The Influence of Reggae Music on British Society

In my paper, I will be critiquing the influence reggae music has had on British society. I will be focusing on the impact that immigrants who arrived from Jamaica during the 1960 and 1970 had on the integration process of black and white communities in Britain. I will predominantly critique the effect that the rise of reggae music in the media had on the integration process and how it subsequently helped Britain turn from a closed and conservative society of 1970 to be a country that paved the way for multiculturalism of 1980.In order to understand what I am focusing on in my paper, it is necessary for me to first explain what I mean by the word media and what aspect of the media I will be focusing in my paper.

Media is a tool or way in which we can receive news, promotional messages and entertainment through communication channels. Media covers a large area which makes it complicated to explain. Media are mediums such as TV, magazines, newspapers, radio, mail or internet through which we the viewer, listener or receiver receive information. there is usually considered to be two forms of media communication, media and mass media. The difference is, that mass media is when there is information transfer a large number of consumers/viewers/listeners at once, for example, radio stations that have thousands of listeners, that hear a song/news or other live broadcasts all at the same time, and on the other hand, an online video that has been viewed separately one by one from the comfort of one’s home/office or simply at the touch of a button while on the road. Music is a communicative medium and can be used when related to media, as a way of expressing feelings, to share culture and to deliver a message either directly or subtlety. Media is a very broad term and covers many aspects, therefore in this essay, I will focus on the impact music has on the media.

The media outlet

I will be critiquing is music. Music is an art, but it also is a form of media. What exactly is music though? Music is a part of our culture and history and aspects of music can be considered to be valued as well. We are surrounded by music in our daily lives. it is a combination of sound that might be pleasing to hear to the human senses. Music normally consists of a rhythm, beats and style. There are many types of music genres, each genre is determined by their unique patterns, particular sounds or instruments used. As an example, Punk rock has a fast rhythm and the kick usually follows on the count of 1 and 3 when counting to 4, on the other hand, blues has the same kick pattern, but a slower rhythm and other characters that differentiate it completely from punk rock. Art is about taste and many people have different thoughts and preferences, in some cases, music can be controversial when mixing genres or creating new art that has mixed characters from different genres. The main aim of music is about creating something new or unique to express the artist's goal. Music can be an instrument of social influence and change and is a powerful form of communication. Music can be personal, political, opportunistic, and self-expressive with therapeutic effects due to the release of emotion.

In Order to fully understand my paper, it is necessary for us to understand what I am talking about when I say Britain and England. Britain also often known as the United Kingdom is an Island located in Europe. Britain is made up of the following countries England, Scotland, and Wales. England is a country which is a part of Great Britain and the United Kingdom. Its capital is London and the population in the 1970s was estimated to be around 53 million.

Today the population is estimated to be approximately 66,5 million. During the 1970s the population consisted of mainly white people. In terms of religion, the majority of the population was the church of England or Roman Catholics. England during the 1970s was very different to the England we know today. It had a large working-class population and there was a large and obvious divide between upper, middle and lower-class communities. England during this time was predominately white. In England during the 1970’s there was still an ongoing debate regarding race and social classes, black people were trying to integrate into what was a predominately white society and black immigrants who were arriving were forced to integrate into white working-class communities. This leads me to my next point where I will explain what immigration is and where the immigrants of the 1970s were arriving from and what outcome did immigrants arriving in Britain have on British society.Immigration is when people leave their home country and move abroad to a new country in order to start a new life.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Britain received large numbers of immigrants from many different countries. There was a large arrival of Irish immigrants who integrated into British society quite easily, this was predominantly due to the fact that they were of the same ethnic background, shared similarities in terms of religion and spoke the same language. However, there were also other immigrants who arrived in Britain during this time who did not, or were not accepted so easily by British communities. One of these groups who had some problems integrating were Jamaicans.

