How Babylon Has Influenced Reggae Music

In this blog post, we take a look at how the rise of Babylon has influenced the development of reggae music over the years.

The History of Babylon

Babylon is a small town located in the parish of St. James, in the West Indies. The town is well known for its strong Rastafarian community, and for being the birthplace of reggae music. Reggae music has its roots in the African tradition of call-and-response singing. It was brought to Jamaica by slaves who were brought over from Africa to work on the island’s sugar plantations.

The British Empire

The British Empire was one of the most powerful empires in world history. It was, at its height, the largest empire ever seen. It controlled a quarter of the world’s land mass and a fifth of its population. Its reach was truly global, with colonies and dependencies on every continent.

Babylon was a British colony in Mesopotamia from 1831 to 1932. It was located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now Iraq. The British initially intended Babylonto be a commercial center for trade with India and the Far East. But after just a few years, it became clear that the area had huge potential for oil production.

Over the next few decades, Babylon became one of the most important oil-producing regions in the world. The British installed a puppet government in Baghdad and essentially turned Mesopotamia into one giant oilfield. This generated enormous wealth for the British Empire but had devastating consequences for the Iraqi people.

The discovery of oil also had a major impact on music. Reggae, which emerged in Jamaica in the 1960s, was heavily influenced by Babylonian culture. Many reggae artists adopted Babylonian dress and hairstyles, and the lyrics of many reggae songs reflect Babylon’s oppressiveness and poverty.

The Rastafari Movement

The Rastafari movement is a Jamaican religious movement that arose in the 1930s. adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia (ruled 1930–74), as God incarnate and the Messiah who will deliver them from suffering. The movement particularly spread during the 1950s and ’60s among poor and working-class black people in urban communities in Jamaica, where it developed its own distinctive culture.

The Rastafari grew out of two main influences: Ethiopianism, a pan-Africanist movement that developed in the early 20th century to promote Ethiopian independence from European colonial rule; and Garveyism, the Black Nationalist teachings of Marcus Garvey (1887–1940), which inspired many black people to pride in their African heritage and the dream of returning to Africa. In general, Rastafarians accept Marcus Garvey’s view that black people are the “chosen” race, destined to rule the world.

Babylon, in Rastafarianism, is a term used to describe the materialistic world that is considered corrupt and evil. It is also used as a rallying cry against oppression and racism. Some popular reggae songs with anti-Babylon themes include Bob Marley’s “ Babylon System” and Lee “Scratch” Perry’s “I Am Pierrot.”

The Sound of Babylon

Reggae music has been shaped and influenced by the sounds of Babylon throughout its history. From the early days of ska and rocksteady, to the more modern days of dub and dancehall, the influence of Babylon can be heard in the music. In this article, we’ll explore how Babylon has influenced reggae music over the years.

Reggae Music

Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, “Do the Reggay” was the first popular song to use the word “reggae”, effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. While sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican dance music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based on a rhythm style characterized by regular chops on the off beat, known as the skank. Reggae is normally tempoed between about 60 beats per minute ( slow ) to about 75 beats per minute ( fast ). Many early reggae tracks used drums and bass patterns lifted from rocksteady tunes.

Ska Music

Babylon has had a huge influence on the development of reggae music, particularly ska music. Ska is a fast-paced, upbeat style of music that originated in Jamaica in the 1950s. It was heavily influenced by American jazz and rhythm and blues, as well as traditional Jamaican mento music.

Ska became hugely popular in Jamaica in the 1960s, and soon began to spread to other parts of the world. Reggae icon Bob Marley was a big fan of ska, and his early work was strongly influenced by the genre. Ska eventually evolved into two other popular styles of Jamaican music: rocksteady and reggae.

Dub Music

Dub is a genre of music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is a style of reggae that incorporates elements of other genres, including rock, funk, and hip hop. Dub music is characterized by its use of echo and reverb, as well as its emphasis on the groove.

The term “dub” is thought to be derived from the practice of dubbing tapes, which was popular among Jamaican sound system operators in the 1970s. Dubbing was used to create custom versions of existing songs, often with different singers or different Instrumental tracks. These custom versions were then played at dancehalls or other events.

The first dub track is thought to be “King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown” by Augustus Pablo, which was released in 1974. This track blended the rhythms of rocksteady with the sound of Pablo’s melodica (a small keyboard-like instrument).

In the 1980s and 1990s, dub music underwent a resurgence, thanks in part to the popularity of sound system culture in England. This new wave of dub was spearheaded by artists such as Adrian Sherwood and Mad Professor. Today, dub continues to evolve – with new subgenres such as Steppa Dub and Digital Dub emerging.

The Influence of Babylon

Babylon has been a huge influence on the development of reggae music. The Jamaican government’s focus on the Rastafari movement, and the subsequent repression of the movement, led to a rise in awareness of Rastafari among the Jamaican people. This new awareness led to the development of a uniquely Jamaican form of reggae music that incorporated elements of Rastafari culture.

Reggae Music

Babylon is a term found in the Bible that has come to represent oppression, injustice, and materialism. It is often used in Reggae music as a symbol of poverty, racism, and struggles of the working class. The term is also used to describe the corrupt government and systems that keep people in poverty. Reggae artists often use the term to call for revolution and change.

Babylon has also come to represent western culture and capitalism. In Reggae music, Babylon is often seen as a symbol of materialism, greed, and excess. Artists often use the term to critiqued the negative aspects of western culture and its impact on the world.

While the term has primarily negative connotations, some Reggae artists have used it to describe a positive aspects of Babylonian culture. Babylon can also represent the positive aspects of westernization such as technology, education, and economic prosperity.

Ska Music

Ska is a genre of music that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s. It was developed from a combination of American rhythm and blues and Jamaican mento and calypso. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the offbeat. It was popularized in the 1960s by Jamaican recording artists such as Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, and Toots and the Maytals.

The popularity of ska music in the United Kingdom was boosted in the late 1970s by the release of records by British punk rock bands such as The Clash and The Jam, who incorporated elements of ska into their songs. Reggae, a subgenre of ska that developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s, also became popular in Britain in the 1970s. Reggae is characterized by a emphasis on rhythm and percussion, as well as themes of social protest.

Babylon is a term used to refer to governments or institutions that are perceived to be corrupt or oppressive. In reggae music, Babylon is often used as a metaphor for these kinds of institutions. The lyrics of many reggae songs protest against Babylonian systems and call for their overthrow.

Dub Music

Dub is a style of reggae music that was developed in the late 1960s. It is characterized by a heavy bass sound and use of Echo and Reverb effects. Dub music was popularized by artists such as King Tubby, Lee “Scratch” Perry, and Scientist.