Denise Reid, Gleaner Writer
Nagarey Braham by his stall in Montego Bay, St James. Braham insists that dancehall music has no negative impact on him. - photo by Denise Reid
WESTERN BUREAU:
Despite growing concern about the correlation between dancehall and crime, some people with intimate connection to dancehall music are contending that it is unfair to label the genre as a contributing factor to the violence in society.
Anthropologist and lecturer at the University of the West Indies, Herbert Gayle, says dancehall is not a major contributor to violent crime.
Instead, Gayle advocates that it is a form of social commentary that is an indicator of what is taking place in society.
"That's what traditional reggae used to do. The thing about dancehall is that it's doing the same, but in a more direct and abrasive manner. It is not using any language that allows the sophisticated to be happy," remarked Gayle.
"(Dancehall) is not a root cause (of violence). If you never had all of these problems before, you couldn't have a situation where anything as simple as a song causes people to harm each other," he continued.
No negative impact
Similarly, Nagarey Braham, a 20-year-old vendor in Montego Bay, St James, told The Gleaner that although he frequently listens to violent dancehall songs and knows the lyrics well, it has not impacted him negatively.
Braham lives with his girlfriend and they have a one-year-old son. Pushing carts before he began selling fruit, he was asked if there were ever days of desperation when he was influenced by songs such as Bounty Killer's Anytime. He laughed at the thought.
"No music nuh cause violence. A people cause violence. Arguments and friction cause violence. The music can't tell me say me fi go kill Spirit or hate Ms Emily. Me haffi decide that on me own," said Braham.
Gayle, however, has admitted that while dancehall is not a root cause of crime, it is a very good trigger for violence. "There are a few persons, who, having had the impetus to harm others, use dancehall - just like they would any other music form - as their trigger to do something."
Gayle says the society is too reactive and insists that its people must take time to clean up the problems that have put the country into a quagmire.
Among the problems Gayle lists are inequality, political manipulation, improper governance and a massive gap between opportunities being offered to youth versus the goals society teaches them to have.
