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Hidden Transcript in Bob Marley's and The Black Brothers' Selective SongLyrics as a Counter Power Domination
A THESIS
Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirementsfor the Degree of Magister Humaniora
in English Language Studies
by
Iriano Yedijah Petrus Awom116332007
THE GRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGESTUDIES
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITYYOGYAKARTA
2015
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Novita Dewi, M.S., M.A. (Hons)., Ph.DThesis Advisor
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A THESIS
Hidden Transcript in Bob Marley's and The Black Brothers' Selective SongLyrics as a Counter Power Domination
by
Iriano Yedijah Petrus AwomStudent Number 116332007
was defended in front of the Thesis Committeeand declared acceptable
Thesis Committee
Chairperson : Sri Mulyani, M.A., Ph.D. ____________
Secretary : Novita Dewi, M.S., M.A (Hons)., Ph.D ____________
Member : Paulus Sarwoto, M.A., Ph.D. ____________
Member : Mutiara Andalas, S.J., S.TD. ____________
Yogyakarta, 23 Februari 2015
The Graduate Program DirectorSanata Dharma University
Prof. Dr. Augustinus Supratiknya
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STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
This is to certify that all the ideas, phrases, and sentences, unless otherwise
stated, are the ideas, phrases, sentences of the thesis writer. The writer understands
the full consequences including degree cancellation if he took somebody else's
idea, phrase, or sentence without proper reference.
Yogyakarta, 23 Februari 2015
Iriano Yedijah Petrus Awom
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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAHUNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama : Iriano Yedijah Petrus Awom
Nomor mahasiswa : 116332007
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada PerpustakaanUniversitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
Hidden Transcript in Bob Marley's and The Black Brothers' Selective SongLyrics as a Counter Power Domination
Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikankepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan,mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalandata, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet ataumedia lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari sayamaupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama sayasebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Pada tanggal: 23 February 2015
Iriano Yedijah Petrus Awom
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ACKNOWLEDMENTS
My first very deep gratitude goes to The Almighty and The Most High,
Jesus Christ who has allowed me to go this far. My next great gratitude goes to all
lecturers in the English Language Studies Department, especially Dr. Novita Dewi,
M.S., M.A. (Hons)., Romo Patricius Mutiara Andalas, S.J., S.TD. and the late
Prof. Dr. Bakdi Soemanto for their professional support throughout my study.
My special love goes to my dearest family: Kamam who supported me
spiritually and financially; my Awin who stared at me from heaven above, I love
you mom; also to my dearest wife, Silva and my lovely son, David for your
patience and love; to my three dearest sisters, Rina, Frida and Samy, I love you so
much.
I would also thank my friends Rosemary Kesauly and Andrew Thren for
supporting me with discussion and ideas, God bless.
Kasumasa nabor,
Iriano Yedijah Petrus Awom
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE............................................................................................................ iAPPROVAL PAGE ................................................................................................. iiACCEPTANCE PAGE........................................................................................... iiiSTATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY........................................................................ ivLEMBAR PERNYATAAN PUBLIKASI .................................................................... vACKNOWLEDMENTS ........................................................................................ viTABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... viiABSTRACT........................................................................................................... ixABSTRAK .............................................................................................................. x
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 1
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................. 7
1. Review of Related Studies .............................................................................. 72. Review of Jamaica and Papua Socio Political History ................................. 12
2.1. The Jamaican Socio-Political History................................................. 122.2. The Papuan Socio-political History ....................................................... 16
3. Theoretical Concepts..................................................................................... 243.1. Cognitive Poetics ................................................................................... 243.2. Conceptual Metaphor ............................................................................. 263.3. Hidden Transcript................................................................................... 313.4. Memoria Passionis ................................................................................. 34
4. Theoretical Framework ................................................................................. 34
CHAPTER 3: OVERVIEW INTO THE REALM OF BOB MARLEY AND THEBLACK BROTHERS’ CRAFTS - CONTENT ANALYSIS ................................ 38
