When most people unfamiliar with roots music think of reggae, the most universal response is “Bob Marley.” However, reggae has a rich tradition which can encompass many subgenres such dancehall, dub, ska and roots reggae.
On November 3, the reggae band Jah-N-I performed for the Seton Hill University (SHU) Intercultural Student Organization (ISO) food festival. In the tradition of roots reggae, with lyrics centered on justice and the conditions of victims of social and economic oppression, Jah-N-I’s sound is both a mourning of the human condition and a celebration of human potential. Their music can be described as intimate and personal.
By Evan Reynolds,
Online Editor
When most people unfamiliar with roots music think of reggae, the most universal response is “Bob Marley.” However, reggae has a rich tradition which can encompass many subgenres such dancehall, dub, ska and roots reggae.
On November 3, the reggae band Jah-N-I performed for the Seton Hill University (SHU) Intercultural Student Organization (ISO) food festival. In the tradition of roots reggae, with lyrics centered on justice and the conditions of victims of social and economic oppression, Jah-N-I’s sound is both a mourning of the human condition and a celebration of human potential. Their music can be described as intimate and personal.
Something interesting to note about the band is the prominence and stage presence of the female vocalist. While not unconventional, it is unusual enough to note when compared to other reggae bands.
Another rare treat is their “rootsy feel.” While many contemporary reggae bands combine other genres such as rap and R&B with roots reggae, Jah-N-I keeps true to the original roots reggae bands.
As described by Tim Krupar, a Greensburg resident and reggae enthusiast, “New reggae bands sound ‘new,’ they (Jah-N-I) sound authentic.”
El’Vonda Jacobs, a freshman intercultural student, said the music “Makes me feel at home.”
Roots reggae in particular has an intimate connection with the Rastafari movement. Rastafari is a spiritual understanding of justice, focusing on Jah (an abbreviation of Jehovah found in Psalms 68:4 of the King James Version Bible) as the divine being, Haile Selassie as the embodiment of Jah incarnate, and all people essentially connected with a struggle against Babylon (all oppressive political and economic systems) and a return to Zion (a state of justice).
Jah-N-I expressed the same connection, and according to Jahriffe Aton, lead vocalist, the band’s greatest inspiration is “all people that stand up for righteousness.”
Aton said that the band’s main objective is to “evolve a conscious mind.”
“Through the mission of music, things just come together,” he said.
This mission continues as Jah-N-I perform in Cambridge on November 24.
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