Reachingback, grasping distantmemories handed down through generations
of a battered and bruised people, across a vast and unforgiving ocean, a glimmer of hope was born, coveted, and passed along as an heirloom of a culture once known but lost. Living in the flicker and shadows of a campfire, engrained in the DNA of it’s people, the heart beat rhythm of Roots Reggae music, the foundational sound of Jamaica’s most beloved music, was born.
Stretching back to pre-colonial days, brought to Jamaica by slaves from the
area in Africa called Ghana, or traditionally “Ashanti,” came the Ghanaian rhythms that were first cultivated by the fierce autonomous tribe of people living on the island of Jamaica known as the Maroons. The Maroons were people brought from Africa to Jamaica as slaves but had broken free from the grasp of slavery and lived freely in the area known as “Cockpit Country.” They warred with the British, fought hard, and won their freedom. It was the Maroons who bridged the gap from Ancient Africa to Modern day
Jamaica, keeping distant memories of the past, traditions, and music, alive in their culture.
From the Maroons the syncopated rhythm of “Burru” drumming became the dominant style of folk music and influenced Jamaican cultural traditions. The music was found in early Rastafarian communities though it was played in different and more serious context and later altered to include the influence of Kumina drumming and became known as “Nyabinghi.” Rasta camps like Count Ossie’s in the hills of Wareika were the “born ground” of the first socially accepted Rasta music in Jamaica.
In the late 50’s, out of Count Ossie’s camp, came a fierce and socially aware music that employed the traditional Burru sound but brought in unconventional jazz horns to play over the trance like rhythms. Groups like “The Mystic Revelation of Rastarari,” which came out of Count Ossie’s camp, were among Jamaica’s first Rasta recording artists. Many musicians would visit the camp and learn the traditional styles of music as well as become educated about Rastafari. The Rastafarian movement, which began in the early 1930’s, began to attract more and more people and the music being such a part of the culture, attracted more and more musicians.
In the Early 60’s, Jamaica’s first original music, Ska, was born. Trombonist and composer for
"The Musical Lineage of Hope, Rasta, and Roots Reggae Music"
by Roger Landon Hall