1. Bob Marley's Music ...................................................................................... 391.1. Theme in Bob Marley's songs ................................................................ 421.2. Bob Marley's Lyrical Style..................................................................... 46
1.2.1. Rasta Language ............................................................................... 471.2.2. Jamaican Grounded Metaphor ........................................................ 491.2.3. Spiritual Grounded Metaphor (Rasta and Biblical Reference) ....... 54
1.3. Bob Marley's Lyrical Form .................................................................... 592. The Black Brothers' Music............................................................................ 61
2.1. Theme in The Black Brothers’ songs ..................................................... 642.2. The Black Brothers' Lyrical Style .......................................................... 68
2.2.1. Romantic Grounded Metaphors ...................................................... 692.2.2. Papua Grounded Metaphor ............................................................. 74
2.3. The Black Brothers' Lyrical Forms ........................................................ 773. The Sense of Affinity between Bob Marley and The Black Brothers........... 78
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CHAPTER 4: THE HIDDEN TRANSCRIPT IN BOB MARLEY’S AND THEBLACK BROTHERS’ SONGS ............................................................................ 82
1. The Socio-Political Context of Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' Songs 832. Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' Music and Song as Counter-DominantPower Alternative.............................................................................................. 843. Bob Marley and The Black Black Brothers’ Songs as the Language ofResistance.......................................................................................................... 874. The Analysis of Hidden Transcript in Bob Marley and The Black Brothers'Songs ................................................................................................................. 91
4.1. The First Element of Hidden Transcript: Metaphor ............................... 924.1.1. Metaphoric Depiction of Poverty in Bob Marley's and The BlackBrothers' Songs ......................................................................................... 944.1.2. Metaphoric Depiction of Racism in Bob Marley and The BlackBrothers' Songs ....................................................................................... 1024.1.3. Metaphoric Depiction of Violence in Bob Marley and The BlackBrothers' Songs ....................................................................................... 1044.1.4. Metaphoric Depiction of Prison in Bob Marley's and The BlackBrothers' Songs ....................................................................................... 109
4.2. The Second Element of Hidden Transcript: Anonymity .......................1134.2.1. The Sender Anonymity ..................................................................1144.2.2. The Receiver Anonymity ...............................................................1154.2.3. The Relationship Anonymity ........................................................ 121
4.3. The Third Element of Hidden Transcript: Euphemism........................ 1234.3.1. Euphemism as Sweet Talking ....................................................... 1254.3.2. Euphemism as Deception.............................................................. 129
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION............................................................................ 134
BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................... 142
APPENDICES .................................................................................................... 146
APPENDIX 1 List of Bob Marley's and the Black Brothers’ Albums and Songs......................................................................................................................... 146APPENDIX 2 Bob Marley's Songs Selected for Analysis.............................. 152APPENDIX 3 The Black Brothers' Songs Selected for Analysis ................... 153
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ABSTRACT
Iriano Yedijah Petrus Awom (2015). Hidden Transcript in Bob Marley's andThe Black Brothers' Selective Song Lyrics as a Counter Power Domination.Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate Program, Sanata DharmaUniversity.
Both Bob Marley and The Black Brothers are the embodiment of popularmusic icons and the symbol of pride, dignity and freedom for their respectivesocial groups. Their songs promote, advocate, and motivate their fellow brothersand sisters who have been marginalized in the hegemonic world under powerdomination. In order to penetrate this hegemonic public sphere where many timesrejection and even harsh treatment are the consequences, they had to play safe inthe subversive mode through the so-called hidden transcript. This study views thatin resisting the tyranny, Bob Marley and Black Brothers employ their music andsongs as their vehicle to carry their protests. However, as their music tend to beconsumed for leisure and pleasure, people start to loose the cognitive part of itwhich is to grasp the meaning and to intellectualize the message that its lyriccarries.
This study uses cognitive poetic in making an in-depth analysis of BobMarley's and The Black Brothers' songs. In attempt to unveil the hidden messagein the song, this study employs James Scott's concept of hidden transcript whichconsists of elements which become the rhetoric in Bob Marley's and The BlackBrothers' lyrics.
