Reggae Made In Brasil! Learn more!

Washington Olivetto has definitively lost an imaginary privilege: the CD Kaya n´gan Daya is in every shop window. After that i-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-e press conference, he announced that only he, and no one else - no one! - possessed the CD on which Gilberto Gil sings the Bob Marley repertoire. And Fantástico soon corrected the legend of the exclusive copy, showing, more than the CD, the clip, the delightful clip of Kaya. Recorded in Jamaica, the birthplace of reggae, the clip celebrates the joy of this music related to the northeastern xote (in rhythm and groove).

And joy is perhaps the most powerful charge of the album by the Bahian ace (also) in the versions. In the studio where Marley recorded, with the sound engineer, musicians and singers who worked with the master, GG presents, to a younger generation, how powerful reggae can be when everything is consistent: lyrics, melody, song (the sum of the previous two), arrangement, interpretation.

But Brazilian reggae... help! (And that's also why Gil's album shines so much). Even though Brazil has the largest rasta territory outside Jamaica - São Luiz do Maranhão -, most of the reggae I know around here is quite faded. Listen to Essencial, the eighth by Tribo de Jah. Or the first by Planeta & Raiz, the most recent by Edson Gomes (Acorde, Levante, Lute, which even has an evangelical message!) and... suddenly, you stumble upon the doubt: did I put on the right album or is it a joke by the Casseta & Planeta crew?

The most basic bizarreness is disconcerting, sometimes. But if a Brazilian delivers a Kaya this good, why is it that we don't have several native bands making quality reggae made in Brazil? Why doesn't reggae take off here?

"Who said it doesn't take off? It's been flying for a long time! I'll give you the names of three bands that became super popular (and millionaires) playing reggae: Paralamas, Cidade Negra and Skank". (The one who takes up the defense of Brazilian reggae is Otávio Rodrigues, pioneer of the rasta apostolate in Brazil. See, below, Dr. Reg's résumé).

"What happens is that the tools we have used so far to know what takes off and what doesn't have stopped working properly. There's no way to measure CD sales in a market taken over by piracy. There's no way to take seriously the number of radio plays, when we know that record labels pay to get their artists on the charts. So, few people find out that in Porto Alegre, Florianópolis and Curitiba Tribo de Jah is received as if they were the Beatles. Or that the São Paulo band Planta e Raiz has just sold 30 thousand CDs in 45 days. They're doing almost 20 shows a month etc. Reggae runs on the outside lane".

Even accelerating on the outside lane, Dr. Reg, listening to those three albums... why does it sometimes remind you of caricature? A storm of clichés?

"I don't know. I suppose all the new bands - there are many and many - believe they are doing quality work. I was able to observe, at some shows, that artists and the public have a lot of fun with traditional reggaes and, let's say, libertarian lyrics. It's possible that the "Bob Marley factor" has something to do with this. Even today - and perhaps more than ever - most people approach reggae through Marley - who stopped composing 21 years ago -, and then start reproducing the same language. It seems fun, as I already said, even if not at all creative. There must be a lack of reference, more research".

But that's not lacking in you, is it, Dr. Reg? So much so that you keep guaranteeing that the best reggae on the planet, currently, is made by Japanese... in Japan. Since Japan is too far away and, currently, is very busy with the World Cup, maybe every Brazilian team should adopt Gil's recipe, going to record at the source. Would that be the only way out, in the emergency?

"Of course not. Here is a list of 10 good reggaes made in Brazil, by the way, all with our accent: Cidade Negra/Falar a Verdade; Itamar Assumpção/Nego Dito; Caetano Veloso/Nine Out of Ten; Luiz Vagner /Mama África; Ras Bernardo/Tente Você; Baby Consuelo/Sonho Alegre; Paralamas/Alagados; Gilberto Gil/Barracos; Jorge Alfredo e Chico Evangelista/Reggae da Independência; Aquarela Carioca/Top Ten-Baby".

While Otávio, Dr. Reg, doesn't call up one, two or three more selections like this, to make a quadrangular, since it's too little to imagine a Brazilian Reggae World Cup with just these ten songs... better kayr n¹gan daya with Gilberto Gil. For now, the cup is his.

Otávio Rodrigues has researched (and likes very much) Jamaican music since the late 70s, created the first program of the genre on Brazilian radio (Roots Rock Reggae, Nova Excelsior FM, 1982), the first international connection (Projeto Jamaica-Brasil), the first column on Third World black music (Negra Melodia, Somtrês magazine, 1983/87), the first successful reggae night in SP (Disco Reggae Night, Aeroanta, 1989/92), the first specialized label (Reggae'n'Roll, Continental, 1991/92), the first dub session (Bumba Beat) and much, much more.