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Recommended: The beauty of reggae music
We All Are One
Anthem for humanity
“We all are one, we are the same person”
“We all are one” (Song) is a simple reggae song that strikes at the cord of humanity with such a vibrant innocent tune that a childlike spirit awakens and the common ties that bind us all together as humans is rekindled in a primitive sort of way. The very talented Jimmy Cliff is a reggae, funk/soul and disco musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer and actor who was born in the Somerton District of St. James, Jamaica. Jimmy Cliff released “We All are One” in 1983 off his record album titled “The Power and the Glory” (LP) and it was distributed to the UK, US, Spain, and Jamaica.
Although the video contains no visual stimulation or the eye candy that our culture has come to expect from a music video in this day and age, the lyrics are a universal
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A unique personal challenge could be implied and invoked to see things from another person’s perspective, given it is heard by a listening ear. By repeating the chorus, a feeling of awe is both transmitted and captured when the messenger finds himself in the opposing role and gains empathy and compassion.
With its easy listening reggae chords filling the background and simple words of wisdom flowing in an organic manner into the mind, it makes it possible for false pride, ego, hatred, and fear (all reasons for the existence of racism) that insidiously hide and destroy the unenlightened, closed mind, to fall away and for order to then be restored so that we can all live in peace, acceptance, and harmony.
The first verse sets the tone by starting off with “No matter where we are born / we are human beings” (5-6), an approach that has so much truth and grace, that it smashes all misconceptions of cultural beliefs, barriers and stigma that blinds most developing minds. From preschoolers to scholars, we see others as fellow
...the narrator and all people a way of finding meaning in their pains and joys. The two brothers again can live in brotherhood and harmony.
...t of people around you. The images are really helped clarify what the singer really wants to talk about. Without the images in the video some many things could have been interpreted from the song itself. Before I watched the video I just thought the author was talking about war, and specially the wars America was fighting at the time of the song’s release. The music in combination with the instrumentals and video create a piece of art that enlightens the soul.
How does this text either help you to explore and understand the possibilities of belonging or exclude you from connecting with the world it represents?
I Am One of You Forever by Fred Chappell tells a story of a young boy’s coming of age in a small Appalachian town in North Carolina. Though the novel is mainly about Jess’s personal growth, his father Joe Robert matures right alongside him. Stefan Dziemianowicz writes, “Chappell 's stories often focus on family relationships, notably fathers and sons embarked on rites of passage from childhood innocence to adult experience” (Dziemianowicz). Many scholars criticize Joe Robert and say that he’s immature and reckless. Others like John Lang disagree saying, “In the endearing, vividly imagined Joe Robert, Chappell has produced just such a figure, a character of heroic dimensions whose quest for truth . . . both delights and enlightens (Lang 243). Over the course of I Am One of You Forever Joe Robert grows as a person and as a father.
Throughout Rastafari: Roots and Ideology, Barry Chevannes traces the beginnings of the Rastafari movements and the movements that gave birth to Rastafarian ideology, through both historical perspectives and through the narratives of those people closely associated with these movements. He begins laying out the groundwork of the Rastafarian movement at the slave trade, which gave rise to the institutionalization of racism and the subordination of black people in the “New World.” This racism, and its lasting effects on the social, political, and economic positions of black people in Jamaica led to a realization of the need to create a life, or a belief system, that would actually serve black people and their needs.
Ms. Angelou's rhetorical strategy of comparison and contrast serves as effectively as her brilliant, flowing sentences sprinkled with colorful simile and imagery. Poetic phrases describing a voice "like a river diminishing to a stream, and then a trickle" or the audience's conditioned responses as "Amen's and Yes, sir's began to fall around the room like rain through a ragged umbrella" paint vivid images.
However, it seems as though the impossible is possible, or at least mostly possible, and traditional Rastafarianism enforces rules and cultural norms that keep womyn in the subordinate, domesticated realm of everyday life. Yet, in the last thirty years or so, those rules and norms have been slowly challenged by a new generation of Rastafarian womyn who no longer accept their inferior position and are demanding greater equality. These womyn, some of whom turn to reggae to promote their own socially conscious ideas, symbolize the growing consciousness of womyn in Jamaica and other majority world countries who have experienced centuries of oppression.
