Carolyn Cooper was the moderator for the lecture given by French journalist Bruno Blum at the Neville Hall Lecture Theatre at the University of the West Indies, Mona.- File
FOR THOSE with more than just a casual interest in reggae music, the monthly lecture series sponsored by the Reggae Studies unit continues to be stimulating.
Last Friday's lecture, which took place at the Neville Hall Lecture Theatre, was delivered by French musician and journalist Bruno Blum. Mr. Blum delivered a talk that mingled his life experiences with the development of reggae in France.
In introducing Mr. Blum, Dr. Carolyn Cooper, head of the Reggae Studies Unit at the University of the West Indies, made a statement that would be echoed in Mr. Blum's presentation.
She remarked that Mr. Blum's work embodies the archaeological work that Jamaicans should be doing. Along with his several articles on reggae music, he has published a book on the history of reggae titled Le Reggae and a photobook Couleurs Reggae (Reggae Colours). Along with Roger Steffens, he has also compiled the 10-CD series The Complete Bob Marley and the Wailers.
Mr. Blum pointed out that while he felt strange giving a talk on reggae to Jamaicans, it must be noted that in terms of record sales, reggae is bigger in France than it is in Jamaica.
Despite this, or maybe because of this, he argues that many French people still labour under the delusion that "everybody in Jamaica wears locks, everybody smokes weed, and everybody is into peace".
In an attempt to explain what attracts the French to reggae music, he began with a miniature lecture on French history. However, when he went to draw a map, though not a very legible one, of Europe so that the audience could visualise it, a woman in the audience pointed out that this was not an American audience, thus they had done geography in school.
In giving his background, Mr. Blum highlighted French history, beginning with the French Revolution, which he said resulted in greater freedom for the society, including women and blacks, whch as the motto states, resulted in 'Equality, Liberty and Brotherhood'. He also said that the French are interested in rebellion and standing up for rights.
As such, Mr. Blum suggested that it is the fact that reggae deals with rebellion and standing up for ones rights, as epitomised in Get Up, Stand Up, that attracted the French to the music.
He also referred to other similarities between France and Jamaica, especially the Rastafarian movement, that makes the genre appealing. He argued that although many Jews in France had citizenship, they never truly got acceptance. As such, there was a movement towards repatriation at the end of the 19th century.
In pointing to the songs which began to make Jamaican music appeal to French audiences, Mr. Blum named the works of Harry Belafonte in the early 1950s. Later songs such as My Boy Lollipop, which was sung over in French, and The Israelites became very popular in France.
Additionally, he remarked that it might be a coincidence that the increase in feelings of rebellion and preference for Marxism had grown greatly by the end of the 1960s. Furthermore, so many rock and roll greats, including Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin had died. Furthermore, punk music was banned.
Simultaneously, reggae was born and Eric Clapton's version of I Shot the Sherrif helped to spur interest in Bob Marley. Interestingly, Mr. Blum stated that he used to think of Bob Marley as commercial. This was due to the fact that of all the reggae shows he went to, Marley's was the only one where he was not the only white man. Either way, songs such as Jammin and Waiting In Vain, he said, all helped to make reggae very popular in France.
The influence of the music in that country, however, was possibly most clearly highlighted in the fact that a reggae version of the French national anthem was recorded and released in 1979.
Unfortunately, with the coming of the 1980s and the rise of dancehall, reggae lost its appeal to France, only to be re-awakened in the 1990s.
