since the beginning of language. Stories of Anansi, the trickster has long adorned the halls of our myths and stories, so too have the rolling calves of the spirit world, and even the racially charged fire side stories of “Black Man, White Man, Chiney Man” that teach us how we are different.
The Warrior
“The characteristics of the Warrior in his fullness amount to a total way of life, what the samurai called a do (pronounced “dough”). These characteristics constitute the Warrior’s Dharma, Ma’at, or Tao, a spiritual or psychological path through life.”
War is an unnatural disaster. In its wake, not only the greatest atrocity, mass loss of lives, but often irreparable damage to the delicate balance of nature on this planet. Yet, it has become second nature to humankind. Imperialist countries enjoyed some level of success with their initial bouts of slavery, discovered travel and went on a tirade to enslave indigenous people. This by all accounts, spiraled into a war on all fronts. Now, as descendants of the indigenous people, Jamaicans inherited that self perpetuating war on the psyche, the emotions, the spirit and the body that exists as a result of a racist design by colonial forces. A war that is perpetuated and enforced by institutions, businesses, laws and even social sanctions. People of color all over the world, have had to lean into the warrior archetype for generations, just to survive. It’s no wonder so many maladjusted males become possessed by the archetype, and often develop a severe case of what I like to call “shadow sickness”. This is what occurs when a person becomes possessed by the negative traits of the archetype they are trying to access.
Our ancient history, however, is filled with rites and rituals that served to initiate the young and help them open their awareness to the state of the world and their purpose. Now as we are cut off more and more from those traditions, more males transform into adult children. They lose sight of their roles in society and a proper place to focus their tremendous capacity for destruction. They become lost and unsure how to use this destructive capacity which is meant to protect but also create spaces safe enough to propagate the human species. This disillusionment often leads them to become possessed by singular archetypes, a psyche imbalance that often makes them a danger to themself and those around them. In Jamaican culture particularly, the warrior archetype is the most common archetype that males find themselves possessed by.
Let’s take a look at the qualities of the warrior archetype as told by Robert Moore’s King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine.
Aggressive & Destructive
We have already mentioned aggressiveness as one of the Warrior’s characteristics. Aggressiveness is a stance toward life that rouses, energizes, and motivates. It pushes us to take the offensive and to move out of a defensive or “holding” position about life’s tasks and problems” -pg 83
For lack of a better, more complex and accurate word, we’ll use aggressiveness, because I do believe it’s a much more complicated behavior. The urban areas of the island are more prone to this behavior since it’s a more pressurized concentrated experience. Oftentimes, the only way to get very basic or efficient service in these urban meccas, is to be aggressive. These spaces are usually so saturated and competitive that in order to break through and have your voice heard, one has to either match the energy of everyone else competing for attention, or simply go beyond it. Over time, it has become an intrinsic characteristic for the average Jamaican. When this aggressiveness is harnessed and applied whether intentionally or not, to the acquisition of tools and skills, these pursuits are fully energized. This, in many instances, leads to phenomenal prowess or uncanny virtuosity. Or else it has instilled a mind that is proactive, solution based; always thinking on the offensive. The samurai in particular believe that facing life head on or frontal is the best way to seize the day and avoid tragedy. A similar thing can be said of Jamaicans, who often live by the mantra.
Prime example of this is Bounty Killer, formerly Bounty Hunter; the assertive, loud, confrontational character created by Jamaica’s very own Rodney Price as a champion of the people. Bounty Killer is the most comprehensive embodiment of the warrior archetype within the Jamaican music space. His predecessors like Ninjaman also invoked the warrior archetype by the very naming of themselves. These iconic figures were representations of what the warrior code in Jamaica boiled down to at any given time. It was always a melting point of different prominent cultures that fed into the society through mediums such as film and television. Josie Wales was a prominent Deejay at the inception of dancehall music, who adopted the moniker as a nod to his hollywood counterpart, and the outlaw lifestyle that was popularized by Western films around the 70s-80s. The outlaw was in essence, the warrior most Jamaican men strived to be in order to escape, survive or navigate their harsh realities. Slowly as the aesthetic of the films coming into our island changed, so did the aesthetic of the warrior evolve and begin to take in multiple variations of codes from different cultures, including our own.
Fast forward to today, and we have a generation of musicians that represent & tell the story of the dominant warrior code in contemporary Jamaica. Today’s warrior has grown more complex, nuanced, open, informed, dangerous, and grim. This is a new breed, arising in response to social conditions which continue to exacerbate their evolution into steadily darker versions of the warrior. Today’s warriors are made of darker fabric, a potential that has always lurked in the recesses of the archetype. The potential to not just destroy but to embody destruction, not just to take life, but to embody death. I feel this potential is intrinsic for all men, which speaks to a particular danger inherent in all members of the gender. I feel it at times myself, teetering on the fringes of my control. Lurking ever in the shadows, in search of a weak point where it may enter. I call it a potential, but perhaps it is a spirit, the same one that drove Shiva, in the Bhagavad Gita, to reveal himself to the prince saying “Behold I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” It was perhaps the realization of this potential that caused Oppenhiemer to quote the God of death and destruction upon witnessing the true devastation that his new atomic bomb had wreaked.
