After publication of her story Rita should have anticipated the problems wth any attempt to convert it into a movie. So much of Jamaica’s music publishing is owned by overseas interest that even ‘John Crow’ have to hide him shirt, partly because of our own doings. Hollywood is not a place concerned with personal narrative despite the pretensions. It is all about gross potential . Nor will the ‘powers that be’ allow marriage laws to hinder commerce and profit-making.In 1973 Chris Blackwell advanced Bob Marley four thousands pound to produce Catch A Fire. Today he celebrated as the singular individual to have positioned reggae internationally while smiling to the bank and owning some of the best real estate in Jamaica. Will director Martin Scorsese documentary address the dispute surrounding ownership of the tapes from these recording sessions? Lee Perry’s claim is that ‘dem used badman to tek wey the masters’ while his musicians were ‘bribed’ away to work for Island Records. Such is the Jamaican music industry where the threat of violence is omnipresent which begs the following question: Was the decision not to ‘free-up’ was family one or that of outside forces?
From Feb 6th to the 26th I visited Jamaica on business, participating in the celebration of Reggae Month and the Global Reggae Conference at U.W.I. Honestly, I was disappointed for it would seem that the festivities was all about Bob Marley. Mind you, the Gong deserve respect. But what about the other reggae icons, King Tubby for example? Only Irie FM carried a small feature on the dub organizer.
The other source of my displeasure was the fact that none of the presenters at the International Reggae conference deemed it prudent to discuss a possible role for this genre in addressing the many social problems affecting the country. For example, using this genre as the basis to teach math, science and engage student learning, especially male students within the non-traditional high schools who are failing yet expressed a strong a interest in music and digital media technology. The reader should note that this international event coincided with another important conference on Black Power as if the evolution reggae was not a part of this expression.
Truly, the academics at Mona can do much more to serve oppressed Jamaicans but they will have to overcome their egos and divisions, move beyond the confines of their offices and into the real world. Indeed a few has. But their posture is that of poverty pimps, advising the state to capture rudeboys, etc. while collecting fat salaries from the pain and cries of the inner city!