This study shows that Bob Marley and The Black Brothers tend to usemetaphoric expression which is the main point in cognitive poetic analysis. Thisstudy also points out that Bob Marley and The Black Brothers make use of thatelements of hidden transcript as a form of passive resistance. Their effort aims todiagnose problems, offer problem solution and call for action.
Understanding Bob Marley's and The Black Brothers' hidden transcript isconsidered important since they contain significant message into which peoplecan see and understand the phenomenon of their socio-political history. BobMarley's and The Black Brothers' peaceful resistance is a good example and maygive a spirit that can bring salvation and freedom to their respective people. Theunderstanding of hidden transcript in Bob Marley and The Black Brother can alsoraise people's awareness to stand up for the truth and for their right, regardless ofthe circumstances. Hopefully this study will enrich literary study and triggerfurther research on Bob Marley's and, especially The Black Brothers' songs.
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ABSTRAK
Iriano Yedijah Petrus Awom (2015). Hidden Transcript in Bob Marley's andThe Black Brothers' Selective Song Lyrics as a Counter Power Domination.Yogyakarta: Magister Kajian Bahasa Inggris, Program Pasca Sarjana, UniversitasSanata Dharma.
Baik Bob Marley dan Black Brothers merupakan perpaduan dari ikonpopular musik dan simbol kebanggaan, harkat, dan kebebasan bagi kelompokmasyarakatnya. Lagu-lagu mereka memperkenalkan, mengadvokasi, danmemotivasi saudara-saudari mereka yang termarginalkan dalam dunia hegemonidi bawah dominasi kekuasaan. Agar bisa menembus dunia hegemoni tersebut dimana seringkali terjadi penolakan dan bahkan penindasan sebagai konsekuensinya,mereka harus berlaku hati-hati dalam bentuk subversif melalui apa yaang disebuttranskip tersembunti (hidden transript). Studi ini melihat bahwa dalam menentangtirani, baik Bob Marley dan Black Brothers menggunakan musik dan lagu sebagaikendaraan dalam memuat protes dan kritik. Namun, sebagaimana musik lebihcenderung dikonsumsi untuk tujuan mengisi waktu luang dan bersenang-senangsemata, maka orang mulai kehilangan sisi kognitif untuk dapat memahami arti danmengintelektualisasikan pesan yang dibawa dalam lirik-liriknya.
Studi ini menggunakan analisa kognisi puitis dalam membuat analisa yangmendalam terhadap lagu-lagu Bob Marley dan Black Brothers. Dalam usahauntuk mengungkap pesan-pesan tersembunyi di dalam lagu-lagu itu, studi inimenggunakan konsep dari James Scott yang mencakup elemen-elemen yangmenjadi retorika dalam lirik-lirik lagu Bob Marley dan Black Brothers.
Studi ini menunjukkan bahwa Bob Marley dan Black Brothers cenderungmenggunakan ekspresi-ekspresi metaporis yang menjadi poin utama dalam analisacognisi sastra. Studi ini juga menunjukkan bahwa Bob Marley dan Black Brothersmenggunakan elemen-elemen transkrip tersembunyi sebagai bentuk perlawananpasif. Usaha mereka bertujuan mendiagnosa permasalahan, menawarkan solusi,dan meyerukan aksi.
Memahami transkip-transkrip tersembunyi dari Bob Marley dan BlackBrothers dianggap hal yang penting karena mereka memuat pesan-pesansignifikan dalam mana orang dapat melihat dan memahami fenomena sejarahsosio-politik mereka. Perlawanan damai Bob Marley dan Black Brothersmerupakan suatu contoh baik dan dapat memberi motivasi yang membawapenyelamatan dan kebebasan bagi masyarakatnya. Memahami transkrip-transkriptersembunyi dalam lagu-lagu Bob Marley dan Black Brothers dapat jugamembangkitkan kesadaran bahwa apapun kondisinya, orang harus bisa berdirimenyuarakan kebenaran dan haknya. Diharapkan studi ini dapat memperkayakajian sastra dan memicu penelitian lebih jauh terhadap lagu-lagu Bob Marley,terutama Black Brothers.