“The Warrior is often a destroyer. But the positive Warrior energy destroys only what needs to be destroyed in order for something new and fresh, more alive and more virtuous to appear. Many things in our world need destroying—corruption, tyranny, oppression, injustice, obsolete and despotic systems of government, corporate hierarchies that get in the way of the company’s performance, unfulfilling life-styles and job situations, bad marriages. And in the very act of destroying, often the Warrior energy is building new civilizations, new commercial, artistic, and spiritual ventures for humankind, new relationships.” -pg 89
Mindful
“How does the man accessing the Warrior know what aggressiveness is appropriate under the circumstances? He knows through clarity of thinking, through discernment. The warrior is always alert. He is always awake. He is never sleeping through life.
He knows how to focus his mind and his body. He is what the samurai called “mindful.” -pg 84
The quality of vigilance, paying keen attention or being mindful is also something Jamaicans generally have an intimate appreciation for. Most certainly we are a mindful people, which is only fair for ones who have survived what we have. We know it can mean the difference between a good time, and disaster and so we act accordingly. It is a sharpness of mind, clarity and solid reasoning, mixed with an acute awareness of the environment. With mindfulness, warriors can be timely and appropriate with the dispensing of their energy and the use of their tools. It is the very edge that sophisticates the sometimes brutish nature of the warrior energy. The faculty or characteristic responsible for directing the raw potential of the warrior and their many tools, is his/her capacity to reason and seek the best possible outcome. It is the cold calculative nerves of steel that make the warrior a maverick in our stories and our unconscious. When taken to the extreme, mindfulness can turn into paranoia, which is not uncommon and can result from shadow sickness.
Conquest over FOD(Fear of Death)
“The Warrior traditions all affirm that, in addition to training, what enables a Warrior to reach clarity of thought is living with the awareness of his own imminent death. The Warrior knows the shortness of life and how fragile it is. A man under the guidance of the Warrior knows how few his days are. Rather than depressing him, this awareness leads him to an outpouring of life-force and to an intense experience of his life that is unknown to others.” -pg 85
Fear is a primary driver for the human being, a backdrop against which humankind has established entire societies, developed medicine and whole new technologies. It is the response of the child mind to the unknown; a natural reaction. We cling to the known, in fear of the unknown. The adult mind, the mind of the initiate; is at one with death as an inevitable part of the life cycle. Just like the flesh and blood that binds us together, so too does death make us one. For the warrior, and indeed the typical Jamaican, the finitude of this experience makes it that much sweeter. Thus terms like “Give Thanks fi life” and the multitude of thanksgiving gestures, symbols, dance and songs permeate the culture. Many Jamaicans are determined to live their best life or have their most ideal experience even at the cost of their life at some later time. Our artists embody this warrior trait, this commitment to life without fear of death. More than embody, they accentuate it. Almost as though unconsciously, there’s some importance in drawing attention to it, the way a painter would use his background and foreground to bring attention to the subject of a painting.
Skillful
“He says little, moves with the physical control of a predator, attacks only the enemy, and has absolute mastery over the technology of his trade. That is another aspect of the Warrior’s interest in skill, his mastery of the technology that enables him to reach his goal. He has developed skill with the “weapons” he uses to implement his decisions.” -pg 86
Jamaicans have an unrealized fascination with skill and the power it has to change quality of life. For instance, certain aspects of deejay culture have their foundations in groups of children where the young fantasize about acquiring the skill and prowess that allow their musical heroes to elevate themself from abject poverty into wealth and comfort. They see music as a way to change things that make them feel otherwise powerless. With this understanding also comes the knowledge that only great skill and (in the case of the post-Vybz Kartel era) great controversy, will help one to stand out in what fast become a multitude of aspiring artists. Something about the principle, is the kind of simple profundity that accents our way of life. The idea that practicing something with a spiritual relentlessness, yields mastery or power over a tool, is the tactical kind of magic that we are used to as a people. It feels right in our bones. We put faith in it. It manifests in the music, and the champions that have risen to prominence. Champions we have chosen. All of them have been lyrical virtuosos, which is not to say they weren’t skilled in other areas, but lyricism was such a potent display of skill that it was a key factor. Until the emergence of Mavado. Our music has never lacked quality crooners like Alton Ellis, Dennis Brown, Beres Hammond, Ghost, etc, and we have always been prone to great melodies and sonic textures that remind us of church. As a religious country, Mavado’s blending of the popular warrior outlaw aesthetic with the god fearing melodic ballads hit home for us.
Vybz Kartel, our most skilled lyricist, for the first time had real competition on his hands, from someone who was arguably less lyrical. That match up manifested a generation before in the form of Bounty Killer (the lyricist) Vs Beenie Man (the wielder of melodies). A clash of skills. This seemed an inevitable conflict that had to take place in order for the audience’s consciousness to come to terms with both skills as formidable parts of a whole. Vybz Kartel evolved into a more whole, versatile artist post clash with Mavado, and his first gold single Fever came in response to that evolution. This evolution mid clash is what aided his victory and it reconciled for the audience, the idea that vocal prowess and skill with melody are just as valid as lyrical skill and songwriting.
