Rasta Language
Reggae music was since its beginning strongly influenced by the Rastafari
movement.
But what is important for the language is, first of all the fact that
Rastafarians – the members of this movement- belief in the teachings of the
bible and use expressions from the bible in their songs.
The Reggae Band “Third world”, for example, tries to make their song “Tuff
mi Tuff” convincing by imitating the language of the bible: “Blessed is the
man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly nor standeth on the way of
sinners no... nor siteth in the seat of the scornful no... ‘cause only Jah Jah
know.”7 What is also very interesting in this sentence is the word “Jah”.
This is, for the Rastafarians, the name of god which is derived from
“Jahwe”, the name of god in the Old Testament. The doubling of words is done
very often to stress it.
But “Jah” is not the only word that is taken from the bible. Other
expressions that are found very often in Reggae lyrics are “Babylon” and
“Zion”. In the bible Babylon is the place where the people of Israel was
imprisoned and enslaved. In the revelation of Johannes, Babylon is a synonym for
rich and corrupt people who will be condemned at the Last Judgement. In the
language of the Rastafarians “Babylon” in theory means all people who are
not Rastafarians, but normally it is used as a synonym for the society.
In contrary to this, “Zion” is the word for a better world, without any
oppressors where the righteous people, the Rastafarians, can live in peace and
harmony. This word is taken from the bible, too. It is originally a hill, that
is designated as the city of god and his angels.
In some Reggae songs you can even find stories and persons from the bible. The
most popular of these are Samson, David and Salomon because of their strength or
wisdom. Again, the best example is a song of Bob Marley. It is “Rastaman live
up” from the CD “Confrontation: “David
slew Goliath with a sling and a stone. Samson slew the Philistines with a donkey
jawbone”8 David and Samson are the symbols for men who had won against enemies
that seemed to be much stronger than themselves. It is a metaphor for the
oppression of black people and their fight against the white oppressors who seem
to be much stronger.
Anyway, the Rastafarians did not only adopt words from the bible, but also
invented a number of new ones. The most famous Rastafarian neologism probably is
“I and I” which means “I and god (Jah) and my brothers”. It shows the
unity between god and the humans or rather between Jah and Jah children, a name
that the Rastafarians give themselves.
This spiritual “I and I” caused the change of many other words like ever
that was replaced by I- vah, alright (I-rie), equality (I- quality),etc. .
Although the religious aspect is dominating in the language of the Rastafarians,
they are also masters of plays on words and you will not find many Reggae songs
that do not contain at least one. The most frequent ones are “downstroy” (for
“destroy”), “politricks” (for ”politics”), “downpressor” (for
“oppressor”) and “overstand” (for “understand”).
Of course, the Rastafarians have not only influenced the language. In Roots
Reggae, most of the topics of Reggae lyrics are in connection with the teachings
or the history of the Rastafarians. This is also the reason why I have not
explained yet who the Rastafarians are. The best way to explain it is with the
help of Roots Reggae songs.
It is difficult to say when the period of Roots Reggae started, but a very early
example is the LP “Grounation” of Count Ozzie that was published in 1973.
After the death of Count Ozzie in 1975 other musicians like Cedric Brook and Ras
Michael continued his tradition. More famous Roots Reggae musicians are Black
Uhuru, Burning Spear, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer and, of course, Bob Marley.
The origin of the rhythm of Roots Reggae is the Burru music of the early
Rastafarians that is based on Westafrican drum and instrumental music. The
source for the lyrics is just reality and Rastafarianism.
