Dear Editor,
The Linden Town Week 2008 is set to reach its highest low. Guymine.com, a Linden based website has reported that two Jamaican leading dance-hall stars are slated to perform at the Mackenzie Sports Club. The promoters of this show, which is described as the “Glow Party”, are touted to be a new group named WARD entertainment. The two singers are Lady Saw and Movado.
David Brooks aka Movado is arguably the most controversial dance-hall artiste. His music which outlandishly promotes violence and calls for murder in almost every track, has created a new generation of violent youngsters of Caribbean descent in North America, Europe and Canada.
I have listened to dance-hall music for the past fifteen years. I have gone to many shows at home and abroad. I love Jamaican dancehall music, so I am not writing here as an hypocritical critic. What Movado brought to the dance-hall scene is something I have never witnessed before in the world of dance-hall.
I bought Movado’s tracks to have a greater understanding of his message. I wanted to understand for myself why this dangerously unique singer had such a profound effect on eleven and twelve-year-old youths the world over.
I was in for a quiet shock. This shock had nothing to do with the murderous contents blurted out in his tracks. I found myself unsuspectingly falling in love with the sound, the rustic voice commanding and sincere. The composition in every track is beautifully done, captivating, sweetly and simply entrancing.
A man’s head was being busted from a bullet of Movado’s gun, blood all over the place, bone marrow pasted on a ceiling. Death in the most cruel forms against his enemies came through my speakers as Movado sang.
For an instant I had forgotten why I was listening. I, a man mature, street wise and sensible, found myself captured in a sweet moment, strangely becoming angry and imagining how I would deal with someone who dissed me.
I shudder, when I thought of the young minds underdeveloped being exposed to the rhapsody of death driven in the most powerful vehicle of expression, music.
I do not want this for our youths at Linden. I ask the organizers to rethink their choice. This is not a private promotion. This is Linden Town Week. Have we forgotten the objectives?
I will continue to love my dance-hall sounds. If Movado changes course that will be welcome. The music is a part of all of us and we wish it best. Sing some more songs with meaning..
Yours faithfully,
Norman Browne