After the second world war, there was a high demand for labour in the UK. Jamaican immigrants were arriving for many different reasons such as studies and a higher standard of living, but mainly for employment. At the beginning of the 1960s, it is estimated that around 150,000 immigrants from the west indies lived in Britain, by 1971 this number had almost doubled, there were 313,00 West Indians living in Britain, in these figures Jamaicans accounted for 171,000 of the 313.,000. During the 1970s there were also many other smaller groups of immigrants arriving from countries such as Pakistan and Kenya.As I will be mainly focusing on the influence Jamaican immigrants had on race relations in England it is vital to have a basic understanding of the history of Jamaica and its people. The reason many Jamaicans chose to emigrate to Britain over other English-speaking countries was mainly down to the fact that England had previously colonized Jamaica. In 1655 the British took over control from the Spanish who previously colonised Jamaica. Jamaica became an official British colony from 1707 until 1962.

In 1962 Jamaica gained its freedom from Britain and was officially declared an independent country. The people of Jamaica were historically used as slaves by the British and were exploited and forced into slave labour by the British who saw the Jamaicans as a cheap labour force during the 19th century. Trading slaves was officially made illegal in 1807, however, slavery itself did not end until the 1st August 1834 after a legislation had been passed the previous year in the British parliament. This dark part of Britain’s past contributed to racism towards black people and forced a wrong social hierarchy on the population. This hierarchy at the time saw white people as superior to black people, this subject is today a highly debated topic and has been studied by many theorists such as Frantz Fanon and Stuart Hall. England of the 1960s and 1970s was a more developed country than Jamaica in terms of having better facilities, higher labour protection and a higher life quality even though it was only 30 years after the end of world war two.

The years after world war two were followed by important historical events that shaped England and its core values and the main beliefs that British society held. There was a rise in nationalism in Britain after world war two and strong pride in being British.Britain in the early 1900s consisted of largely of white Christian communities. The arrival of immigrants to Britain started to make racist phrases more popular. The word “race hatred” was first used in the media in the late 1920s and words such as racism became a more frequently used word in the UK after 1936. Although Britain of the 1960s already had a lot of experience with new immigrants arriving, Britain was still a majority white society that had racist tendencies and values. There were many cases of racism during the 1960s and 1970s with many incidents being reported to police such as white landlords refusing to sell or rent their properties to black people and in particular to people from the Caribbean.

There were also other similar cases such as barbers refusing to allow immigrants into their salons.A famous and more well-known act of racism that took place in the public eye, happened during the elections of 1964. In the town of Smethwick, the Conservative party ran a very anti-black and anti-immigrant campaign. The party was openly discriminating against black people and ran the campaign on feelings of hate. They promoted segregation between black and white communities throughout its campaign. This led to outbursts of violence in the town of Smethwick and throughout Britain. The violent actions on both sides had split the community in two and divided many people in the country.

Due to the violent actions that took place during the elections the race relations act of 1965 was passed in the British parliament. It was the first piece of legislation in the UK to address the prohibition of racial discrimination and followed previously unsuccessful bills. The Act banned racial discrimination in public places and made the promotion of hatred on the grounds of ‘colour, race, ethnic or national origins’ an offence.Following the act being passed, there was yet another increase in the number of people who had moved to the UK. At the time of the Act being passed, there were nearly one million immigrants living in the UK. The Act was highly criticised for failing to address vital areas where discrimination was most prominent in areas such as employment and in wider aspects such as finding accommodation.

Due to the race relations act of 1965 being insufficient and not covering all required areas. This led to the creation and subsequently passing of the 1968 Race Relations Act, which made unlawful acts of discrimination within employment, housing and advertising illegal. Should I include Jamaica details Although many laws had been put in place they were still not breaking down the divide between the two communities, The music scene in Jamaica had always been prominent and had a lot of influence on Jamaican society. The songs that were popular on the Jamaican music scene were directly linked to the history of Jamaica and its cultural spirit, due to that there was a noticeable rise of nationalism and independence awareness in Jamaica among the people during the 1960’s. This became even more valid when in 1959 the Jamaican broadcasting corporation was formed and began to influence the Jamaican society through local Jamaican music. Music began to play a huge part in bringing the two communities together. They began to unite in their love for reggae music but what was reggae music and why did this bring both communities together? Reggae is a music genre that has its roots in the Jamaican culture. The unique characters of this type of music are the slow rhythms, clean guitar chords with reverb and delay effects used with unique strumming techniques and spiritual lyrics.

