DOCSLIB.ORG

Nyabinghi Ancient Council – Coup Or Mutiny?

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Nyabinghi Ancient Council – Coup Or Mutiny? NYABINGHI ANCIENT COUNCIL – COUP OR MUTINY? TOUCH NOT THE LORD ANOINTED, NOR DO HIS PROPHETS HARM “Jah standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judges amongst the gods. How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah. Defend the poor and fatherless, do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; free them from the hands of the wicked. They do not know the Almighty Jah Rastafari, neither do they iverstand, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are unstable. InI i have said, you are Rasses and all of you are children of the Most High Jah Rastafari. But you shall die like men and fall like one of the princes. Arise O’ Jah Rastafari; judge the earth, for thou shall inherit all nations .Selah. Psalm 82 A ‘MUTINY’ OR A ‘COUP’? ‘He who would be a leader must pay the price of self –discipline and moral restraint. This entails the correction and improvement of his personal character, the checking of passions and desires and an exemplary control of one’s bodily needs and desires.’ ‘Q’damawi Haile Selassie. Among the general code of the Rastafari Code of Conduct is said that InI said that InI should: “Abide by the laws and teachings of H.I.M Emperor Haile Selassie I, the principles and practices of The Elders, Patriarchs and Matriarchs and the laws of Nature written in the hearts of human kind.” In these times of trials and tribulation nothing will come easy; even the righteous will be tempted, even friend will become enemy, even those loyal to the throne room will break ranks for crumbs on the table. What Woe in a Babylon! What a Woe! It was not expected that in the house of Jah Rastafari there would be a mutiny, or some would prefer the word ‘coup’. Such is the reality that InI now face; when you rise up against your own Constitution or guide lines, it is treason at all levels. NYABINGHI ANCIENT PRIESTHOOD – GUIDELINES The Nyah Binghi Guidelines clearly state in the section “The Priesthood” which consists of seven administrating Priests including the High Priest that: “The Priesthood is looked upon for wise decisions and council and is key representative of the Nyah Binghi order. The signature from the priesthood is required on all communication sent out from the house.” The section Council of Elders states that: “The Council of Elders consists of elder brethrens of the house who have maintained the livity of Rastafari over a number of years. Their decision is always required and where there are differences of opinion, the Council is called upon to make a ruling. The Council of Elders functions as guardians of the movement and are treated with great respect.“ Now concerning the Priest, the Feta Negus states that: “No one shall think evil of a priest. No one except his superior shall judge him according to the cannon law. As regard such priest, the scribes and the Pharisees and all things thereof, whatsoever they shall do to you or seek to do, observe and move but you shall not do according to their work. A person who judges him, if he live an excellent life, he will exercise care according to the word of our Lord who said: Judge not that you may not be judged—–” The High Priest Ancient George Ions has made a collective decision within the Priesthood and the Council of Ancients, regarding Sizzla Kalonji: * As the safe keeper of the Nyah Binghi stamp and seal until the office building on the Scotts Nyah Binghi grounds is completed; * As “President, Theocracy, Reign Order of the Nyah Binghi and the Movement” for the Repatriation black people to Africa; * Ancient Bongo Tawney now an ancestor and former chair of the Council of Ancients had appointed Sizzla Kalonji as the treasurer of the Ancient Council. Is the wise mind of InI Ancients no longer valid? This is a dilemma for many,, while for some it will be a time for reflection. The more vocal among the Rasses are now commanding media attention and will find themselves into a firestorm of words, thus for every action there is a equal and opposite reaction. RASTAFARI CALLS ON THE YOUTH Many are now up in arms and saying this and that. All these Rastafari intellects who should have known better have abandoned the 22 resolutions of the Rastafari International theocracy