Those 6 words were said in response to a question I asked Mutabaruka
some time ago…
I’d gone to visit him at his house to give him some music (some remixes I’d done at the time and some rare stuff I’d recently gotten my hands on)…
The question I’d asked was…..”what do you think of the current state of Jamaican music”…..
his answer in full was….”dem doing fi dem ting….i just a do i thing”……simple answer, but it spoke volumes to me….
As a musician living in Jamaica who doesn’t make ‘reggae’ music it can get lonely for want of a better word…there’re times when I wonder if I should for example add some dub elements to my stuff…not because it feels right, but because people out here will gravitate to it more…….everytime I start thinking that way…I remember Muta’s words……..
I honestly feel that there’re alot of talented musicians/producers/beatmakers/DJs/vocalists in JA, but most are not ‘doing their thing’….they’re following….talking about what everybody is talking about….making the same kinda riddims everybody’s making…..
this is just my opinion mind you…
I dream of a day when more people start making the music they WANT to……when the riddims become less generic and more experimental….when the players of instruments embrace technology and come up with some out of this world sounds….
……i think that until more musicians start ‘doing their own thing’..and less of what everyone else is doing…Jamaican music will be at a standstill….
Lee Scratch Perry wasn’t doing what everyone else was doing….King Tubby wasn’t either….Jammys….nope…..yes they were influenced by others…..in and outside JA, but at some point..they broke away and started to do their own thing….
yeah…so give thanx muta…….
I just a do I ting….
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