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MarleyTyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
Bob Marley, technological advances, the conception of reggae itself and the crossing over of the same, as well as collaborations with other genres are just some of the dissimilar views as to opinions on the local music industry's greatest ever strides.
Several key players in the local music business were asked their opinion on the greatest advance or the single greatest moment in Jamaican music history.
According to Copeland Forbes, who has been associated with a lot of great names in the business, including Bob Marley and presently Luciano, and is celebrating his 40th anniversary in the music industry this year, says that the cake must go to the roads that were paved by reggae music in its heyday.
"The greatest advance, to my recollection, which our music has made and which I am proud of but it is not around now, is when our music made the inroads into the Far East, over in Japan, where we reached a level where we were attracting numbers like 70,000 people at Japan Splash."
"It was a blessing to see that, when I stood on the stage and saw the sea of people out there. Bob was there some 20-odd years ago and 20 years later we could carry on and bring it to that level. It felt great to see that our music had achieved this level in a country that is not an English speaking country, but yet still everybody knew our songs and were singing them. That one stands out a lot in my mind," Mr. Forbes explained.
As proof that great minds think alike, Mr. Forbes' point was bolstered by renowned producer Donovan Germaine, who has also worked with a lot of greats over the 32 years his career has already spanned.
"I would say the greatest advance in the history of our music would be the international acceptance that the music has achieved, but that is kind of broad, so basically I would narrow it down and say the inclusion of Reggae music in the Grammy Awards. It was quite a step for our music," he said.
Jeffrey 'Assassin' Campbell is of the view that one could not mention the greatest achievements of Jamaican music and not mention the great pioneer, Robert Nesta Marley. It is interesting to note that Bob Marley died before the 19-year-old deejay was born, but he nevertheless paid his tribute to the 'Gong'.
"The greatest advance in the history of our music, I would say, goes to the achievements and recognition of Bob Marley and how they highlighted our country. Nobody or nothing not parallel to that yet," he said.
The Marley tribute continued when longtime deejay Flourgon, who has been in the business since Assassin was four years old, reasoned along the same lines as the youngster. "I would say it was when Bob Marley got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Yuh done know seh ah fi wi dat; from dem see Bob Marley dem see reggae," emphasised the veteran.
The focus was shifted somewhat, when The Sunday Gleaner spoke with Damion 'Baby Cham' Beckett. His focus was more on his era. "Since me deh yah, since my generation, I would say when dancehall artistes started collaborating with hip-hop and R&B artistes and started to make some headway into the international markets and in so doing gaining the possibility of successfully crossing over," he said.
This point was reiterated by Monster Shack crew member Otis 'Roundhead' Morrison, as he too thought that the progressions of this era were worthy of the crown. "Mi woulda seh the vibes weh a gwaan right yah now in terms of sales and promotion and the collaboration with overseas acts. The music ah get there, it ah get across," he pointed out.
Actor Volier 'Maffy' Johnson, representing the acting guild, went to the genesis. "I think great things happened when we created our own reggae music, when we moved away from the ska era - although it was beautiful - and went into rocksteady and reggae, our own personal music" he said.
The female fraternity spoke through the strong voice of Nadine Sutherland. She crowned the increased knowledge in the technical and business aspects of the game as her champion.
"People are becoming more aware and more sophisticated about the technical aspects of the music business and what it takes to be successful in the industry. They are more aware of the copyright and other technical issues within the business," emphasised Nadine, who has recently made her comeback with two new tracks, Jah is My Light and Promise.
Seeing that we are now residing in a computer-oriented and software driven society, there is little doubt that technological advances would have made the list. Producer of the popular 'Liquid' rhythm, Jeremy Harding, gave major props to the technological aspect of the business, which he tagged as making the business more quality-friendly. "I would say multi-track recording, because before you had it you would have to just record one big stereo mix in one take, so the band would have to rehearse and do the recording one time. You could not add or subtract different parts or fix a couple words here and there and you couldn't mix the record either, but the introduction of multi-track recording allows all of that," he said.
Technological evolution received another shot in the arm from the radio's 'Vibes Master', Jerry D. "I can't really pinpoint any, but one of the many is the proliferation of new technology that has granted greater access and reduced cost to many more persons," said Jerry D.
