PARIS ¨C UNESCO has declared reggae, the Jamaican music that spread across the world with its calls for social justice, peace and love, to be a global treasure that must be safe-guarded.
Born in the poor neighborhoods of Kingston in the 1960s, reggae reflected hard times and struggle but could also be joyous dance music with its distinctive off-beat.
Its most famous songwriter and performer, the late Bob Marley, became a global superstar with hits like ¡°No Woman, No Cry¡± and ¡°Get Up, Stand Up.¡± Other notables include Jimmy Cliff and Toots and the Maytalls.
Artists such as the Clash incorporated its chunky beat and its politics into their own music, bringing it to a wider audience. It caught on from Britain to Brazil and Africa.
¡°Its contribution to international discourse on issues of injustice, resistance, love and humanity underscores the dynamics of the element as being at once cerebral, socio-political, sensual and spiritual,¡± UNESCO said in a statement.
The Paris-based UNESCO, the cultural agency of the United Nations, made its ruling at a meeting this week. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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