Commitment to a cause or goal
“This devotion to the transpersonal ideal or goal even to the point of personal annihilation leads a man to another of the Warrior’s characteristics. He is emotionally distant as long as he is in the Warrior. This does not mean that the man accessing the Warrior in his fullness is cruel, just that he does not make his decisions and implement them out of emotional relatedness to anyone or anything except his ideal. He is, as Don Juan says, “unavailable,” or “inaccessible.” As he says, “To be inaccessible means that you touch the world around you sparingly,” with emotional detachment.” -pg 89
This trait is perhaps most detrimental to the warrior personally, as he/she often fails to take care of him/herself and loses those closest to him/her in the pursuit of said goal/cause. Yet, this commitment is what separates the pragmatic warrior archetype from the hero archetype. “The Warrior’s loyalty, then, and his sense of duty are to something beyond and other than himself and his own concerns. The Hero’s loyalty, as we have seen, is really to himself—to impressing himself with himself and to impressing others. In this connection, too, the man accessing the Warrior is ascetic. He lives a life exactly the opposite of most human lives. He lives not to gratify his personal needs and wishes or his physical appetites but to hone himself into an efficient spiritual machine, trained to bear the unbearable in the service of the transpersonal goal.” The Warrior’s commitment manifests in his/her lifestyle, and so they often resolve to forgo the comforts of the world, if it means the attainment of their goal, whether physical or spiritual. He/She lives on the fringes of society only bothering to become involved so far as it furthers their commitment. We can see this evident in the psyche of the average Jamaican and the typical dancehall characters played by artists. They are transfixed to their goal of changing the narrative, elevating their station in life and proving to others like him/herself that it is indeed possible. For some artists, their transpersonal goal is the attainment of greater skill with each waking moment and the elevation of music and artistry. These artists live accordingly, their commitment is evident in the discipline and personal responsibility they apply to their life.
Yet what is ultimately required of the individual is a whole psyche that has integrated all fundamental aspects of the masculine and femine mind. This means that the warrior archetype must be balanced with the lover archetype, that requires the balance of the King archetype, which in turn is balanced by magician archetype. All these archetypes possess negative traits and shadow emanations that can manifest when the individual allows themself to become possessed or sick with the shadow. The successful integration of these archetypes is the basis for a healthy mature adult mind.
Music as Modern Mythology
As our society changes, and evolves, shedding old traditions is an inevitable part of the human journey. Yet, there are those traditions which are so vital to the foundation of our being, that as we shed them, we also shed pieces of our essence. The tradition of passing along messages and insight into the world around us, through the oral tradition of storytelling, is slowly fading. With a widening generation gap and a pandemic virus more dangerous to the older people, much of the wisdom of our elders will be lost to us. When added to the tumultuous colonial history of Jamaica people, which left little space for literary attempts at the former; a slowly fading oral tradition creates a devastating lack. In the midst of this lack, music has become the main medium for telling our stories, archiving our history, and discussing the culture among ourselves. There is no denying the power and influence of music on Jamaican people. Much of what we come to learn about life as adults, we are first initiated by the music. Music often picks up the slack that the academic system leaves in its wake. Slack like disenfranchised learners, untaught skills and life lessons, proficiency with important tools, even something as simple as sexual education.
The claim I make here is not that Reggae and Dancehall are like Greek Mythology and our acts are gods. The real key observation is that Jamaican music, at some point, became the place where we went to learn important things about the social landscape that the system failed to teach us.
Reggae is Mind/Consciousness; Dancehall is Community
Much of our mythology was severely fragmented in the transatlantic slave trade and the colonization of our people made it virtually outlawed to not just be literate but to record, read or share anything that saw us as more than slaves. Thus the need to codify our stories became even greater. The result in my own estimation, is several genres of music born and bred in the most anti colonial spaces possible; the heavily monitored slave gatherings of the colonial era and the feared ghettos of post colonial Jamaica. Our efforts to codify our music made Reggae, the critical mind from which we could observe and discuss the spiritual and political life of early Jamaica. Reggae is about changing or soothing minds, which are two important functions in the development of any people/country.
Meanwhile Dancehall the genre is about being together, in the most broad sense. It’s about us being together as citizens, as men and women, as friends, as lovers. It is a radical way for us to come together with our many differences. The radical aspect of dancehall is the space or the room that it allows to house all our differences. The ghetto, inner cities and garrison communities of Jamaica became the contemporary spaces where postcolonial citizens could stand against the imperial sentiments of the british and spanish empires without fear.
Fast forward to Jamaica in 2020 and these genres like Reggae and Dancehall are still platforms for disenfranchised citizens to pass messages, speak on injustice, commune, express and liberate themselves. We literally grow up on music.