Global Reggae Charts - Issue #7 / November 2017

Cali P & Randy Valentine
Human creativity is not about creating things that
have no ties to, existing world. Instead, it is a continuous,
evolutionary process of iteration and recombination,
with some complete novelty sprinkled in
here and there. This, by the way, is even backed by
the most current research into creativity and innovation.
It is widely recognized that too much novelty
can actually hurt the recognition a work receives -
if the audience is not even remotely familiar with a
thing, it usually isn’t perceived well. Or in simpler
terms: if a creation is too far out there, it will often
fail to resonate. Once you accept that fact, you’ll start
to appreciate some of the most interesting creative
achievements of our time. And you might realize the
brilliance that can go into modifications, remixes,
and the novel combination of ideas. Like the fusion
of Cuban and Jamaican music that you can find on
Havana Meets Kingston.
Interestingly, the projects highlights two other
properties of modern-day creativity. Thanks to the
internet and our global travel system, creativity hardly
knows borders anymore. Neither stylistically nor
geographically. A Dutch writer may be influenced by
Indian “Bollywood” movies, a Brazilian painter may
find inspiration in Japanese graphic novels, and an
Australian reggae producer might initiate a Cuban/
Jamaican happening.
Access to even the most obscure cultural artifacts as
well as their makers is only limited by one’s curiosity
(and time, to be fair). And the artists of our time
make full use of that new realm of opportunity. They
look for interesting ideas across the globe, thereby
widening their horizon and adding to their creative
repertoire. Some of the resulting works will certainly
be obscure, many will be interesting, and some
might even be regarded as creative breakthroughs
by future generations.
As a fan of Jamaican music, it’s good to see that reggae
and dancehall are very much part of this current
creative phenomenon. Jamaican artists expand their
sound by incorporating different sound aesthetics
into their works. Dancehall and Reggae are influencing
young producers across genres, from Rap
to EDM. While purists might disapprove, I’m all in
favor of that development. It shows that Reggae and
Dancehall are very much alive, interesting to people
across the globe, and are themselves capable of
evolving. Luckily, Havana Meets Kingston perfectly
illustrates that this process doesn’t just lead to zeitgeisty,
short-lived productions but can create timeless,
quality music. I highly recommend it to cultural
pessimists and music fans alike.
global reggae charts | issue 7 / nov 2017
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