Please list some current reggae composers:

[HL]

Current composers/musicians who can be compared to the likes of : Joe Higgs, Clancy Eckles(sp?), Derrick Harriott, Byron Lee, Lee 'scratch' Perry, Borris Gardner, Ernie Smith....

Composers/musicians who are current and are making the same contribution as the group listed above.

Thanks in advance.

OK...let me start the list:

1. Morgan Heritage

[Historian]

Such A List Will Be Short!

Current composers/musicians who can be compared to the likes of : Joe Higgs, Clancy Eckles(sp?), Derrick Harriott, Byron Lee, Lee 'scratch' Perry, Borris Gardner, Ernie Smith....

Composers/musicians who are current and are making the same contribution as the group listed above.

HL, any list provided will be rather short for the simple reason that reggae today is lacking quality songwriters! Do you think that there are many in our current crop of songwriters who could, for example, win a major international competition the way that Ernie Smith did back in 1972 at Japan’s “Yamaha Music Festival” with his “Life Is Just For Living”?

Certainly the loss of the Rastafarian influence on reggae lyrics has negatively impacted the overall quality of the music. Thank goodness we still have Morgan Heritage around, but that outstanding reggae group is today the exception rather than the rule. Think back to the contribution of the Rastafarians, from the early days of people like Count Ossie down to the end of the 1980s and you will see what I mean when I say that the presence of these men certainly made a tremendous difference!

But it is not only the missing rasta element that has impacted, as many of our outstanding songwriters, arrangers and composers were not Rastafarians! The sad fact is that the state of our music industry mirrors the state of our society today, including the education system.

As returns from recording dwindle (caused by a number of reasons, including the ability to download songs), quality composers and songwriters find it less and less financially lucrative to continue in the present music industry. The vacancy left by these men (superb songwriters like Toots Hibbert, Brent Dowe, Bob Andy, Ernie Smith, Ken Lazarus, Aston “Grub” Cooper, etc.) has now been filled by largely uneducated, angry young men who spout their largely anti-social messages in the increasingly crude lyrics.

For example, how many of these “new” songwriters have studied English Literature to any great extent and so mastered the use of both literal and figurative language? Ask some of these Jamaican songwriters today to provide definitions and examples of metaphors, euphemism, oxymoron, similes, irony, and so on, and see the stony silence you will get. The same goes for many of those African-American rap composers! No wonder lyrics today are so crude and without much creativity!

Interestingly, the music of other Caribbean nations like Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, St Lucia and the Bahamas continue to chow creative use of words and ideas. For example, it is not that there are no sexual innuendos in songs emanating from these countries I’ve mentioned, but such sexual references are cleverly disguised through effective use of language.

[Tilla]

HL: I would add to you list the following:
2. Luciano
3. Burning Spear
4. Damion Marley
5. Steven Marley

I would have to think hard to come up with others, but in time we will look back on these guys as we do those from the list you started this post with.

Was Borris Gardner a composer/writer or he just did covers of popular songs? I cannot remember an original piece by Boris, although I can remember many covers he did. He had a good voice anyway.

[HL]

I view Ziggy as more an original composer than the 2 Marleys you listed.

Ziggy can be easiy added to the list of great composers/musicians I listed

Not taking anything away from Steven and Damion.

[Hortical]

Lots of quality reggae pon di street, an' yuh fi check out Duane Stephenson, Tarrus Riley, Jamelody, I Wayne, Benjy Myaz & Bushman. Dem yah artists are highly recommended!

[HL]

I said composers/musicians...

Artist...(?):

[HL]

Add Ras Michael to the list!

NOTE:

Historian, your second to last paragraph is extremely poignant!

[Hortical]

Benjy Myaz
Dean Frazer
Steely & Cleevie
Donald Dennis
Sly Dunbar
Robbie Shakespear
Ansel Collin
Bongo Herman
Mitchum "Khan" Chin
Chinna Smith
Aubry Mannings
Brian Fontenelle
David Simmons
Howard Mannings
Howie Harrison
Stephen Lashley
Paul "Wrongmove" Crosdale
Paul "Teethimus" Edmund

[Hortical]

Dancehall & reggae a nuh di same ting & btw dancehall is ere fi stay.

[Tilla]

Read the credits on a lot of the Melody Makers music. You will see that Steven has a big hand in writing or cowriting a lot of the music credited to Ziggy because Ziggy is in the name of the group. Steven Marley is for most part the creative force behind most of hte young Marleys music.

Damion I am sstill impressed with following his Welcome to Jamrock CD. Still the only Jamaican album to win a Grammy in two music categories. That should say something about the young man's talent.

[Tilla]

Horti, I heard Dermott Hussey playing Bushman on satellite radio one evening. I was surprised how he Bushman sounded like Peter Tosh.People seem to be making a big deal about Tarrus Riley. I have heard a few songs from him, but not enough to sway my opinion here or there.

I also like Etana. . .

[Historian]

Boris Gardiner

Was Borris Gardner a composer/writer or he just did covers of popular songs? I cannot remember an original piece by Boris, although I can remember many covers he did. He had a good voice anyway.

I also cannot remember any original recording by Boris Gardiner. In fact, although he had a "good voice," like you stated, Tilla, as far as I can remember he didn’t have many hits. As I type this reply, I can recall only two hits by Boris: “Elizabeth Reggae” (an uptempo version of the “Elizabeth Serenade”) and a song written by Mac Davis, “I Want To Wake Up With You.”

[Me]

Morgan Heritage, Stephen Marley and Taurrus Riley are the great composers of today.

Historian I am not sure about your point about literature because Kartel is as smart as almost anyone when it comes to Literature and he puts out a lot of the "crude" tunes that you do not like to hear.

[Historian]

The Language

Morgan Heritage, Stephen Marley and Taurrus Riley are the great composers of today.

I am inclined to agree with you that the guys you indentified above are indeed among the very best songwriters in reggae at this point in time.

Of course, they are by no means the only outstanding songwriters we have in this era, and every now and again we see brilliance (Etana’s “Wrong Address” immediately comes to mind, as well as Cherine Anderson’s “Kingston State of Mind,” and there are many others).

Historian I am not sure about your point about literature because Kartel is as smart as almost anyone when it comes to Literature and he puts out a lot of the "crude" tunes that you do not like to hear.

I’m aware that Kartel is an intelligent young man. There’s absolutely no question that he is smart, which is one of the reasons why I’m puzzled as to why he doesn’t use his natural intelligence and his talent in positive ways in his community! Can you imagine the plus for our country if people like Kartel were focusing their energies in a more positive direction?

My statement about the use of language was not directed at Kartel. It was just a general statement (and a correct one, I can assure you!) that mastery of both literal and figurative elements of the English language is bound to enhance a songwriter’s creativity! The English language is not simple by any means, and so familiarity with the ways it can be used and manipulated will result in a more interesting product.

[Assasin]

there are many good composer and writers around but whether they play these songs on North America and Irie FM is another thing.

Tanya Stephens is a very good and lyrcists for example, if you listen her songs you see she is either very provocative or touching some topics that is not oftenly touched.

If you want to hear some of these songs just listen XM radio for a little while, many of these performers just either do special venues or go to Europe and Japan and out west, how you think Lee Scratch and Spear win Granny without evne Jamaican radio playing any of their songs?