Assembly (RITA). It was agreed then that: * The Rastafari International Divine Order of the Nyah Binghi should be the responsible source to provide spiritual guidance regarding Rastafari Religious Foundation and Livitical Authority. * The Administration of the Rastafari community should be handled at two distinct levels ; Rastafari International Secretariat and a Rastafari Theocracy Government (functional). Why do so many who have gained Babylon education, instead of making meaningful itributions to Rastafari sustainable development, prefer to work for Babylon and foolishly try to beat up on the Nyah Binghi priesthood and Council of Ancients? It won’t work in this time. It is your duty to give a strength and not to tear apart. What a judgment!! Jah Rastafari calls upon the youths because they are strong, technology ready, knowledgeable and resourceful. It is about full time to clear the age hurdle within the Order of the Nyah Binghi. It is discriminatory, and so many willing and able youths are blocked out because of age criteria and inflexible categories to serve at top levels. Yes I hear the Fiyah Bun. Rastafari youths of ability and good intent should be should be given the opportunity to build capacity with the Ancients and offer their expertise. The youths are aware that they are not Ancients, but to sit among Ancients is very rewarding in this time. Failing to do that, Babylon will surely absorb the youths and weaken the foundation already set by those who have gone before. RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL The Nyah Binghi Royal Creed of ’Let the hungry be fed, the naked clothed, the sick nourished, the infants cared for, and the aged protected’ cannot be fulfilled with mere words. Some will say “It takes cash to care”, therefore InI give thanks for “Word sound power collective” WSPC and their livication to Ancients needs, and to “Iniversal Development of Rastafari” IDOR who have done the same. There are also many individuals outside of these two organizations who have given financial support or otherwise to Ancients over the many years. I salute you all. Now the Administrative Council of the Theocratic Reign Order of the Nyah Binghi (Jamaica), although not listed within the Nyah Binghi guide lines, was given the secular duties of the Council of Ancients. Over a period of time the relationship with the Administrative and Ancient Council became unstable, due to the lack of transparency in critical areas of administration such as proving financial reports, information on business transactions and Minutes of meetings. The Administrative Council seems to forget that the Ancients are the custodians of the livity and traditions of the Rastafari movement, thus they as students should be mindful in addition to their modern education. “We should be aware, more than ever before, not to allow discord amongst us. We must close ranks and discharge our obligation in harmony and unity of vision and purpose.”-Utterance of Q’damawi Haile Selassie. In the desperation of those who should have known better, the internal affairs of the Council of Ancients have spilled out on the Jamaican radio waves and cyberspace. A very unpleasant choice of words was used by many edgy people to describe the Ancients and certain individuals. As a result of this the Council of Ancients sat and made their declaration to seal the matter with apology to none. What is hidden in the dark must come to light; know that all secret plots must be revealed. The Administrative Council had their set agenda. In a plot to overrule the Council of Ancients’ decisions and to force High Priest George Ions and others into early retirement, the Administrative Council called for a vote of no confidence of those accused during the Sunday reasoning of the 82nd Coronation anniversary at the Pitfour Nyah Binghi Center. It is definitely not constitutional for the Administrative Council to rule on the Priesthood. That is the duty of the seven Ilected Priests and the Council of Ancients, thus they overstepped their authority by doing so. NYABINGHI STAMP & SEAL Concerning the Nyah Binghi Stamp and Seal, it is in the safe keeping of Sizzla Kalonji, the Treasurer of the Ancient Council, until the office building at Scotts Pass is completed. This decision caused a lot of huff and puff to blow the house down, but it did not happen. As a result of