Thou art blessed
published: Saturday | April 15, 2006

Mai'khi C'Nia

AWAKE, AWAKE! Put on thy strength, O Jamdown; put on thy thinking cap ye land: from henceforth thou shalt sing for thy supper, and dance for a place to rest thy head. Arise, set thyself level and shake thyself from the dust of lethargy; put on thy running shoes and turn thy back on procrastination.

For thou O isle of wood and water, art the birthplace of the music of protest and enlightenment. Yea, thou art blessed amongst men for thou didst create indigenous sounds that appeal to and rekindle the spirit of mankind. But thou hath dropped the ball and allowed the fruit of thy cultural convictions to be plucked out of thy bosom and adopted by strangers. Yea, thou hath undermined and taken for granted, the dynamism of thy home-grown players of instruments and scorers of lyrics, and now Reggae is sounding more authentic when played by blue-eyed, golden-hair cowboys who hail from the blue-ridged mountains of the land of the free; and dancehall hath spawned 'Hip Hop,' a mega-billion-dollar music industry juggernaut which hath no regard for its genesis right here on the rock.

ASPIRATIONS

Behold, thou hath permitted apathy to belittle thy aspirations, thus whilst the rest of creation art prospering from thy intellectual property, thou art reaping peanuts. For music industry reports tell the story O rock, and the estimates art suggesting that thou art earning but a mere three and one half per cent of an industry that is worth approximately 15 billion greenbacks worldwide. Yet e'en whilst thou art languishing in the cellars with such minimal returns, a chest full of royalty money hath accumulated and sits within the borders of France alone, awaiting thy arrival to claim it unto thyself.

How then art thou prepared to live O land? Art thou willing to continue in a hand-to-mouth existence, or wilt thou explore to the fullest, the possibilities that art open to thee on the international markets? For it is that strategy that is likely to lead thee to the prestige that hath eluded thee over recent decades, but thou must toil to achieve it.

Know this ye land, no administration is capable of achieving the targets set within its economic policies without the people making the essential input and being true to their responsibilities in the whole scheme of things. Neither is there any leader of any nation that can achieve the objectives set out at budget time, without the necessary control and prudence being exercised by those under her command. Thou O Jamdown hath a habit of leaving it all to thy leaders to do but thou must change that attitude this day, for it is an impediment to thy economic development.