SAN DIEGO – Bold, booming voices filled the air, with singers praising God and Jesus and the joy of salvation. But this was no traditional gospel concert.
It was reggae.
The artists took to the stage in colorful clothes and belted out songs brimming with island beats.
“It's a natural thing. We sing in what we believe in,” said Lynette White, one of the performers at the Caribbean Gospel Explosion 2007 held at Balboa Park yesterday.
The Los Angeles resident used to perform traditional reggae music, but she grew up in religious family. Although she stopped going to church, the faith never left her, she said. Neither did her love of reggae.
More than 100 people attended the event at the WorldBeat Cultural Center. A few people sported dreadlocks. There also were many families at the outdoor event.
The merging of gospel and reggae is not that much of a stretch, artists say. Some hip-hop singers today do gospel, after all. If anything, reggae music is a great vehicle, since it's already rich in spirituality, noted artists and followers.
“People want to clean up,” said Makeda “Dread” Cheatom, the executive director of the WorldBeat Cultural Center who also hosts a reggae show on a local radio station.
She noticed the Caribbean gospel trend beginning about 10 years ago, after some reggae stars found religion and started incorporating those themes into their music.
“People went from ganja to Jesus,” she quipped.
To her, the combination of the two makes sense. She's surprised it took this long. The majority of Jamaicans are Christian, she said.
She organized yesterday's event because the new fusion is taking off in popularity, she said. More than a half dozen artists performed in the show. Several came from as far away as Florida. Most hail from the Caribbean.
Ramont Green, who goes by the stage name Monty G, grew up playing reggae in the Bahamas. It is the music of the islands, he noted. And it comes with a certain lifestyle. And that lifestyle can be punishing.
Lots of drinking and drugging, for instance.
He describes himself as a “born again” Christian. There was no magic moment for this, he said. He just came to realize that's how he wanted to live. And he wanted his music to reflect that.
“People sing what they see and feel in their daily lives,” he said.
In the beginning, the religious stamp on the music was not appreciated by traditional reggae performers, they said. Reggae began as an outcry over oppression and poverty. But resistance to what they do is weakening, the artists believe.
Kristine Alicia, who grew up in Jamaica and now lives in Florida, had her first CD, “Get Ready,” released this year. She grew up in a religious household. And it felt more natural to perform reggae this way, she said.
“You get tired of trying to be like everybody else.”
Nicky Husing of San Marcos was at Balboa Park yesterday for a different event and decided to stick around to hear the Caribbean Gospel. She had heard some of it before and wanted to experience more.
“I like it,” she said. “It's got spirit and groove.”
Michael Stetz: (619) 293-1720; michael.stetz@uniontrib.com
