To The Beat of The Drum
Bob Marley is one of the most iconic voices in reggae music. This is evident through the musical traits used in his songs. In the song One Love/People get ready, the functionality theory best explains the connection of musical traits and context. The function of the song is to build community, this is done through call and response, repetition , and timbres of layers. These musical traits all require the people to work together in some sort, creating unity. Many songs use different musical traits to establish different theories that connect their context to their musical traits.
The lyrics themself could show how unity is being created. However, the content of the lyrics isn’t necessarily considered a musical trait. It’s all about the sound of these lyrics and not what they mean.The lyrics of this song are repeated, “Let’s get together and feel alright” and in response the audience sings out one love”. Meaning if they all come together everything will be okay.
The repetition of the lyrics in this song connect to the many specific pieces of contextual information that I have found in my research. Using the functionality theory I realized the idea behind this song is to come together as one. Which would build community. It was stated in the reading that, “ Caribbean people build leisure spaces, community life, and new consumption-driven domesticity centered around music.”(McGraw) In this, the singers are expressing emotion through the crying out sounds that you can hear while they are singing, they obviously feel some way that things aren’t going well, so they want to to make things better. The function isn’t based off of the context of the lyrics, but the fact that Bob Marley repeats these words means it is easier for the audience to join in because they can figure out the next line based off of what they have been hearing. Once the audience is able to join in, the sense of community starts to be built. The reading states that this kind of music can be sang while working, and you can kind of feel that with this song. (Dunn) The repetition of lyrics could also imply that some type of work is being done.Caribbean music also centered around dancing so the lyrics and the music, both make people want to move. The audience is really important because the focus is on them. They crated the music culture, so the lyrics in most songs, including this one is directed towards them. They show their experiences of migration and settlement through music and dance. The repetition is also used to enhance the aesthetics of the songs. The lyrics aren’t what add to the beauty of the song, it’s the fact that they are repeated so more people can join in. Telling a story gives the song a deeper meaning , tying back into the function of creating community. This builds community because it shows unity, the performers and the audience are all singing together. With repetition, it’s also eaiser to dance along to the music. Dance halls are very popular in this type of music. The music itself is important to individuals but it becomes important to the group as a whole when the function of building community is being done.
The specific trait I want to discuss next is the timbres of layers. Timbre is defined as the character or quality of a musical sound or voice as distinct from its pitch and intensity. In the song One Love/ People get Ready. the quality of the sound’s function is to create unity and build community because they’re crying out for help to be together as one. As previously stated, this type of music was played or sung during their working periods. There is balance in the song, where there is relatively simultaneous loudness in the song , the loudness represents how bad they want to reach their goals. As the volume of the song gets louder the more people will join in. The articulation is what adds to the beauty of the song. Telling a story gives the song a deeper meaning , tying back into the function of creating community. The articulation in most songs require a reply from the audience, adding another trait of call and response. This builds community because it shows unity, the performers and the audience are all singing together. Dance halls are very popular in this type of music. The timbre of layers allows the music to become more catchy and gain the attention of others. “After it became popular in Jamaica, reggae spread to other countries and firmly entrenched itself in the music world” (Mazzei).Music spreads all over creating community as more people and cultures become involved along the way.The music itself is important to individuals but it becomes important to the group as a whole when the function of building community is being done. The sound quality can be focused on the timbres too because they add to the intensity of the function behind the song.
The last trait I will discuss is call and response. This is used to connect the context to the idea of building community because it requires the audience and the lead singer to work together. The function behind this song is to build community and work together. The leader calls out “hear the children crying” and the audience replies “one love” and the lead singer then says “Hear the children crying” the audience then replies “one heart”. The words in themselves display unity and building community. “one love” and “one heart” are implying that they will come together as one and share their love and their hearts, but it isn’t the main focus of the idea of building. Call and response which requires involvement from the crowd. The reading states, “Caribbean people’s pursuit of public dancing and music-filled leisure in dance halls, town halls, and semiprivate house parties became an early test for racial integration in the UK.” (McGraw) Their dancing and music put them in place where they are working together. Without the audience the call and response wouldn’t be able to be done properly and community wouldn’t be built. The focus is on the audience and their connection to each other and working together. The function of call and response in this song was to add to the beauty. Having everyone singing along is a beautiful thing. Reggae music is heavy on drumming. There is call and response with the instrument as well. The instruments call and response add to the building of the community because the musicians have to work together and properly communicate to know when each instrument is to come in and be played. All elements of this song work together in adding to the trait of call and response which in the end leads to the building of community.
In conclusion, the function of this song is to build community and this function is completed successfully through call and response, repetition, and timbres of layers. A deeper meaning behind the reggae genre as a whole could even be used to create unity. Bob Marley successfully displayed ideas of building community in the specific song “One Love/ People Get Ready”.
Works Cited
Dunn, Hopeton S., and Sheena Johnson-Brown. “Reggae and Resistance (Jamaica).” Encyclopedia of Social Movement Media, edited by John D. H. Downing, SAGE Reference, 2011, pp. 438–441. Gale eBooks, https://link-gale-com.hoover2.mcdaniel.edu:2443/apps/doc/CX1700800204/GVRL?u=west41605&sid=GVRL&xid=c6e3098a. Accessed 27 Oct. 2019.
Jason McGraw. Sonic Settlements: Jamaican Music, Dancing, and Black Migrant Communities in Postwar Britain. Vol. 52, no. 2, 2019, pp. 353–382. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edspmu&AN=edspmu.S1527189718200071&site=eds-live
Mazzei, Michael. “Reggae.” Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2019. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=87324621&site=eds-live.