this discord, two choices were presented by the Administrative Council at 2nd November 2012 Binghi at Granville Pit Four, which were: (1) return the Stamp and Seal by any means necessary or (2) replace the Stamp and Seal and declare the new one to the Global Rastafari family. So why, when this mandate was given to the Administrative Council they made a “Press Release” exposing their bitterness and discrediting the Ancient Priest and others among him? Is that following protocol, when the Administrative Council defies the instructions of those who support them and now continues on their own personal rampage? Can the Council of Ancients now have the Administrative Council in trust to manage their affairs, I now ask? TODAY IS DIFFERENT FROM YESTERDAY In all what InI set out to accomplish “We must also remember the reality of today is different from the realities of yesterday .We must understand we cannot turn the clock backwards.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Rastalogy in Tarrus Riley's “Love Created I”
    Rastalogy in Tarrus Riley’s “Love Created I” Darren J. N. Middleton Texas Christian University f art is the engine that powers religion’s vehicle, then reggae music is the 740hp V12 underneath the hood of I the Rastafari. Not all reggae music advances this movement’s message, which may best be seen as an anticolonial theo-psychology of black somebodiness, but much reggae does, and this is because the Honorable Robert Nesta Marley OM, aka Tuff Gong, took the message as well as the medium and left the Rastafari’s track marks throughout the world.1 Scholars have been analyzing such impressions for years, certainly since the melanoma-ravaged Marley transitioned on May 11, 1981 at age 36. Marley was gone too soon.2 And although “such a man cannot be erased from the mind,” as Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga said at Marley’s funeral, less sanguine critics left others thinking that Marley’s demise caused reggae music’s engine to cough, splutter, and then die.3 Commentators were somewhat justified in this initial assessment. In the two decades after Marley’s tragic death, for example, reggae music appeared to abandon its roots, taking on a more synthesized feel, leading to electronic subgenres such as 1 This is the basic thesis of Carolyn Cooper, editor, Global Reggae (Kingston, Jamaica: Canoe Press, 2012). In addition, see Kevin Macdonald’s recent biopic, Marley (Los Angeles, CA: Magonlia Home Entertainment, 2012). DVD. 2 See, for example, Noel Leo Erskine, From Garvey to Marley: Rastafari Theology (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2004); Dean MacNeil, The Bible and Bob Marley: Half the Story Has Never Been Told (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2013); and, Roger Steffens, So Much Things to Say: The Oral History of Bob Marley, with an introduction by Linton Kwesi Johnson (New York and London: W.W.
    [Show full text]
  • Carlton Barrett
    ! 2/,!.$ 4$ + 6 02/3%2)%3 f $25-+)4 7 6!,5%$!4 x]Ó -* Ê " /",½-Ê--1 t 4HE7ORLDS$RUM-AGAZINE !UGUST , -Ê Ê," -/ 9 ,""6 - "*Ê/ Ê /-]Ê /Ê/ Ê-"1 -] Ê , Ê "1/Ê/ Ê - "Ê Ê ,1 i>ÌÕÀ} " Ê, 9½-#!2,4/."!22%44 / Ê-// -½,,/9$+.)"" 7 Ê /-½'),3(!2/.% - " ½-Ê0(),,)0h&)3(v&)3(%2 "Ê "1 /½-!$2)!.9/5.' *ÕÃ -ODERN$RUMMERCOM -9Ê 1 , - /Ê 6- 9Ê `ÊÕV ÊÀit Volume 36, Number 8 • Cover photo by Adrian Boot © Fifty-Six Hope Road Music, Ltd CONTENTS 30 CARLTON BARRETT 54 WILLIE STEWART The songs of Bob Marley and the Wailers spoke a passionate mes- He spent decades turning global audiences on to the sage of political and social justice in a world of grinding inequality. magic of Third World’s reggae rhythms. These days his But it took a powerful engine to deliver the message, to help peo- focus is decidedly more grassroots. But his passion is as ple to believe and find hope. That engine was the beat of the infectious as ever. drummer known to his many admirers as “Field Marshal.” 56 STEVE NISBETT 36 JAMAICAN DRUMMING He barely knew what to do with a reggae groove when he THE EVOLUTION OF A STYLE started his climb to the top of the pops with Steel Pulse. He must have been a fast learner, though, because it wouldn’t Jamaican drumming expert and 2012 MD Pro Panelist Gil be long before the man known as Grizzly would become one Sharone schools us on the history and techniques of the of British reggae’s most identifiable figures.
