Left: Buju Banton - FILE. Right: Sizzla - ADRIAN FRATER
I FOUND IT very interesting that on Wednesday at the Little Theatre, Glenmuir High from Clarendon did a tribute to Buju Banton in the popular and modern music section of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission's (JCDC) annual music festival.
I also remember some of Sizzla's music being interpreted on the steelpan by the UWI Panoridim Orchestra at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts and, putting the two together, see a trend towards a new generation choosing their new icons who will be the standards of Jamaican popular culture in years to come.
For, make no mistake about it, while Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley, among others, are the established icons and will never be replaced, younger people will bond with those whose music is more immediate, and current in their lives. And interpreting their music in more formal settings than the dancehall or huge concerts is key to the process of a performer becoming an icon of culture.
Of course, there are those in the older generation who will be critical of the newer performers and wonder how younger people can supposedly drop their standards so low. It does not matter, as no one can actually dictate to another who and what they should embrace.
In addition, over time certain distinctions will blur. Those who were there at the time know that Buju came up before Sizzla. Long before. In 15 years it will not matter. Many will have forgotten and others will simply not care.
What is near sure, though, is that they will be held up as cultural icons and the utilisation of their music by persons in a more academic but not far from sterile setting is important to the process.
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