The idea of reggae music came from the traditional Buru drumming, Buru drumming was an Ashanti-Jamaican style of drumming. Its origins lie in the history of the Jamaican slave trade when slaves would work in fields or other vast areas slave masters allowed Buru drumming to take place as it provided a rhythm for the slaves to work. Once slavery was abolished, most of the “Buru” players moved to the slums of Kingston (Jamaica capital), and this is where reggae music originated. Reggae music was created when the old “Buru” drumming was combined with biblical themes of oppression and liberation thus developing into what we recognize today as reggae music. During the rise of reggae music in the slums of Kingston a new religion was also on the rise known as Rastafari.”. In 1930 a man name Selassie was crowned as the emperor of Ethiopia. Many believed that he was a spiritual messenger and a god that has been sent to earth to lead Africa to freedom. One of his names was “Prince Ras Tafari” and the people who believed in this were called “Rastafari”.

The Rastafari religion began to embrace reggae music as its own and the connection between both reggae and Rastafarian grew and both started to be a symbol for the other.In the early 1950s reggae music began to develop reggae was mixed with elements of American jazz, black rhythm and blues and from this, the “ska” genre was created. Ska has its origins in reggae music but has a faster rhythm. In the 1960’s reggae emerged, the slow rhythm and emphasis on bass and the connection the songs had with stories of urban deprivation and of the power of collective social consciousness. In 1964 Ska music was Jamaica’s most popular music genre, it had a cultural and political connection to the people and therefore it was so popular. During the mid-1960s reggae music was becoming popular around the world, reggae music had started to show the spirit of the people of Jamaica to the world. The music helped to create an image of Jamaica and began to promote Jamaican culture and politics to the world. Songs were talking about the individual stories and experiences of the music artists their beliefs, goodwill or romantic experiences. Reggae music had a big impact on the relationship between black and white people during history, it has political, personal and spiritual meaning.

During the 1960s artists like “Bob Marley” were the main symbols of reggae music, these artists helped promote the genre. it influenced other new genres and artists and became the connection between the white and black communities of Britain of the 1970’s. It was the first time in predominantly white Britain that both black and white communities came together and united in their passion for the same music. As more and more people from both communities started to listen to the Caribbean music, a new chapter of sharing cultures started. From starting to go to reggae concerts and to perform on the same stage black and white as one. Music brought this connection between two sides together and people were able to share the same passion and love for music and on and on a larger scale began to communicate about daily life issues.

A form of cultural exchange started to happen in schools when young Caribbean children brought the music into school. As well as this, new and old British Rock bands, punk bands and artists started to fuse their styles of music with reggae music and began embracing some features of reggae in their songs. "As long as there's been reggae, there's been reggae in the U.K., and that influence has played a massive role," says producer and DJ Ras Kwame, who has worked on BBC Radio for more than a decade. The contribution of reggae to the British music scene began in the 50’s when Jamaican immigration to the U.K. hit a record high. By the early 1960’s, British sound systems flourished and British ska music by artists like Millie Small topped the Billboard charts. The first people who listened to ska were mainly skinheads, punks, and clubbers, which eventually helped the genre become popular on a more mainstream level and began to appeal to the whole community.

Reggae music in the UK evolved and gained popularity from being played on the streetsReggae became an underground code of resistance and part of the self-exploration journey. "We rejected the caution and restraint our parents had in a hostile racial environment," Linton Kwesi Johnson. "We were the rebel generation – Reggae afforded us our own identity."Reggae music started to hit the top charts in the UK in the late 1960s and early 1970s, that was the first time that Caribbean music had been played on the mainstream radio frequently. There was an increasing demand from the listeners and it was certainly, A critical point in the relationship forming between the Caribbean communities and the white communities of Britain, they began sharing their culture and began to form a common culture within the UK. The white British audience and listeners were able to relate to the feelings of the immigrants through the culture that was presented in the songs. The stories in the songs about Jamaica, life experiences, the history of its people, their feelings and emotions with the struggle of the daily life.Communities began mixing in clubs like “soul club” or at large concerts such as an Al Green or Stevie Wonder.