    [Show full text]
  • Samson and Moses As Moral Exemplars in Rastafari
    WARRIORS AND PROPHETS OF LIVITY: SAMSON AND MOSES AS MORAL EXEMPLARS IN RASTAFARI __________________________________________________________________ A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board __________________________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY __________________________________________________________________ by Ariella Y. Werden-Greenfield July, 2016 __________________________________________________________________ Examining Committee Members: Terry Rey, Advisory Chair, Temple University, Department of Religion Rebecca Alpert, Temple University, Department of Religion Jeremy Schipper, Temple University, Department of Religion Adam Joseph Shellhorse, Temple University, Department of Spanish and Portuguese © Copyright 2016 by Ariella Y. Werden-Greenfield All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT Since the early 1970’s, Rastafari has enjoyed public notoriety disproportionate to the movement’s size and humble origins in the slums of Kingston, Jamaica roughly forty years earlier. Yet, though numerous academics study Rastafari, a certain lacuna exists in contemporary scholarship in regards to the movement’s scriptural basis. By interrogating Rastafari’s recovery of the Hebrew Bible from colonial powers and Rastas’ adoption of an Israelite identity, this dissertation illuminates the biblical foundation of Rastafari ethics and symbolic registry. An analysis of the body of scholarship on Rastafari, as well as of the reggae canon, reveals
    [Show full text]
  • Rastafarians and Orthodoxy
    Norman Hugh Redington Rastafarians and Orthodoxy From Evangelion, Newsletter of the Orthodox Society of St Nicholas of Japan (Arcadia, South Africa), Number 27, September 1994: “Orthodoxy and Quasi-Orthodoxy”* Orthodox mission reached one of its lowest points in the fifty years between 1920 and 1970. The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and its consequences virtually put a stop to any mission outreach by the Orthodox Church. In the same period there was an enormous growth in Christian and semi-Christian new religious groups and movements. In South Africa alone there are nearly 8000 different African independent churches. Wandering “bishops” (episcopi vagantes) travelled the world, starting new sects and denominations as they went. Some of the groups wanted to be Orthodox, and many thought they were Orthodox. In recent years, many of these groups have been “coming home”, seeking in one way or another to be united to canonical Orthodoxy. Many of these groups have connections with one another, either through common origins, or because they have later joined with each other. Some groups are found in South Africa, some in other places. There are often connections between groups in different parts of the world. In this issue of Evangelion we will look at some of these groups. * Evangelion is a newsletter for those interested in Orthodox Christian mission and evangelism. It is published by the Orthodox Society of St Nicholas of Japan, and is sent free of charge to members of the society and to anyone else who asks for it. The Society exists to encourage Orthodox Christians to participate in the global mission of the Church, and to enable non-Orthodox to become better informed about Orthodoxy.
    [Show full text]
  • Music Have You Ever Seen a Band in Edmonton’S Cariwest Parade That Uses Large Oil Drums to Make Music? That Instrument Is Known As the Steel Pan Or Steel Drums
    Afro-Quiz Study Material (15-17) 2017 Music Have you ever seen a band in Edmonton’s Cariwest parade that uses large oil drums to make music? That instrument is known as the steel pan or steel drums. Steel pan originated in the Caribbean. In this module, you will learn about music that originated in Africa and the Caribbean and has since migrated all over the world. Do you know any other types of music that have roots in Africa or the Caribbean that are famous in North America now? Here is a list of activities you will work on: ● ​KWL Chart ● Reading ● Listening/Video ● Map Activity ● Summary ● Optional video KWL Chart K W L What I know about What I want to know What I learned about African and Caribbean about African and African and Caribbean music Caribbean music music Afro-Quiz Study Material (15-17) 2017 Reading Steel Drums1 Steel drum or steel pan is a musical instrument originally developed in Trinidad, ​ that is played by hammering raised and tuned portions of the bottom of an oil drum. It was the only new percussion (possibly the only acoustic) instrument invented in the 20th Century. Drumming was used as a form of communication among the enslaved Africans and was subsequently outlawed by the British colonial government in 1783. African slaves also performed during Mardi Gras celebrations, joining the French, who had brought the tradition to the island. The steelpan evolved from a communication device to the musical instrument it is used as today. The first instruments developed in the evolution of steelpan were Tamboo-Bamboos, tunable sticks made of bamboo wood.
