By Tanya Batson, Staff Reporter .JPG)
Seaga
THE RIGHT Honourable Edward Seaga took time out from his political campaign schedule to attend the launch of his CD The Origins of Jamaican Popular Music yesterday.
The launch of the CD and accompanying booklet took place at the Phillip Sherlock Centre for the Creative and Performing Arts, at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
Quite a few students and other persons from the campus community took time out of their morning routine to attend the launch event, and many made a purchase and had the booklet autographed by the leader of the opposition.
The CD and booklet presents the development of Jamaican music, including the emergence of the rhythmic and stylistic evolutions. Mr. Seaga explained that it looks at the first stirrings of the Jamaican popular music scene until February of this year. Its creation came out of Mr. Seaga's presentation at the University earlier this year, as the fourth presenter in the 'Chat Bout' series.
Actually, the CD is the recording of the presentation, with the booklet providing explanations, minus the bloops and blunders which had plagued it. The CD also contains snippets of various songs, which are used to illustrate the points made. Mr. Seaga noted, however, that due to the length of time it would take to get copyright clearances for all the music that would be involved, the full-length versions of the songs could not be included. He however hoped that the possibility could be explored at a later date.
The 'Chat Bout' series of presentations are intended to be forums of discussion involving members of the university and other members of the community. In her introduction to the series, Carolyn Hayle, who gave the welcoming speech, pointed out that Wilmot 'Mutty' Perkins, who was their last presenter, should take credit for its creation. She noted that the series was formulated by Buddy Pouyatt in response to Perkins' constant criticism of the 'ivory tower' image of the university.
Professor Nettleford would later refer to Perkins' description of the university as an 'intellectual ghetto'. Professor Nettleford, who introduced the work, noted that several members of the university community, whom he described as 'mad denizens' of this 'intellectual ghetto', have made it their duty to continually explore various areas of Jamaican culture, whether it be Rastafari or dancehall.
According to Professor Nettleford, these 'mad denizens', have "made it their business to bring to our attention the exercise of the creative imagination, both individually and collectively, by the people from below (a point from which the vast majority of us originally came in any case) is capable of explanation and theory." Professor Nettleford further explained that such intellectual inquiry is essential to Jamaica's growth and development.
The Origins of Jamaican Popular Music CD and booklet clearly falls in this category, Professor Nettleford explained. He noted that it is another step in the academy's 'continuing emancipation' from mental slavery. Professor Nettleford noted that this is particularly important because the university had previously been criticised by Marcus Garvey, who encouraged that it be got rid of 'in the struggle for liberation of a people mired in false notions about self and society'.
In his response, Mr. Seaga noted that he had originally been asked to make a presentation on Revival. He noted, however, that since his early attempts to study that subject further, he has always had some hesitancy about broaching it.
Mr. Seaga explained that he had received his first grant to explore Jamaican indigenous regions shortly after his graduation from Harvard and his realisation that he 'hated' medicine. As a result, he abandoned that field after only three months and went back to his first love, culture. He noted that after receiving his first grant of 90 pounds, he attempted to get connected to the university to engage in that field of study. Unfortunately, he says, he was told, in a whispered conversation, that since the institution was young, it did not want to get the reputation of being involved with 'such things'.
With this and other unhappy events which marked his attempts to further explore Jamaican culture in mind, Mr. Seaga decided that he would rather present on Jamaican popular music. This decision was in part reached because, he stated, that he does not believe that enough Jamaicans are writing about the topic.
Professor Nettleford had earlier explained that due to Mr. Seaga's involvement with the developing music industry, the information on the CD is gained 'from the horse's mouth'. He noted therefore that due to the value of the 'raw facts and astute objective analysis' that the CD and booklet contain, it will be a recommended source material for students pursuing cultural studies at the university.
