"Zimbabwe - Pride of Africa"

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interruptor
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"Zimbabwe - Pride of Africa"

Post by interruptor » Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:23 pm

In today's newspaper I found these two pictures:

- The first picture illustrates an article about the current hyper inflation in Zimbabwe of over 100'000 per cent. The article says that 100 US$ currently convert to 20 kilograms of Zimbabwe dollar bills.

- In the lifestyle section of the same issue I found an article about a planned movie on Bob Marley's life. The article is accompanied by a picture showing Junior Marvin (one of Marley's musicans) with a t-shirt saying "ZIMBABWE PRIDE OF AFRICA". I assume the picture was taken shortly after Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. Bob Marley and The Wailers played at Zimbabwe's independence ceremonies in front of president Mugabe and other dignitaries like Prince Charles and Indira Ghandi. It's the same president Mugabe who is still in charge today and who apparently lead the country to it's current state.
I doubt that Junior Marvin would still wear that shirt today..
Attachments
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front row, left to right: Bob Marley, Rita Marley, Junior Marvin
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sim_20kg_m.jpg
Hyper inflation in Simbabwe: 100US$ convert to 20 Kilogramm of Zimbabwe dollars
sim_20kg_m.jpg (14.69 KiB) Viewed 25705 times

Dub Attack Force
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Post by Dub Attack Force » Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:25 pm

Alas, many things have changed for the worse since the 1970s. A friend recently showed me this video:

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/se ... tles_music

It's so sad, that this culture we love has to go the way of fanaticism and blindness.

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Post by interruptor » Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:44 pm

"Reggae is dead!"... That's an interresting video.. When I heard these people complain about the sound clashes and skimpy outfits I thought at first that they are mainly disgusted by the current dancehall culture (see this Kingston street dance). Reggae and Dancehall are one and the same thing for many people.

But when one of them said at 07:30 that many Rastas playing Reggae ended up dead and that this even happened to the King of Reggae I realized that they refer to all forms of Reggae. He explains that on the same riddim you can hear good lyrics once and bad lyrics the next time around. Therefore he concludes this will teach nothing to nobody and they prefer to step away from all the confusion and stick to the Nyabinghi sound.
That was well explained and I understand his point.
I would not want to live in a world where everybody thinks that way though.. Being able to cope with diversity is important in order to live together in peace. Also to me it's almost frightening to hear all these people speaking the same words as if coming from the same mouth.

But after all we are only talking about music here. Rastas are not known for forcing their views on other people. So let everyone find their own way of being happy :meditate:
Last edited by interruptor on Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:27 am, edited 1 time in total.

Dub Attack Force
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Post by Dub Attack Force » Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:42 pm

My thoughts exactly.. only that I'm sure it's a lot easier for these guys to just criticise all reggae music out of hand than to try to make a superior music to the 'slack' producers and win the people over in that way. The guys in the 70s struggled through oppression, poverty and serious violence (which accounts for why they died young in some cases), and despite all that worked hard to create this music and bring it to all people of the world who seek liberation from downpressors.

Riddim Surfer
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Post by Riddim Surfer » Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:35 pm

Watching this video and reading the comments I have these to point out:
1. These are proper rastafarians. This means they are dedicated to serve a faith.
2. I never really bought the thing about reggae artists and Rasta faith. No more than an indian folk singer (isn't reggae just a folk music itself?) praises Shiva. This is the case here in Greece, too. Orthodox christianity is closely connected to ethiopian/rasta faith. Yet there is loads of good music.
3. I never listened to reggae music because of its religious background. To the life we live in the cities, reggae vibration has a spiritual meaning for me, and that is a message I want to transfer to people. Talking about peace, love and unity is universal. Skanking and rub-a-dub dancing is definitely necessary to a world that is afraid to -physicallu- come closer and leave the cold attitude of disguised 'seriousness'. As for the link posted by Interruptor...well we all agree that the music took a weird direction. I focus on the massive field that remains away from this madness.

We are all here for the music. It is our link. So simple. Yet so strong...

Dub Attack Force
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Post by Dub Attack Force » Sat Apr 05, 2008 12:20 am

Hi Riddim Surfer. Interesting thoughts... of course the Bobos are a minority and they have an inalienable right to practise what they profess as their faith regardless of anyone's opinions about what they're doing. The music has its own power, as the roots of reggae are firmly entrenched in the politics and religion, and is the only thing that can bring the people together rather than separate, so I respect it. Indeed most of the artists of the golden era of reggae did profess Rasta as their faith, and this influence is audible in the music.

From a rub, a dub.
From a skank, a-skank...

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Post by Riddim Surfer » Sat Apr 05, 2008 1:29 pm

Politics and music, inter-diffuse. That was always the case. You say something to few people. But you can express it (music) or address it (politics) to more people. See the reggae artists during the golden era. Involved in many ways into politics. I certainly dont believe that actions always go with words (see today's dancehall kings and queens). Of course everything fits within a frame of politics. Really poor youth are dreaming of BMWs and I guess there are many girl who see the next-to-the-driver seat as a passport out of poverty. This is something I am not entitled to talk about about, since I was lucky (enough) in my life. The point is what you do. And to me it is much better to use an instrument or a deck, than to use a gun.

"one good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain" someone sang...

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