UNESCO Declares Reggae a Global Cultural Treasure

Born in the poor neighbourhoods of Kingston in the 1960s, reggae gave voice to the Rastafari movement and the struggles of the oppressed but was also a joyous dance music with a distinctive off-beat.

A mural depicting reggae music icon Bob Marley, right, and former Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie decorate a wall in the yard of Marley’s Kingston home, in Jamaica. Credit: Roslyn Russell/Flickr

New Delhi: UNESCO has declared reggae – Jamaican music that spread across the world with its calls for social justice, peace and love – to be a global treasure that must be safeguarded.

Born in the poor neighbourhoods of Kingston in the 1960s, reggae gave voice to the Rastafari movement and the struggles of the oppressed but was also a joyous dance music with a distinctive off-beat. Reggae also went on to influence hip=hop in the US. Postwar immigration from Jamaica led to the genre flourishing in the UK.

Its most famous songwriter and performer, the late Bob Marley, became a global superstar with hits like No Woman, No Cry and Get Up, Stand Up. Other notables include Jimmy Cliff and Toots, Trojan and the Maytalls.

Artists such as the Clash incorporated its chunky beat and its politics into their own music, bringing it to a wider audience. It caught on from Britain to Brazil and Africa.

Jamaica had applied for reggae’s inclusion on the list this year at a meeting of the UN agency on the island of Mauritius.

Also Read: Reggae’s Sacred Roots and Call to Protest Injustice

According to UNESCO, “the music is now played and embraced by a wide cross-section of society, including various genders, ethnic and religious groups.” It also stated that Reggae’s contribution to “international discourse on issues of injustice, resistance, love and humanity underscores the dynamics of the element as being at once cerebral, socio-political, sensual and spiritual.”

UNESCO’s protected list began in 2008 and after a UN’s convention to safeguard ensure respect and raise awareness for intangible cultural heritage. Also on the list is an ancient form of Egyptian theatre that uses traditional hand puppetry, called Al-Aragoz, the art of dry stone walling in several European countries, Ramlila and the Chhau dance from Eastern India.

The Paris-based UNESCO, the cultural agency of the UN, made its ruling at a meeting this week.

(With inputs from Reuters)