Alborosie Keeps the Roots of Reggae Music Alive

By Ron Spence, ICI Press Staff

In an era of massively commercialized music, one artist has kept the flame of traditional reggae alive. Is he from Trench Town? Brixton? Ethiopia? Nope, none of the above. His name is Alborosie and he’s Italian. Born Alberto D’Ascola in 1977, the Sicilian born Alberosie has climbed to the top of the reggae charts.

Alborosie’s interest in reggae stemmed from his early love of Motown music and vintage musical sounds from the 1960s and 70s, in particular Whirlitzer piano-organs and Spring reverberators which add a vintage echo to his sounds. His biggest hit to date, ‘Herbalist,’ released in 2006 (about perils of drug culture), or his follow up track ‘Kingston Town’ (a raw track about the rough side of the city) can be mistaken for a track from a Peter Tosh Jamaican-based album.

His vintage sounds lack the party feel of Terror Fabulous’ party track ‘Action’ or Shaggy’s pop vibe of a relationship gone wrong in ‘It wasn’t me,’ and provide an edge to the reggae scene celebrated by artists for maintaining the roots of the genre. “He’s one of the guys carrying the original roots of reggae culture and taking it international, a lot more than many current Jamaican artists,” said Terence Forsythe, lead singer and songwriter for the New York based reggae band Jahva. “This make me feel good as an artist because a lot of people in Jamaica are worried that the younger generation in the country are not keeping the traditions of the music. The original beats and message have changed and if an artist keeping the roots alive comes from Italy or even Germany, that’s great,” Forsythe added.

While many songs and different music genres expressed conflict and social unrest such as the breakdown of inner-city life of the in Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five’s early hip-hop classic ‘The Message,’ and the murder of a civil rights worker in Simon & Garfunkel’s folk song ‘He was My Brother,’ reggae served as a constant source of news for poor people in Jamaica who lacked any media outlets. Reggae was one of the earliest, if not the first music genre to take on apartheid. South African civil rights icon Nelson Mandela, upon his release from prison, made Jamaica one of his first stops in order to thank the Jamaican people and reggae artists for battling the evils of apartheid through music and keeping it in the news.

With Alborosie currently living in Jamaica, does reggae have appeal in a country in a different hemisphere separated by an ocean? “Reggae is huge in Italy,” Forsythe added. “One of Bob Marley’s last concerts before he died in 1980 was in Milan, and it drew 100,000 people. There’s a huge reggae market in Italy. Reggae artists tour there all the time.”

Until next week,

Ciao!