MUSIC-SPORTS: Reggae Boyz for the Cup!

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Howard Campbell

KINGSTON, May 26 1998 (IPS) - Jamaica’s hopes for victory at the World Cup soccer tournament in France next month are pinned on the Reggae Boyz – as the national team is known – who have become the toast of the country in song.

Jamaica will play its opening match against Croatia on June 14 but, ever since they secured their first berth in the World Cup final series, local musicians and entertainers – from outrageous deejays to dub poets – have jumped into the act with a variety of tributes.

Two high-profile efforts have been particularly successful: the much talked-about song, “Rise Up” which hit the airwaves in February and the album, “Hail The Reggae Boyz: Like Magic” which was released in early May.

They have received contrasting reaction from the Jamaican public. By far the more popular has been the “Hail The Reggae Boyz: Like Magic” compilation, a 12-track album which was released earlier this month during the Reggae Boyz Week celebrations in Jamaica.

The album was conceived by Robert Dabdoub, a Kingston-based businessman and showcases songs written specifically for the team’s historic World Cup appearance by noted local performers like singer Bob Andy, deejay Tony Rebel and the band, Chalice.

According to Dabdoub, the theme of the album was based on the patriotic passion the Jamaica team inspired through its outstanding performances of the past two years.

“The album is carrying a message…there (are) quite a few songs on it where the artistes sing about heroes,” said Dabdoub. “What the Reggae Boyz have done goes beyond football.”

The album’s title track was released in October shortly before Jamaica qualified for the World Cup. So striking was its impact that Dabdoub and Wayne Armond of Chalice decided to produce a full- length set in tribute to the team. “We did it to motivate the players, it wasn’t a commercial thing,” Dabdoub said.

The initial press run of “Hail The Reggae Boyz” has been 1,000 copies with Dabdoub hoping to snare a deal to distribute the disc in Europe in time for the World Cup. The album will be distributed in the United States by Jamaican-owned, New York- based VP Records.

Dabdoub, who also produced the “Road To France” guide book in early 1997, is hoping that the set will be taken seriously and not as a novel item by fans. “It’s not just for France, we are thinking long-term here,” he stated . We are hoping for it to be a classic, a souvenir to be treasured.”

So far, “Hail The Reggae Boyz” has outlived the spate of easy- to-forget patriotic numbers, many of which have fallen by the wayside.

Critics believe that because several of its songs were favourites long before the album was released as the prime reason for its popularity. By the time the team’s passage to France was secured, the songs had assumed anthemic proportions.

Among thetunes showcased in the “Hail The Reggae Boyz” album are Chalice’s “Heroes of Yesterday,” singer Everton Blender’s “Ghetto People Song” and “You Can Do It,” by Tony Rebel a longtime supporter of the team. Like Dabdoub, Wayne Armond believes the album transcends commercial boundaries and is a fitting tribute to the Jamaica team.

“It was a labour of love but it was a great project to be involved in,” he said. But while the Dabdoub project has received the thumbs-up from the Jamaican public, that has not been the case with the highly-touted “Rise Up” which, ironically, is the team’s official anthem.

The song, which was co-produced by top-notch drummer Sly Dunbar and Michael Bennett, was commissioned by football’s governing body, FIFA, as part of the official World Cup album.

“Rise Up” features an all-star cast of Jamaican entertainers including reggae great Toots Hibbert and current sensation Diana King. But its pop sound has not found favour with Jamaicans who claim that it does not fit in with the team’s moniker.

Bennett, who has worked with Grammy-winning performer Shabba Ranks, has defended “Rise Up’s” pop feel. He explained that FIFA requested that the song should have a sound which would be commercially appealing to record buyers in the United States and Europe.

“Our mandate was to make more than a song that Jamaican people would love, Sony (the company which will distribute the World Cup album) has to like it and FIFA wants an album that will sell,” he disclosed.

Though he is disappointed with the response to “Rise Up,” Bennett takes solace in the reaction from the distributors. “Sony recently bumped another composition to make way for Rise Up so obviously somebody liked it,” he said.