I Did Not Say This - Ziggy Did!

[Historian]

'No more glory days'

BY HOWARD CAMPBELL Observer senior writer
Thursday, December 20, 2012

IF there are reggae fans who believe the music will one day return to its classic period of the 1970s, Ziggy Marley is not one of them.

In an interview for the latest issue of Spinner magazine, Marley said it is foolhardy to think the music his father Bob Marley and contemporaries like Jimmy Cliff made 30-odd years ago can be replicated.



MARLEY... it is foolhardy to think the music his father Bob Marley and contemporaries like Jimmy Cliff made 30-odd years ago can be replicated


"When you look at his and my father's generation, that whole generation, when reggae music was something new for the rest of the world, it will not compete ever again in history. It's been done," said Marley.

He told the magazine that he sees little talent coming out of Jamaica to suggest another reggae boom is on the way.

Twenty years ago, Marley and his siblings launched the Ghetto Youths International label which recorded Jamaican roots-reggae acts.

The label is active but has not released many titles in recent years.
The 43-year-old released his Ziggy Marley in Concert album digitally yesterday. It will be available on compact disc from his Tuff Gong Worldwide label in January.

Most of the songs on 'In Concert' are from Marley's 2011 album Wild and Free. He said his band was at its peak during the year-long trek, so he thought it fitting to record his first solo live album.

"All the time touring we just keep getting better in my opinion. There is still room to get better but the music live, we're emphasising a spirituality in the music, an improvisation and jamming — feeling good with the music and that continual process. Musically, it's a good place," Marley explained.

Though there are covers War and Is This Love on his new album, Marley says he fuses his father's music with his to reach a new generation.

"I connect the dots with my music to his music. From my song Justice, I would go into Get Up Stand Up and Is this Love from Love Is My Religion (title of Ziggy's previous album). I like to make a song that is a connection from my songs to his songs," he explained. "What we feel also is that you can overdo it and then it's not special. We keep it as some specialty, people appreciate it more rather than a whole slew of my father's songs."

According to sales tracker SoundScan, Wild and Free has sold 24,194 copies in the United States.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/enter...#ixzz2Fb6srFIC

[Exile]

Not news...we've had these discussions ad nauseum on this board...cant believe Ziggy is 43....saw him perform with Bob as a toddler..

[Historian]

Re: Not News

Not news...we've had these discussions ad nauseum on this board...cant believe Ziggy is 43....saw him perform with Bob as a toddler..

Actually, I did not submit this as news; that was never my intention. Rather, I was driving home a point based on explanations and rebuttals I’ve made on this forum in the past.

By the way, in strict terms it CAN be regarded as news because of the element of “prominence.” Also, in the context of the recent revelations (empirical data) on reggae and dancehall’s dismal performance in the market, the element of “timeliness” would apply. So we have two news elements right there.

Therefore, if we were to use a strict, textbook-definition of what is news, it passes based on these two elements. (We could also stretch the argument some more and add a third news element, “proximity” because it is about a Jamaican product and so would be relevant to most Jamaicans.)

So, while I did not post it as “news,” it does indeed pass the news test.

[Sir X]

I read an article where cd sales were less than 2000 for the leading reggae artist in the US , and they cried piracy ...lol...I dont see rap getting those sales with all those piracy , so lets say there wasnt any piracy multiply that by 4 or 10 ,its still **** poor.

[Exile]

A man of your learning and historical perspective should know the adage 'dog bites man, is not news, man bites dog is news'. No need to get so defensive boss...

[Assasin]

As X point to the problem is more that Musicans etc. have to edge their bets. Some of the best studio musicians are now on the road trying to make ends meet.

Any Artist who use to command 25 Thousand for performance execpt Shaggy, Sean Paul and if your name is Marley having to discount heavily or sit at home.

Some of the talented hitmakers in producers and entertainer rather stay home than law out 10000 dollar to sell two thousand dollar worth of material.

It is the same with music worldwide so just like R&B some of the good performers just do some shows or try and get their material in other stuff like video games, movies etc.

Question is where has all the talent gone??? Most is still with us.

