"Is reggae music going into extinction?"-By Olusegun Ariyo

As we live to feel things that savour our souls especially in time Of depression, it often gives meaning to life by adding taste to it in terms of bringing delight with ingredients to soul searching and helping body satisfaction from rather moving back-wards.

It also explains these reality that every living things comes at some points and go, some amazing things that we human beings dominates on this planet earth and admires, like animals, sweet rhythms that provide food for the heart, comes and when the time is ripe for them to go .

 Its comes with adding pains and sorrows that even when asked, we wouldn’t have wished it goes, but then, some would have rather stay, if the inevitability of human efforts are things to go by, it would have been comprehensible where-with, encourages sustainability in replenishing it self, where productivity would have become the other of the day, discovering more talent and harnessing them, indeed, where it would have succeed in discouraging it movements into gradual extinction.

Par-harps, having sweet lyrics as something that provides food to the heart can be joyful, but not when we are circled with the predicament of its gradual movement towards an end, and has no means of survival can be a permanent burden to the soul of many with desirable interest in those enviable melodies that provide food to their heart .Continue.

I was at home over the weekend when I was tuning the channel of my television set to find some suitable programme that can support my instinct of having joyful moments of relaxation with my family. As it was my normal routine especially after the usual hustle and bustle over the week and then the period of weekends is to find time to have some pate of re-union with them.

Then come some very interesting programme that is put together by ultima studio the organizers project fame in bringing up young talent into fame, helping them develop their potentials in various fields of music endeavor.

Watching that episode on that superlative Sunday was indeed ironical. It was time for their usual task individually. instructively, the type of music that is expected of them perform turned to be reggae music, on noticing, I pursed a bit, went into memories, to remember those legendary with that pattern of music and how their efforts had so far paid off when in their last episode, they introduced waka, an indigenous music that helped one of its contestant clinched third runner up position in their last edition, and had since been recognized globally with it, through their discoveries and also, was equally amazed in noticing their smartness for infusing that pattern of rhythmic out-flow into their weekly schedule and not allowing reggae music movement go into extinction.

That moment was quite significant, in that, it was a day set out for them to perform reggae germs in their usual task of the week. It catches my attraction where it made me stayed glowed to that particular station. it tailored me back into the good old days, after seeing one of the contestants playing one of the leads songs of majek fashek, titled ‘’send dawn the rain’’.

That moment saw the audience in high spiritually lifted mood, living some shouting the name of the originator, whilst some are in confuse stage as to whether they can in actual sense, get another performer and excellent composer in replacement of majek fashek in their generation. The contestant gave his all, he was actually wearing the same attire to which the artist used to perform in its originality, the bell he used when he was said to be chanting that rhythmic phrase ‘’send dawn the rain’’, and then picturing out the majek’s own video, what I remembered was that after chanting those words, the rain began with drizzling, whether or not it was real, the reality then was that it ended up dropping, and indeed the contestant was unable to achieve that when performing his music, so sad.

But then, what it gave birth to, that is more of concern here is in the fact that majek has stopped performing in spite of the admixture between modernity and Stone Age his music performance has been able to build with-which he was able to achieve in his generation with another reminder of some other known artists in the reggae industries too that had come and gone.

 The legendary bob-merely whose music still remains ever green gave his best and is much celebrated in so many countries of the world. His music still depict different things to so many people, the lyrics alone has become some house hold choice of music like the world most acceptable tone sax of Kenny G. for some of us, who truly understands how music feed our souls.

His saxophone interpretations alone gives varieties of meanings that one can allude to the allure tunes of tony Montana legendary sort after concepts Guitarist of barricading the uniqueness of his tones to over shadows whoever he was having collaborations with in time of engagements.

Bob-merely had been on for decades, and after he left, his music’s never stops lifting the souls of many. More in tune was when project fame organizers dedicated reggae performance as task for its contestants that week, it was time for another artists’ to perfume lucky dube’s music, another sporadic shouting gout the air, opening old wounds, allowing many of his admirers to remember the tragic accident that cut-short his life back there in south Africa on that faithful day.

To those audiences, it was the time to raise there pla-card everywhere with different inscription, as means paying glowing tribute and homage to the great legendary reggae artist.

To me, indeed it was time for me to begin by reflecting about the past in the annals of things to imagine and then ponder about what is gradually bringing dawn these wonderful artist who in different foray, have succeeded in using their talents to lift so many challenged souls and gradually, we begin to see them no more and their concepts and types of reggae music pattern its self, is gradually fading away especially in our country Nigeria

. If I must add, the interview granted by terry G in punch newspaper, describing one Nolly-wood actress as being the one that actually introduced him into smoking weeds can be telling and that which even add up in my thinking and thought about the engraving situation one can build its argument on, as a pointer of having found to be one factor for the gradual extinction of so many of our reggae artist.

If we must reflect back to history, it was reported also, that Majek Fashek had similar challenges and that there was some certain time the family were trying to revive him of those addiction of drug he got him-self, into as revealed in some dailies, and till this moment, the challenges still persist, making him not fit any more to perform and keep the spirits of reggae music flying, the same goes to so many with similar experiences except for Lucky Dube who was reportedly killed by people of the other side signifying racism as being what lead to shooting him in Pretoria.

The point I am driving here is that many reggae artist all over the world are rather had one relationship with drug addiction or the other and then as result, create more trouble for them self’s and at the end, there life is cut short, and Nigeria is no exception. Could this then be the reason reggae music is gradually moving into extinction? Was also reflecting into the music of terry G and then to discover in the message he was passing out to the public when he said ‘’if you run faster than I do, then you go, run mad’’ what else could one add up in his reasonability of thoughts to understands the direction our reggae artist are moving on towards… please, pardon my decision to relax my mind whilst I take some liquid content of wine as I chill for some moment…