You like reggae? Me neither, never been a big fan of reggae. I have of course on occation played best of Bob Marley in my car while driving to work, but that doesn't really count. He is too big of a star and too widely spread to say that I like reggae. It would be like someone saying they like metal just because they listen to Metallica once in a while. It just isn't representative. The artist has become to big to represent a specific musical style.
Anyway, for some reason reggae just doesn't hit the spot. It doesn't move me. Not musically, nor lyrically. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely can't sit still listening to reggae. I am right now browsing some youtube live footage and every part of my body is moving. Still, I am not really moved on the inside. This is very strange to me as I have a tendency to appreciate and get moved by artists and bands that come from some type of hardship and who write songs about difficult life or try to provoke a poitical message.
For me, reggae needs to be performed live. And it has to be enjoyed with other people. Reggae is great party music. It get's people moving. But more importantly it is generally accepted even by those who can't listen to anything but the latest top-list pop songs and start complaining the very instant something more advanced is played on the stereo. (Blog post soon about two types of people: those who actually listen to music, and those who simply want music as a background sound.)
Anyway, live is the way to enjoy reggae in my opinion. Yet I have only been to a handful reggae concerts so far. Sweden isn't really reggae country so it might not be so strange. My first reggae concert really set the stage and will be remembered for the rest of my life. It is really this experience that is the background for this post. 1994 on a sunny afternoon at San Francisco State University, my buddy "Q" and some other friends went to see Eek-a-mouse who held a free concert at the student union in the middle of campus. Of course we had played some Eek-a-mouse before we went there, and in all honesty I dodn't know what to expect. At first I thought that this dude is completely insane with his strange type of "scatting" and very simplistic lyrics while still touching upon philosophical issues. Just check this line out:
The wise man built his house on the rocks,
the foolish man built his house on the sand.
Oh, where there is no foundation...
Trying to be philosophical, but a little bit too easy I would say, no?
Anyway, to the concert we go, and there's about 200 people standing around in a fairly small auditorium, and long before the band comes on stage there is a heavy fog hanging in the room. And up on stage comes Eek-a-mouse. Playing all his old classics while the fog grows even heavier, and the stage is just 2 meters away. One of my most memorable concert moments actually.
Now then, what about Eek-a-mouse, with a name like that and sometimes questionable lyrics, is the man simply insane or is he a genius? In my opinion, neither. Slightly insane with some talent actually. Check out the song below. An honest tale straight from Jamaica, with the unmistakeable classic Eek-a-mouse sound, lyrics and scatting. Great stuff in my opinion. The person behind the music is simply so intriguing to me that I he moves me. When I want reggae, Eek-a-mouse is what I play. Here is Ganja Smuggling, from the album Wa-do-dem in 1982. Enjoy...
Stay tuned...
Patrik
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