Reggae Around the World

Thirty-five years ago, reggae music burst forth from the Caribbean island of Jamaica, fully formed and ready to conquer the world. Through the simultaneous release of Bob Marley & the Wailers Catch A Fire and the classic film The Harder They Come, reggae found an enthusiastic international audience for the first time. Throughout the 70s, Jamaica's distinctive backbeat music, laced with its message of peace, love and the homegrown spirituality of Rastafarianism, continued to spread around the globe. Inspired by 60s soul and protest music as well as Jamaican independence, reggae kept the best instincts of the 60s alive with songs of love and social revolution.

Originally associated with the hard-luck slums of the Trenchtown area of Kingston, reggae was rejected in its homeland as ghetto music. But like the biblical prophecy "the stone that the builder refuses shall be the head cornerstone," reggae has overcome this stigma to be catapulted into our collective musical consciousness. Several reggae tunes of the era spoke of reggae going international. Bob Marley toured the globe, sowing the musical seeds that grew into a worldwide love affair with reggae. The classic Marley sound continues to influence musicians around the world; its musical stylings affect the music of Native Americans and Australian aboriginals; pop, country and jazz bands freely incorporate its "riddims." Some completely embrace the music and its culture while others use it as spice to their own mix of sounds. It is of little wonder that reggae has joined rock `n roll as one of the most pervasive, popular musics of our time. Whatever the case, Reggae Around The World proves that music has no borders.