Bob Marley was one of the most renowned reggae artists of the time, his style of reggae had a clear influence on rock and punk fans, black youth and the Rastafari he was one of the first musicians who succeeded in having a multicultural following of fans. After Marley, reggae began to be taken more seriously and started to be regarded as a music genre of substance and innovation.During the late 1970 many gigs involving rock and reggae, started to take a place around the UK, both communities were uniting and combining their musical ideas. Not only were ideas being shared but also the audiences began to change and became multicultural with crowds of both blacks and whites at concerts, standing together and uniting in their love for reggae and ska music. During that time there was a decline in neo-fascism and the National Front was losing its power to a more musical cross-pollination attitude that became the norm. Rock-reggae bands such as The Police, the Specials, homegrown and Janet Kay were occupying the charts of the 1970s. Furthermore, famous bands such as UB40, Culture Club, Soul II Soul were combing and uniting regardless of race. The well-known Soul II Soul singer Caron Wheeler said at the time: "You can't distinguish between colour anymore – it's just people." She put it perfectly how the 1970s was the first time in Britain that showed music and social collaboration was more important than the colour of your skin.

Furthermore, during those years reggae songs started to be used in advertising jingles, themes of football clubs and even some dance clubs. By the end of 1970s people around the world were listening to reggae music due to the success of reggae in the commercial world and due to globalization. In early 1970 there was a rise in violent acts of racism that brought about the creation of the anti-Nazi league (ANL), it occurred in a political press meeting by the social labour party member Neil Kinnock. The party was condoning acts of racism and was helping in the fight against racism. The cooperation between the political scene and reggae music was noticeable. Politics and music went hand in hand by arranging reggae and punk concerts, promoting the new music trend and also helping to let the voices and culture of immigrants be heard. Work in different dimensions was also taking part such as helping with employment, housing and shaping a political act that supported equality.

The 1976 Race Relations

Act was created in order to prevent discrimination by the meaning of race due to a large separation in society and tried making acts that were taking place due to racism illegal. Rock Against Racism (RAR) was a campaign developed in The UK in 1976, at that time there was a noticeable increase of racial conflict and the growth of white nationalist groups such as the National Front. The campaign involved pop, rock, punk and reggae musicians staging concerts with an anti-racist theme, in order to discourage young people from embracing racism and to encourage a united and multicultural community.Reggae music influenced society and helped to integrate the Jamaican and black community as a whole into white Britain through the power of a music revolution, reggae music confronted head on what was wrong with British society of the time. Reggae called for equal rights for all races. Reggae music forced white Britain to embrace music as a media.

During the 20th century, Afro-Caribbean people began to claim their cultural, economic and political rights. Reggae music and Rastafarianism created a new cultural meaning. They helped to correct the imbalance within the UK. Furthermore, in the 1990s, reggae influenced and helped create many new music genres. for example, Jungle music, garage, drum-and-bass, dubstep and many more. Thanks to reggae, white and black teenagers from many different communities and social classes came together and mixed at concerts, in clubs and in many local bars. Famous artists and bands started to embrace the reggae style into their music, which leads to the creation a new audience bonding together in a spiritual, multiculturalist way.The high Increase in the number of Caribbean immigrants in the 1970’s, had brought many new debate topics, As well a culture and economy demand for the ethnic minority. Those new issues brought a shift towards multiculturalist policies and new approaches in the cases of immigration and integration in the United Kingdom.

Multiculturalism started to happen around 1970’s as a more positive approach, that helped in creating more equality for everyone regardless of race, social class or ethnic background.During the 1960s and 1970s, Punk was emerging among the society of the time, it is important to know that punk had a strong connection to political agendas, provocative criticism and in its own way was a music that started a revolution. During the same time reggae had been created, reggae had a new approach, with a strong use of music to evoke and promote feelings, statements and thoughts to the society from the society, and saw the influence of music as a media.

The creation of the reggae scene came as a cultural bombshell, not only to Jamaica but to the whole world. Reggae had influenced societies throughout the globe, contributing to the development of new counterculture movements, particularly in Europe, the USA and Africa. By the end of the 1960s, it participated in the birth of the skinhead movement in the UK.