reggae
New York, New York
Photo courtesy of artist
Ever since reggae burst out of West Kingston’s shantytowns in the late 1960s, this uniquely Jamaican sound has looked to Africa for lyrical and spiritual inspiration—and it didn’t take long for it to take Africa by storm. The music’s Black consciousness messages resonated in countries that shared Jamaica’s post-colonial malaise, and Africans embraced reggae in a transatlantic conversation that echoes to this day. Bob Marley’s legendary 1980 Independence Day Celebration in Harare, Zimbabwe, capped a decade that saw reggae’s creative peak, setting the stage for ’80s African reggae stars like South Africa’s Lucky Dube, Cote d’Ivoire’s Alpha Blondy, and Nigeria’s Mashek Fashek. Today Senegalese-born singer Meta Dia, leader of New York City’s Meta & the Cornerstones, adds his voice to that diasporic Afro-Jamaican dialogue.
The reggae beat, slow and steady, has roots in Jamaica’s indigenous folk percussion and the religious drumming known as nyahbingi. Reggae also drew from mento, a Jamaican folk music related to Trinidadian calypso, and from two popular homegrown dance styles, ska and rock steady. In the volatile 1960s political climate, these antecedents fused with the social activism and spiritual consciousness of Rastafarianism to produce reggae. Rastafarianism developed among the island’s poor beginning in the 1930s. Rastas believed in the divine nature of Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, and revitalized Pan-African nationalism throughout the island.
Set against the beat of the sabar drums and melodies plucked on the kora, Senegalese music has its own rich song tradition, with themes of spirituality and everyday life that harmonize with the messages found in reggae. Meta Dia’s journey began in his hometown of Dakar. Immersed in music—both Senegal’s own traditional and popular sounds, and international imports like reggae and hip-hop—Dia began performing as a rapper at age 14. In 2002, Dia immigrated to the United States, arriving in New York City, where he plugged directly into Harlem’s unique mix of Senegalese and Afro-Caribbean immigrants. He collaborated with various hip-hop artists, but his ears pulled him towards reggae, and in 2006 he put together Meta & the Cornerstones, forming a diverse sextet of like-minded musicians from across the city.
The group’s 2008 debut album, Forward Music, showcased the Cornerstones’s classic “one drop” roots reggae sound and Meta’s moving, plaintive vocals, which switched seamlessly between English, French, and Wolof. Modern but firmly rooted in the tradition of Bob Marley and Gregory Issacs that Meta had grown up on, the album connected with reggae fans worldwide, leading to a deal with VP Records as the venerable Jamaican label’s first African act. Their next album, 2013’s Ancient Power, brought the Cornerstones full circle, recording in Jamaica at Bob Marley’s storied Tuff Gong Studios, where they collaborated with such reggae greats as U-Roy, Capleton, and Damian Marley. Subsequent albums show the band’s constant evolution and musical curiosity—whether embracing an array of international sounds and artists on 2018’s Hira or returning to roots reggae on their Grammy-nominated 2021 release, DIA, featuring an older and wiser, post-pandemic perspective. One thing remains constant—contagious rhythms, soulful melodies, and socially conscious lyrics, dispensing messages of patience and positivity in equal measure, and uplifting the human spirit. “My music is about peace, love, and harmony,” Dia explains. “It is the language of the free soul.”