The words of the call and response describe the situation the community is in – it has lost one of its members and the others feel the pain of loss – but what really allows the reader to feel pain with the community is the chant itself. By putting the words in the form of a chant, the author has given them authority and made them personal to the characters singing them. Through his description of air swinging to the rhythm and of the swaying burden (which has a connotation much different from that of “refrain”), Heyward creates an image of ...
Read the lyrics and you’ll see why its so universal. If you listen to the “beats” and the rhythm you’ll really understand.
Perry Henzel's The Harder They Come is credited with a significant and unique role in introducing American audiences to reggae. Whereas earlier cinematic crossmarketed films like A Hard Days Night or Help! were adjunct to and dependent on a group's previous commercial musical success, Henzel's film was for many an introduction to reggae and both precursor and impetus for its international impact and commercial popularity. The film's status as a cult classic and phenomenon, to the extent a phenomenon can be explained, perhaps rests on its lack of commercial pretentions or promotional glitz, and thus its authenticity. The rhetoric of this film -- its images, words, and music in complementary array -- is rhetoric in the best sense because it uses the power of language to reveal, not to disguise, the unconscionable constraints on the lives of poor Jamaicans. Principally it's a film by a Jamaican artist about some musically and culturally significant events happening in Jamaica at the time, and though it is formulaic as films tend to be, it also encompasses all of the majors themes and conflicts that define and swirl around reggae music: spirituality, sensuality, commercialism, social justice, the messiah, and even Armageddon, though its tenor is decidedly secular
Reggae music is a very powerful way of communicating a message to its listener’s. Reggae has evolved over time from many different types of music and lots of different forms from ska to reggae. The history of reggae starts over 400 years ago in the days of slavery. Under the severe oppression of slavery the African people tried to hold on the pieces of their culture that they could. Music and dance were among the most important cultural traditions retained by the African people. These African rhythms gave way to mento, which gave rise to Rastafarian chants, which in turn gave way to ska and then rocksteady. (Potash, 29) When reggae music is thought of, Jamaica is instantly the word that comes to most peoples mind. Reggae music is also associated closely with the smoking of ganja. Generally people are uneducated about Rastafarianism, and don’t know that smoking marijuana is a sacrament of their religion. Just like Christians eat bread and drink wine at mass, for the Rastafarians ganja is a way to get closer to Jah or their God. The Rastafarian's God was proclaimed Haile Selassie the King of Ethiopia. The man who predicted this was Marcus Garvey a native Jamaican was an advocate of black unity and pride. Garvey was the one who told the African people that their savior would be the next king crowned in Africa. The Jamaican people revered Garvey and believed in what he preached, and when Haile Selassie was crowned the king of Ethiopia the Rastafarian people rejoiced with their new God, Haile Selassie. The Rastafarian’s loved Selassie, even though Selassie didn’t ask or want to be their God. Selassie made a visit to Jamaica in April of 1966, and when he first landed the thousands of Ras...
The song explores change within an individual by utilizing various language techniques including rhyme, writer's purpose, tone and also other techniques such as audio techniques and solutions to pre-mentioned problems. The aspect of self-change within this text is obvious as the text explores the concept that most large-scale change stems from change within an individual. The text informs the reader that by starting with yourself and altering your own ways you can influence others and even the world and "make the world a better place".
Marcus Garvey’s Legend, its Influence, Accomplishments, and Effects on the Rastafarian Movement and Reggae Musicians
“Although the dancehall scene is a male dominated one, it is the female, like a queen, who reigns supreme” (www.ppreggae.com) Covering reggae history, respectively, “Reggae Songbirds” and “Dancehall Queens” offer a fairly comprehensive overview of the contributions of women in reggae. The dancehall has become a form of a message center for Jamaican people, no matter where they are within the social structure of the island.
The use of repetition within the poem draws attention to important themes associated with overcoming negative pressure. The repetition of the word “it” reduces the specificity of the poem, making it simply about a general battle with mental strength. This effective decision allows anyone to connect with the poem by inserting their unique personal struggles. To emphasize the amount of negativity that is present in the world, Guest repeats the phrase “there are thousands”. This type of repetition reinforces