[Jangle]

The record labels have steered the listening public away from quality music to the disposable thrash that prevails today. The demise started in the mid to late eighties but became a runaway freight train in the early two thousands. With Youtube, Myspace, Twitter and all the other social media networks, a new artiste today don't need the backing of a major label to become an overnight star. As a matter of fact, with enough YouTube hits, a new artiste will have a number of major labels AND iTunes chasing him for his signature. The industry is not catering for the over-30's.

[Assasin]

it harder for more independent labels and independent artist to make money.

When a 45 use to be print, it use to circulate and every DJ go to the local record store. The producer make back his money. First it was CD copying and even some of the bigger label use to overprint and sell backdoor.

Then everybody start to copy and later with the digital copyimg with filesharing actually cripple the industry. Yes a one lucky artist might get a youtube hit, but also remember you have to invest in a video. The fact is most of artists will never be a hit so will not recover any of their investment.

[Historian]

I Did Not Say This – Jangle Did!

The record labels have steered the listening public away from quality music to the disposable thrash that prevails today. The demise started in the mid to late eighties but became a runaway freight train in the early two thousands. With Youtube, Myspace, Twitter and all the other social media networks, a new artiste today don't need the backing of a major label to become an overnight star. As a matter of fact, with enough YouTube hits, a new artiste will have a number of major labels AND iTunes chasing him for his signature. The industry is not catering for the over-30's.

Damn, more and more my forum friends are slowly beginning to remind Historian of himself and of his own views!

Maybe that Mayan calendar knows something we don’t about the end of the world?!

Anyway, well said, Jangle!

[Assasin]

The thing is, it is not in reggae alone.

The question is why would they do that? Don't tell me they rather computer loops over true musicans.

[Historian]

You Are Correct

The thing is, it is not in reggae alone.

The question is why would they do that? Don't tell me they rather computer loops over true musicans.

You are completely correct in that it’s not only reggae. At the moment, the only saving grace for serious working musicians can be found primarily in country music, rock music and jazz. Classical music has become an endangered species, so I won’t even mention it.

The reasons, in my view, are probably threefold:

1 Cost-saving measures, because musicians have to be paid. Also, having live musicians often subject producers and engineers to delays during the recording process, and from my experience, the fastest clocks in the entire world seem to be those in recording studios.

2 Standards (morality, attitudes, educational results, etc.) today seem to be falling across the board in every sphere of life. We can wax euphemistically about “modern trends” and so on, but the bottom line is that standards in western society have been drastically falling.

3 Tenchology has made many people lazy. Why put in hard, dedicated work when a tap or two on a button can get things done at half the cost and in half the time?

[Gamma]

lazy or efficient?

[Assasin]

Also the aspect of of promotion. Because of the slow sales record companies are now more into royalties and performance. A company like VP now doing royalties and made sure they bought out the royalties of other top reggae companies.

So now when singing they look for the performance and also how much can you invest by yourself. That is why US bands are selling more as they go to live concerts week in week out and sell CDs at the concerts.

The fact is, it is a changing. I don't think it make them lazy but digital sound can never bee the same as anolog, and many of the middle of the road engineers who can make a few decent sounds will never make great sounds but the cost is way less and because of the lack of sales for most indie label they are not willng to chance.

Look at Jamaica and see how many top producers are on the sidelines. It is amazing to see how many.

[Islandman]

That's the dilemma when an art form is overrun by technology.

I am sure portrait and landscape painters were not pleased when photography started going mainstream. Theatre actors were horrified when the motion picture industry was born (you can take and re-take scenes, that is not a real actor! ), not to mention how the movie industry felt about TV!

If history is any guide analogue music and it's skilled practitioners will continue to exist and play a less dominant role but there is no going back to the 70s where music production and distribution is concerned. too inefficient and centralized

Are we better or worse off for it? I would say taken as a whole music will be better off, but we will have to go find the music and musicians we like and appreciate, they will not be in physical music stores (what's left of them) or on mainstream radio.

[Mosiah]

I wondered myself!

That tap or two to create a chune means the musician, to use the word carelessly, now has the time to put together a different "tap or two" to create anothwr chune.

Comoare that to Mozart composing one of his many chunes. How long did that take him?