    [Show full text]
  • Downloaded from Brill.Com09/27/2021 09:47:39AM Via Free Access 80 New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids Vol
    JOHN P. HOMIAK UNDERSTANDING A MODERN ANTIQUE: CHALLENGES TO REPRESENTING RASTAFARI IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY Reggae, Rastafari, and the Rhetoric of Social Control. STEPHEN A. KING, with contributions by BARRY T. BAYS III & P. RENÉE FOSTER. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2002. vii +173 pp. (Cloth US$ 40.00). The First Rasta: Leonard Howell and the Rise of Rastafarianism. HÉLÈNE LEE. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2003. vii +306 pp. (Cloth US$ 26.95). Drawing increasingly upon digital technologies and the internet to assert a sense of community even as they cultivate an austere biblical persona, adher- ents of Rastafari can be thought of as simultaneously modern and antique. Their claim to antiquity is grounded in a collectively professed African- Ethiopian identity that has not only resisted the ravages of enslavement, colonialism, and European cultural domination but is seen to transcend local differences of culture and language. Theirs is a way of life organized around theocratic principles that begin with a recognition of the divine in all peoples and as the basis of all human agency. Rastafari assert the universal relevance of these principles to the conditions of modernity even as they persistently claim social justice on behalf of all peoples of African descent exploited by colonialism and the prevailing global capitalist-imperialist system. Based on these general themes, the Rastafari movement has come to represent a large-scale cultural phenomenon that has long since burst the chains of its colonial containment in Jamaica. From the late 1960s onward it has spread throughout the Caribbean and the Central and South American rimland to the major metropoles of North America and Europe as well as to many sites on the African continent.
    [Show full text]
  • Articulation of Rastafarian Livity in Finnish Roots Reggae Sound System Performances
    Listening to Intergalactic Sounds – Articulation of Rastafarian Livity in Finnish Roots Reggae Sound System Performances TUOMAS JÄRVENPÄÄ University of Eastern Finland Abstract: Rastafari is an Afro-Jamaican religious and social movement, which has since the 1970s spread outside of the Caribbean mainly through reggae music. This paper contributes to the academic discussion on the localization processes of Rastafari and reggae with an ethnographic account from the Nordic context, asking how Finnish reggae artists with Rastafarian conviction mobilize this identification in their per- formance. The paper focuses on one prominent Finnish reggae sound system group, Intergalaktik Sound. The author sees reggae in Finland as divided between contemporary musical innovation and the preservation of musical tradition. In this field, Intergalaktik Sound attempts to preserve what they consider to be the traditional Jamaican form of reggae sound system performance. For the Intergalaktik Sound vocalists, this specific form of perfor- mance becomes an enchanted space within a secular Finnish society, where otherwise marginal Rastafarian convictions can be acted out in public. The author connects the aesthetic of this performance to the Jamaican dub-music tradition, and to the concept of a ‘natural life’, which is a central spiritual concept for many Finnish Rastafarians. The article concludes that these sound system performances constitute a polycentric site where events can be experienced and articulated simultaneously as religious and secular by different individuals in the same space. Keywords: Rastafari, sound system, localization, re-enchantment, ethnography Reggae, in its various forms, has emerged during the past decade as one of the most visible and vibrant forms of Finnish popular music.
