![]() ![]() 5 The influence of the Afrocentric Rastafari doctrine on many reggae artists can account for the omnipresence of Africa as a historical and cultural reference in Jamaican popular music. Many reggae band names also incorporate an African element like Black Uhuru or Aswad. Many reggae artists – DJs, singers, musicians – use African names, like Daweh Congo, Jah Mali, Matumbi, Jah Shaka or Sizzla Kalonji. 5 The word “uhuru” means “freedom” in Swahili, “aswad” means “black” in Arabic.ĥThese words can be read as a paradigm for practices of renaming in the African diaspora for which reggae culture provides significant examples.For me, my ‘X’ replaced the white slavemaster name of ‘Little’ which some blue-eyed devil named Little had imposed upon my paternal forebears” (229). Probably the best known example of this reappropriation of identity through renaming is that of Malcolm X, who explained in his autobiography: “The Muslim’s ‘X’ symbolized the true African family name that never could know. Unsurprisingly, one of the first ways to do this was to rename themselves with African names, given the great symbolic weight of the act of naming as a marker of identity. 4ĤOver the course of almost five hundred years of colonialism and post- or neo-colonialism, slaves and their descendants have, in many ways, tried to resist this utter deprivation of autonomous cultural expression. In other words, the anonymity of slaves, the loss of their name and thus of their identity, was an indication of their sub-human status in the plantation economy. This practice of renaming can then be perceived as the symbol of the ultimate loss of identity for the slaves, of their utter dispossession of any form of cultural autonomy, to use a concept defined by Édouard Glissant ( Caribbean Discourse 12-95). Thus, slave masters did everything they could to prevent the slaves from speaking their original languages, practising their original religions and beliefs, and preserving their original cultures. This symbolic gesture was part of a wider strategy of systematic eradication of all traces of African cultures among the slaves, aimed at weakening any attempt on their part to resist the authority of the master. Indeed, at the time of slavery, the first thing the masters did on the arrival of their African slaves was to give them new, Christian names. 4 For more information on the history of Creole cultures and societies see Brathwaite Gilroy Glissa (.)ģNaming is an act of power and this statement is cogently illustrated in the history of Caribbean societies and cultures.Most often it is politically focused, attacking oppression and injustice. Dub poetry is usually, but not always, written in Jamaican language. Often, but not always, the performance is done to the accompaniment of music, recorded or live. “Dub poetry” which is written to be performed, incorporates a music beat, often a reggae beat. In a famous “Note on ‘Dub Poetry’,” Mervyn Morris describes the genre thus: Dub poetry is written and performed by artists who are very intimately linked to the reggae tradition their work is largely inspired by the work of reggae DJs but is also published as written texts, which is not the case for other reggae artists who operate within a predominantly oral tradition. Reggae culture provides relevant examples of this phenomenon with its emphasis on ritualised, mystical performances in which language and music come together in an experience of collective empowerment that Rastas describe with the phrase “word sound have power.”ĢIt is precisely on this belief in the poetic powers of language to “make” that the subgenre of reggae, generally acknowledged as dub poetry, relies. Naming hinges on questions as diverse as generic labels, artists’ names, identity (de)formation, cultural autonomy or language theory. ![]() All across the black Atlantic, 2 the performative power of language to name people and things is invoked as an antidote to the anonymity forced upon slaves, particularly in the field of cultural production. As the opening words by Glissant suggest, for slaves whose African identity was utterly lost during the Middle Passage, recovering a sense of identity for themselves – reclaiming a name and even more importantly the power to name themselves – was a necessary tool in their attempt to survive the colonial order. The word “black” is used wi (.)ġThe question of names and naming is a crucial concern in the cultures of the African diaspora. 2 This expression is borrowed from the title of Gilroy’s well-known book.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |