opinion

Don't be surprised...

by Raúl Leis R. --- raulleisr@hotmail.com

“High, high, high, I feel high watching a video that invites you to smoke, travel and know that the police aren't going to stop me... although they want to to lock me up forever I'm going to smoke, I'm not going to hide, I'm going to get away and prepare...

I'm going to catch a fire and blow smoke in your face --- were going to have a party, each with his alias sings anew of the holy weed, the dear little enchanting weed...

You have to eliminate the enemy --- so prepare and be on your guard for war... I don't need a gang to defend me, I'll only face them in the flesh with my cannon...

Listen to what I'm going to say to all these chickens: don't go out and show yourselves, as everybody's going to catch a bullet (plo-plo)...

They look for all their people, all their troops and their arms because I'm going alone to confront them in war with my magnum...

For me to kill you I won't hire some nobody --- I myself am the jackal and to kill you I don't need you looking for me... All that's needed is to kidnap you and pull out a couple of fingernails with a pair of pliers...

You're going to cry, begging me to kill you... I'm going to go on torturing you, smoking a spliff...

They say they're bad, but they're not bad --- they have a pistol, with which they want to shoot me, but in my ghetto the laws are going to change... Those who would shoot me, I'll shoot them in the back...  I'll kill them and leave them stinking in a vacant lot....”

Do not be surprised by these words you have just read. They are simply some Panamanian reggae lyrics that a student group selected for a course in critical reading of the media. If you don't believe me, you only have to tune in the radio or the TV in which programs with high ratings not only broadcast these things, but promote at all hours and to the entire public songs with this type of lyrics. Moreover, don't be surprised to here them at a student party, or to hear boys of tender years singing them from memory.

I don't know what you think, but these lyrics leave no doubt that they advocate crime, and if you look you can easily find other reggae songs that  most intensely express sexual, verbal or psychological violence.

Reggae, in its beginnings in Jamaica, was sung in religious ceremonies and was later transformed into a vehicle for righteous protest against the discrimination and inequality suffered by blacks and the urban poor in particular, and raised the voices of the Rastafarians --- a Caribbean social and religious expression --- before the world. Especially notable was the great Bob Marley, who without any doubt left his mark on musical history.

Various writers explain that after the death of Bob Marley, different varieties of reggae appeared on the scene, among them “dance hall,” which is different from Marley's style, a form of rap with very aggressive lyrics, generally in local dialects. But take care. There's nothing wrong with reggae as a musical genre, and within it there are many works full of messages of justice, love and urban chronicles that describe the real situation in the urban slums.

But reggae with violent lyrics is another thing, which crosses the boundaries of the urban chronicle, inciting lawbreaking and attacking life by cultivating a culture of criminal violence.

Various studies find that this kind of reggae is largely responsible for the increase in attacks on homosexuals in London in recent years, due to the openly homophobic content of some of these songs. Like these, in a song by Buju Banton:

“The world is in trouble
Anytime Buju Banton come
Batty boy get up and run
ah gunshot in ah head man
Tell dem crew… it’s like
Boom bye bye, in a batty boy head,
Rude boy nah promote no nasty man,
them hafi dead.”

If you look, you will find similar lyrics in Panamanian reggae.

In light of this, various companies in Jamaican have announced that they will break all relations with artists who promote violence of any sort. “We express our fear that the the continuous use of violent language in the music derives from a deterioration of our musical industry, as well as from our society and our economy,” they said in a joint communiqué.

Moreover, many Jamaicans have criticized lyrics that tend to incite violence, that use sexist and obscene language, and appear linked to the constant confrontations among the musicians at places where bands alternate. There is suspicion that the popularity of this sort of reggae is related to the country's high and growing murder rate.

The subject of explicit violence in some of the reggae songs does not exhaust the issue of generators and cultivators of violence in our media, but it does call us to do something about it.

The question is, what are we doing about it in Panama? What do the companies, the broadcasters and the ad agencies that sustain these kinds of expressions have to say for themselves? What do the authorities, the civic groups and the churches say? What about parents and teachers? Self-regulation, control, a civil society that empowers itself with the affirmation that communication is everybody's right, and everybody must exercise and reclaim it?