    [Show full text]
  • The Incient Nyahbinghi Order
    The Incient Nyahbinghi Order: The mystical power to liquidate evil conception ina Iniverse RAS YADA1 Isalem Publications P.O. Box 3150 Durban 4000 AZANIA (South Africa) 1 Also known as Ntokozo C. Mthembu 1 Table of Contents 1) Ivine royal theocratic reign 3 2) Istorical background of Æthiopia and incient Egypt 9 3) Ethiopian timeline and Nyahbinghi Order 11 4) Genesis of the Nyahbinghi Order 13 5) The reign of warrior- queen[s] ina incient Alkabulan 17 6) The re-emergence of Nyahbinghi order 27 7) Supreme commander of Iyahbinghi order 32 8) What are the guidelines of Nyahbinghi? 47 9) What is the RAINBOW CIRCLE THRONE? 55 10) Nyahbinghi Creed 63 2 INTRODUCTION Thisa artwork is aimed at refuting all false conception that was spread around about the originals and aims of the ancient Nyahbinghi Order in respect fe total emancipation of the Black World especially Æthiopia /Alkabulan/Africa and the iniverse at large. It also intended to strengthen the members of the new race in thisa perilous days when the beast has risen to the extent that individual was white washed with lies to scheme it as undefeatable. Whilst de truth is dat InI must always imember the writing on the wall, letters that spell "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Uparsin" - Dan. 5:25. Indeed, the days of Babylon- land fe confusion ina earth are numbered, so it cannot live forever. So, thisa artwork is part of putting more fire ina already blazing fire that is ensured to consume, perish and liquidate the wicked Roman Babylon in the face of the earth.
    [Show full text]
  • Jamming in Japan: Bob Marley & the Wailers in Japan 1979 INTRODUCTION
    REGGAE OUTERNATIONAL 03 Introduction 04 The Harder They Come: Japan Meets Reggae THE WAILERS IN JAPAN 07 Babylon-East by Shinkansen 14 12 Days with Bob Marley 21 On the Tokyo Trail 24 Fan Mail: Mitsuhiro Asakawa 26 Bob Marley by Keao Yamamoto J-REGGAE 28 After Marley: J-Reggae 33 Reggae Experience CONCLUSION 36 Afterword 38 Bibliography 39 Acknowledgements & Credits 2 • Jamming in Japan: Bob Marley & The Wailers in Japan 1979 INTRODUCTION Between 1973 and late 1980, Bob Marley and The Wailers travel around the world to spread their reggae music and message of rebellion, redemption, and Rastafari. In the spring of 1979, the legendary reggae formation extends its international triumphs to the ‘Far East’ and ‘Down Under’ by touring Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. The Wailers visiting Japan boosts Japanese interest in reggae, and signals the start of a Japanese homegrown reggae scene. In this publication we go back in time and A HUISMAN RESEARCH follow the Jamaican reggae king Bob Marley PUBLICATION and his entourage as they visit the cities of Tokyo and Osaka. From interviews with people Title who toured with Marley in Japan, Japanese Jamming in Japan: Bob Marley & newspapers and magazines, as well as visits The Wailers in Japan 1979 to the concert venues in Tokyo, emerges a colourful picture of Marley’s twelve days and eight intimate concerts in Japan, and what Research & Author they meant for reggae music and culture on the Martijn Huisman Japanese islands. © 2019 MARTIJN HUISMAN - The second part of this document zooms in ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on the development of J-Reggae.
