Who is to blame?

Reggae is not at its best globally, and in Brazil things are even more delicate. In a country where even "belief" becomes a success, we are not surprised that businesspeople ignore quality, whether technical-musical or ideological, and give importance only to money, which, whether it is or not, is what drives "show business". This is why the question arises: who is to blame? Of the "tycoons"? from record companies? of the "system"? When it comes to reggae, there are always those who think that the "system" is to blame, or "babylon" as they generally call it, forgetting that everyone, whether they want to or not, is part of it, and in one way or another is related to a large part or all of the events. Before anyone starts raising their scythes, let's clarify the issue. We, reggae lovers, are the ones who govern the market, who need to demand quality in the products offered to us. It has been clear for some time now that being a "regueiro" has become something tempting in the weak minds of many young people. We don't know if it's because of the style, the ideology (which most people don't know or don't understand) or more likely because of Ganja, or marijuana as it was called in Brazil. The relationship between reggae and ganja here is almost completely distorted, straying from its true ideology. Although this subject is extremely important, the idea of ​​this text is different.

THE DISABILITY

After following international reggae shows in Brazil for approximately ten years, having even worked directly on the tours of big names like Israel Vibration and Alpha Blondy, we have noticed a frightening drop in the target audience for these presentations. The reality is that in the last 3 years, when we only have established names performing on one night, the risk is increasingly greater for producers. At the same time, we see true marathons taking place where a major international attraction shares the stage with 5 or more local bands, who, after performing, take away a large part of the audience. But why has this happened? Where is the audience that 10 years ago filled a show where on the same night we had Black Uhuru, The Wailers, Andrew Tosh and Dennis Brown? If a show like this happened today in Brazil would it have the same impact? We bet anyone not! We believe that this is due to a combination of several factors, ranging from the lack of a national label that releases the biggest names in Reggae (as happened 10 years ago), to the wave of mediocrity that Brazil has been through, where more value is given to a song that talks about "ass" than another that talks about the truth.

THE "MORNO" CONTROVERSY

On March 7, 2008, Steel Pulse performed far from its real capacity, and an article right here on Surforeggae that described this performance as "lukewarm" gave people something to talk about. (read article). We know that some people, when they really like something, have impaired critical sense, but it is worrying to know that for some, because "X" or "Y" are legends, they can do anything and it will always be good. Since that's the case, imagine if Steel Pulse or any renowned band changed their style and made songs that only talk about sex, drugs and insults? Although it is not common, some of Reggae's sacred monsters have already gone through this, at a time when they realized that people were giving more value to songs that talked about "vagina" (see the banned dancehalls similar to Rio funks) than songs of protest and love between people. But the burning question is: Why did the same band that brought 5,000 people to their show 3 years ago this time only take 1,400? Was it just publicity? A large part of the public has been content with anything and accepted everything that the media has shoved down their throats. This means that the big names have to compete with other bands, which often have no quality at all, but remain in the media. For this reason, nowadays the "smaller but structured" concert halls (the famous "Halls") are receiving more international reggae bands than in the past, and this is due to the concern of businesspeople in the sector about being able to fill the establishments. There is no way to play a foreign artist in a small venue: the ticket ends up being more expensive. And do you think that the "original regueiros" are the ones who fill these places? Not even!

GENERAL PUBLIC: THE TRUTH AND IMPORTANCE

The audience is divided between reggae lovers, people who like reggae and many who are there just because someone said it would be cool, so they went to check it out and have fun. This niche that enjoys various styles and has a stable financial situation is the focus of the promotion, because the reggae lover does not need to be notified by the mainstream media that The Congos, for example, is coming to Brazil, he would already know through the official website, through other reggae lovers, in short, the success of the event is because of what we call the "general public". This "general public" is much more numerous than any lover of reggae or any style, they just want to get a ride on the fun of the faithful regueiro, punk, etc. public. In techno, for example, how many people at a rave really like the rhythm, know the beats, know the DJs, wear the style? Much of it is there to "check out the hotties", take drugs, etc, etc... very similar to our reggae scene, right? If you love the rhythm of jah or the famous "techneras", don't you see this? Don't you mind seeing young people lying on the floor surrounded by vomit during the main performance or even kids smoking ganja until they are practically incommunicado shouting: "JAH RASTAFARI"? So this is where the problem becomes evident, this general public has increasingly moved away from Reggae, as it is currently restricted to specialized media only. Is there a need for greater investment on the part of the people who set the pace in Brazil? Yes! But more encouragement is also needed from those who admire him! People need to attend shows more, spread word of mouth and even buy CDs when they are at fair prices. Downloading everything online doesn't make anyone a collector or a major contributor, as musicians and producers, just like any other role, need money to survive. It's sad, this mixing thing... there's no way around it, but not everything is horror. We have a different public, with a critical sense, who wants to have fun and spend their money, but only on good things, and even with these characteristics, they are still part of the "general public". Imagine a group of people from this more select audience, who everyone knows attends reggae shows, starting to notice facts that we mentioned in the Steel Pulse show, such as the guitarist using "glue paper" to not forget the notes of the songs? They simply start crossing reggae off their list of interests. The result is this sudden drop that has increasingly discouraged the reggae market in the country.

YOUR SUPPORT IS YOUR PRESENCE

Do you want proof that ONLY lovers of "original reggae" don't fill any show? We have several, among them we can mention the International Festival of São Paulo at Via Funchal in 2001. After playing Tribo de Jah, Maskavo and Planta & Raíz, renowned bands in the media, a large part of the public left the place, and legendary names such as Sylvia Tella, Fully Fullwood and U-Roy. Where's all that love? Or did the public not attend the event due to the common excuses of "ah... the place is far away", "it's expensive", "I'm not going because I hate popular bands and they're going to play too"? Of course! The media moves many people, especially in a country like ours, where access to education is so complicated. It is for these and other reasons that Brazilian regueiros need to pray a lot so that one day they can see classic bands like Mighty Diamonds, Max Romeo, Twinkle Brothers, The Congos, Wailing Souls, etc. here. If we don't value the reggae scene here, poor quality bands will continue to emerge, increasingly tiring events will continue to happen and the great legends and their producers will not see tangible reasons to maintain or include Brazil in their tour of performances.