Earlier this week, I sat in on a choral rehearsal exercise. For one of the pieces, a drummer accompanied the pianist. Both musicians engaged me in conversation after the rehearsal. The drummer related a personal and sad experience from his youthful days: the first time he and members of his Anglican Youth Fellowship (AYF) played drums at his home church, several older congregants walked out! Then the pianist, an accomplished musician, expressed a sentiment I have gotten accustomed to hearing at least once per month - "I never knew I would ever see a dreadlocked (male) clergyperson in my (Anglican) church"!
How did we get here – proudly drumming away and proudly wearing kinky hair, in a church that had abandoned its African history? How did we recover this aspect of our roots? Drumming was banned shortly after the English took the island from the Spanish. The law was codified in 1717. It is only relatively recently (since the late '70s) that traditional churches have become welcoming of the musical forms created by the masses.
Our long history of intricate hair art was disrupted by the Transatlantic Slave Trade; kinky hair (as was every other part of the black body) became an object of ridicule and shame; and the enslaved were often shorn by their enslavers either as punishment or for fear of obeah (White et al 1995; Walley 2005).
It may not be possible to identify a single factor that has led to the change of heart that we now witness in the church. I suggest, however, that a part of the answer is to be found in Rastafari, which on April 21 of this week, celebrates one of its holiest days, Groundation - the arrival of Haile Selassie I in Jamaica for a three-day state visit (April 21-23, 1966).
From its beginnings in the 1930s, the Rastafari community has been one of our foremost advocates for drumming and natural black hair. For years, this group has been intentionally chipping away at the stigma, embedded in the larger social consciousness, that has traditionally associated these symbols of African identity with inferiority, restoring them to their rightful place of pride and honour locally and internationally.
Traditional drumming largely entered Jamaica’s musical mainstream through a Rastafari drumming-form known as nyabinghi – itself influenced by prior (and still existing) drumming traditions such as Kumina and Buru. When the traditional churches were forced to reckon with the reality of the black power movement of the 1960s and '70s, they made a grab for the music and musical instruments used and promoted by Rastafari. The Church began to make use of congo drums and Rastafari repeaters (O’Gorman (1975). Furthermore, non-Jamaican church songs were “‘Jamaicanized’ by being accompanied by a Rastafarian drum rhythm...or Reggae beat.” It was not long after this time that the late Bishop Alfred Reid commissioned and used extensively the Reggae Mass. The black power movement added momentum and legitimacy to the already established Rastafari movement.
Today, many of our churches (rural and urban) often use what is called the Evans-Clarke “Traditional Jamaican Mass Setting” (TJMS). A Mass setting are those fixed texts of the Holy Eucharist (Holy Communion) that are used at every service and are set to music. These texts are the Kyrie, the Gloria, the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei. In the TJMS, the first element is played to the tune of Bob Marley’s “Rastaman Chant” with its nyabinghi drumming. For the Lord’s Prayer, it’s not unusual to hear some urban churches sing the version composed by Buju Banton, another popular Rastafari artist, “Our Father in Zion.” Buju composed a version of the Agnus Dei for the opening of his 2020 “Long Walk to Freedom” concert. It wasn’t long before it found its way into the St. Andrew Parish Church.
Our provincial hymnal boasts an entry by the Rastafari reggae legend Peter Tosh, “Jah is My
Keepa.” Responding to critics of the Church’s decision to include the song in the hymnal, Rev. Canon Ernle Gordon rebutted, “They (Bob Marley and Peter Tosh) may have been anti-church, but they were not anti-God or anti-religion.” During the Greeting of the Peace, it is not unusual for congregations to sing Bob Marley's "One Love." This was the case in 2009, for example, when "Delegates of the 14th Anglican Consultative Council...joined thousands of Jamaican Anglicans in a service that showcased this island nation’s prodigious musical gifts and liturgical expressions, including pulsating reggae music made popular worldwide by its most famous son, Bob Marley."
That Rastafari has played the leading role in bringing our people, inside and outside the church, to a place where they take pride in and embrace their natural hair is irrefutable. Whilst dreadlocks did not originate with Rasta, no other group can claim responsibility for the worldwide fame, value and respect it boasts! The reasons Rastas present for locking their hair vary. These may include one or a combination of the following: resistance to Euro-centric aesthetic values, preference for the natural form to which the black hair lends itself, adherence to the Nazarite vow of Numbers 6, imitation of the hairstyle of various groups primarily in Africa (eg, the Mau Maus of Kenya), and the influence of the Sadhu sect of Indian Hinduism.
Whatever the reason(s), Rastafari has made it possible for dreadlocks and black hair, for men and women, to be welcomed into our Churches. This is true, not only locally, but also regionally and internationally. In our Province (the West Indies), for example, there are six dreadlocked male clergy – one in Jamaica, three in Trinidad and Tobago, and two in Barbados. The first was Rev. Fr. Aaron Charles. He created a stir in Barbados in 2014, making the front page of the country’s papers. At that time, he was being trained for the priesthood at the Barbados-based Codrington College. In a follow-up article, Sherrylyn Toppin, the online editor of the island’s Nation News, described Charles as “the topic of much discussion.” Her report included ten positive responses from the news of the “Dreadlocked Priest.” One respondent said, “Why is a dreadlocked priest news? Are we a black majority country in 2014? Jeez! Really? A colonised mind is a sad thing, indeed.”
Anglicans are among the foremost Christian groups in the Caribbean that have demonstrated, through their theology, liturgy, music/hymnody and body aesthetics, that the Church can learn from Rastafari. This includes being attentive to Rastafari’s critique of the Church and of its historic alliance with empire in downpressing black music and black hair. Unfortunately, whilst we have made progress as a people, black hair, in particular, has continued to be a contentious issue in our country. Maybe, our Church can continue to lend its support to Rastafari hair advocacy, by mandating that none of our over two hundred schools discriminates against students and staff because of how they wish to sport their natural hair. May we become even more ardent advocates of Afro-Jamaican modes of musical expression and body presentation.
Anglicans are among the foremost Christian groups in the Caribbean that have demonstrated, through their theology, liturgy, music/hymnody and body aesthetics, that the Church can learn from Rastafari.
Irie Groundation!
References:
Bilby, K., & Leob, E., (2014) – Kumina, the Howellite Church, and the Emergence of Rastafrian Traditional Musician Jamaica
Clarke, Sheyrylyn (2014) Dreadkock Priest Nation News
Clarke, Sheyrylyn (2014) What’s Trending: Dreadkock Priest Nation News
Marley, Bob – Rastaman Chant
New York Times - Reggae Songs in Anglican Hymnal
O’Gorman, Pamela (1975) – The Introduction of Jamaican Music into Established Churches. Jamaica Journal pp. 40-44.
Sison, Marites N., (May 2009) Worship: Jamaica-style’ reflects celebration and message of hope. Anglican Journal -
Usner, Jr., Daniel H & Galvin, Mary L., (2000) Creolization in the Americas
Walley, Pauline (2005) Receive and Maintain Your Deliverance on Legal Grounds
White, Shane & White, Graham (1995) - Slave Hair and African American Culture. The Journal of Southern History Vol. 61, No. 1. pp. 45-76
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