When I was told recently about Third World's plans to celebrate their 35th anniversary this year, naturally, I immediately thought about Stone Love Movements celebrating its 35th anniversary in December.
And, I thought about how Jamaican music has developed since the two outstanding organisations, one a band of live musicians and the other a sound system playing recorded music, were formed.
I was all of one-year-old when Third World and Stone Love were formed, so, of course, I do not have first-hand knowledge of the entertainment scene then. But, we should all know that Third World was one of a number of 70s roots bands, among them Inner Circle (with which it is genetically linked, musically), Zap Pow (for which Beres Hammond was at one point lead singer) and The Wailers (which morphed from the Wailing Wailers of the previous decade and would further evolve - some would say devolve - into Bob Marley and the Wailers).
They were all self-contained units, carrying on in the tradition, if not the musical format, of those which preceded them, such as Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, Carlos Malcolm and the Afro-Caribbean Rhythms and the Skatalites.
These days there are very few of those bands around, which came after that 70s wave. Morgan Heritage is well established and Rootz Underground is fighting the good fight with Victims of the System, making a U.S. trod recently and performing regularly enough in Jamaica, a recent high-profile outing being 'Welcome to Jamrock 2007'.
Stone Love was one of the inheritors of the sound system movement, V Rocket, Tom The Great Sebastian, Downbeat, and Merritone among their many predecessors. Today, there are more selectors than actual sound systems, with many a young lad walking around with a CD pouch and his name being labelled a sound system.
So, 35 years after these two landmark organisations were founded it is the sound system that has come to rule in terms of the sheer numbers of young persons who are getting involved in the music business via that route, as well as a mass audience. However, with a very heavy annual touring schedule that takes them truly worldwide, from Australia to Antigua and Barbuda, from Japan to the U.S., Third World is a flagbearer for Jamaican music.
I wonder if, 35 years ago, coming up to the heady days of socialist exuberance and the explosion of black consciousness, those involved in the music business could have envisioned that this was the way that it would go.
And, I wonder if 35 years from now, the hip-hop/dancehall fusion that Mavado and Busy Signal record on regularly will have replaced the straight dancehall beat that we have become used to. It might seem laughable now, but look what has happened over the past 35 years.
When I was told recently about Third World's plans to celebrate their 35th anniversary this year, naturally, I immediately thought about Stone Love Movements celebrating its 35th anniversary in December.
And, I thought about how Jamaican music has developed since the two outstanding organisations, one a band of live musicians and the other a sound system playing recorded music, were formed.
I was all of one-year-old when Third World and Stone Love were formed, so, of course, I do not have first-hand knowledge of the entertainment scene then. But, we should all know that Third World was one of a number of 70s roots bands, among them Inner Circle (with which it is genetically linked, musically), Zap Pow (for which Beres Hammond was at one point lead singer) and The Wailers (which morphed from the Wailing Wailers of the previous decade and would further evolve - some would say devolve - into Bob Marley and the Wailers).
They were all self-contained units, carrying on in the tradition, if not the musical format, of those which preceded them, such as Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, Carlos Malcolm and the Afro-Caribbean Rhythms and the Skatalites.
These days there are very few of those bands around, which came after that 70s wave. Morgan Heritage is well established and Rootz Underground is fighting the good fight with Victims of the System, making a U.S. trod recently and performing regularly enough in Jamaica, a recent high-profile outing being 'Welcome to Jamrock 2007'.
Stone Love was one of the inheritors of the sound system movement, V Rocket, Tom The Great Sebastian, Downbeat, and Merritone among their many predecessors. Today, there are more selectors than actual sound systems, with many a young lad walking around with a CD pouch and his name being labelled a sound system.
So, 35 years after these two landmark organisations were founded it is the sound system that has come to rule in terms of the sheer numbers of young persons who are getting involved in the music business via that route, as well as a mass audience. However, with a very heavy annual touring schedule that takes them truly worldwide, from Australia to Antigua and Barbuda, from Japan to the U.S., Third World is a flagbearer for Jamaican music.
I wonder if, 35 years ago, coming up to the heady days of socialist exuberance and the explosion of black consciousness, those involved in the music business could have envisioned that this was the way that it would go.
And, I wonder if 35 years from now, the hip-hop/dancehall fusion that Mavado and Busy Signal record on regularly will have replaced the straight dancehall beat that we have become used to. It might seem laughable now, but look what has happened over the past 35 years.