    [Show full text]
  • The Kingston-Cape Town Connection: Rastafari In
    THE KINGSTON-CAPE TOWN CONNECTION: RASTAFARI IN SOUTH AFRICA by Jakes Homiak and Carole Yawney A paper presented at the 24th Annual Conference of the Caribbean Studies Association, Panama, May 24-29, 1999 NOT FOR CITATION This is an experimental work-in-progress. The authors request that you do-not-quote. Carole Yawney Anthropology York university 4700 Keele St., Toronto. Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3 41 61736-2100, ext. 33775 fax not available at this time [email protected] John Homiak Anthropology National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC 20560 202'7862670 fax not available at this'time [email protected] THE KINGSTON-CAPE TOWN CONNECTION: PHOTOGRAPHS 1. Top left: Ras Dawit and Ras Elphy at Bush Radio, Cape Town, interview Ras Mortimo Planno in Jamaica, on the occasLon of Bob Marley's birthday, February 6, 1997. 2. Top right: Ras Mortimo Planno and brethren in West Kingston hang Ian Smith and Harold Wilson in effigy. The Dungle, Kingston, 1960s. 3. Middle: Jakes Homiak and Clem Marshall interview Ras Mortimo Planno in Jamaica, February 21, 1999, to prepare a video message for Rastafari in South Africa. 4.Bottom left: Hanging Smith and Wilson in protest, as above. 5, Bottom middle: Carole Yawney, Bush Radio, Cape Town, South Africa, 1997. 6. Bottom right: Ras Jessie Congo I on the air with Ras Mortimo Planno, February 6, 1997. This paper is a collaborative initiative written in cyberspace but grounded in the spirit of Rastafari reasoning. This style represents for us an encapsulated version of Rastafari history - from yard roots to international branches, building on both face-to-face orality and complex communication technologies.
    [Show full text]
  • Chanting up Zion: Reggae As Productive Mechanism for Repatriated Rastafari In
    Chanting up Zion: Reggae as Productive Mechanism for Repatriated Rastafari in Ethiopia David Aarons A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2017 Reading Committee: Shannon Dudley, Chair Giulia Bonacci Katell Morand Christina Sunardi Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Music i @Copyright 2017 David Aarons ii University of Washington Abstract Chanting up Zion: Reggae as Productive Mechanism for Repatriated Rastafari in Ethiopia David Aarons Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Shannon Dudley Ethnomusicology Since the 1960s, Rastafari from Jamaica and other countries have been “returning” to Ethiopia in the belief that it is their Promised Land, Zion. Based on extensive ethnographic research in Ethiopia between 2015 and 2017, this project examines the ways in which repatriated Rastafari use music to transform their Promised Land into a reality amidst various challenges. Since they are denied legal citizenship, Rastafari deploy reggae in creative and strategic ways to gain cultural citizenship and recognition in Ethiopia. This research examines how reggae music operates as a productive mechanism, that is, how human actors use music to produce social and tangible phenomena in the world. Combining theories on music’s productive capabilities with Rastafari ideologies on word-sound, this research further seeks to provide deeper insight into the ways Rastafari effect change through performative arts. I examine how Rastafari mobilize particular discourses that both challenge and reproduce hegemonic systems, creating space for themselves in Ethiopia through music. Rastafari use reggae in strategic ways to insert themselves into the contested national narratives of Ethiopia, and participate in the practice of space-making in Addis Ababa and Shashemene through sound projects.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Download
    JUMPING NYAHBINGHI YOUTHS LOCAL articulations OF roots REGGAE MUSIC IN A Rastafarian DANCEHALL IN Cape Town • TUOMAS JÄRVENPÄÄ • ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................... The Rastafarian movement has experienced fast growth during recent years in South Africa and especially in the province of Western Cape. This article examines this process through an ethnographic account of a weekly reggae dancehall event held by the Rastafarian Marcus Garvey community in the township of Philippi in Cape Town. During the course of three months of fieldwork the author investigated how recorded Jamaican dancehall music is used in the community and how it is articulated to different Rastafarian identifications within the dancehall space. Several scholars of Rastafari have suggested that contemporary Jamaican dancehall music has had theological impact on the Rastafarian movement, particularly outside of the Caribbean. The article provides an empirical contribution to these discussions by demonstrating that Rastafarians in the Marcus Garvey community have made significant innovations both theologically and musically in relation to their Jamaican counterparts, reorienting contemporary Jamaican popular music as a spiritual practice linked to religious purity norms informed by an international Rastafarian organization, the Nyabinghi Order. As a result Jamaican dancehall music is taking a central position in various moral negotiations within the Marcus
    [Show full text]