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
In Papua there is a music community named "KORK" (Komunitas Rasta
Kribo) which is mainly inspired by the two most influencial popular music icons,
Bob Marley and The Black Brothers. The community reflects the passion of the
youth in the island to favor reggae music which was popularized by the legendary
Jamaican artist Bob Marley and preserves the legacy of the island's legendary pop
band The Black Brothers. Emerging from the spirit of the Black power
movements, Bob Marley gives a sense of affinity and engagement to the people of
Papua especially the youth that his music and message represent the spirit of
freedom and resistance against injustice that have been experienced by them for
so long. The Papuan youth began to equate Bob Marley to Black Brothers, as they
are both claimed as the representation of the existence of Papuans who have been
marginalized among their Indonesian brothers and sisters. The community gives a
picture of how Bob Marley and Black Brothers, who happened to equally emerge
from the marginalized Black society and shared similar ideology, have become
their main patrons for dignity and pride among the people.
Bob Marley, a third world superstar has rocked the world with Jamaican
new distinctive genre of music, called "reggae." His music merges with the
socio-religious movement of Rastafarianism, a religion that sprung up in Jamaica
in 1930s which believe Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie I or Rastafari
Makonnen as the true messiah. This helped to boost the post-colonial spirit that
emerged in the late 1960s. Coming from the slums of Kingston, Jamaica, reggae
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was a form of response to the environment the residents lived. Reggae became the
music of the "sufferah" (sufferer). In this way it becomes a music of protest which
also deals with nature and the universe.
Reggae became known worldwide mostly through Bob Marley, despite the
fact that there were some other Jamaican artists and bands who had come before
him like Desmond Dekker, Jimmy Cliff, Toots and Maytals, and Skatalites. Under
the label of Island Records owned by a British Jamaican producer Chris Blackwell,
Bob Marley managed to penetrate the international audience in the 1970s. Gaining
his superstardom did not block Marley from singing about his Rastafarian beliefs,
Jamaica's economic and social problems which became the common themes in
reggae. It is through reggae that Bob Marley became the most prominent musician
in voicing those problems.
As his popularity grows, his music and messages began to influence other
artists and bands such as Erick Clapton, Mick Jagger, UB 40, Black Uhuru, Steel
Pulse, and Burning Spear. Reggae also influenced other kinds of music including
Top Forty, Punk Rock and Rap.1 Many people in other countries especially the
Third World and Black countries have recognized their own trouble in the
expression of this loudest voice and have identified the suffering with music. Bob
Marley's 7th album, "Survival" is covered with all flags of Black nations in the
world including Papua New Guinea (PNG), the neighbor country of West Papua.
Nowadays, people worldwide see Bob Marley as the symbol of freedom. His
1 Worth, David Steven. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, Unpublished thesis, Texas: TexasTech University, 1995, p. 3. Web. 18 January. 2014.<https://repositories.tdl.org/ttu-ir/bitstream/handle/2346/18392/31295009462697.pdf?sequence=1>.
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music and song are his vehicle to transmit a message of redemption.2
The Black Brothers, a popular band from Papua, the eastern most province
of Indonesia, was once appeared to be one of the forefront and greatest bands in
the nation in the 1970s and became the epitome of Papua popular music. Their
music is the combination of traditional folksongs and popular music. They play
various genres of music like rock, rock n roll, disco, slow pop, jazz, keroncong,
and even reggae. The Black Brothers is known by its slow, mellow mood and
romantic songs. However, there are also some songs addressing social problems.
To some Papuans The Black Brothers is not only a popular band, but also a
symbol of dignity and pride. Appeared from the eastern most part of the
archipelago, The Black Brothers came to break the stigmatization of
backwardness, primitivity, and alienation of its people.
Despite geographically they are separated thousand miles away with
distinctive socio-cultural background but there seems to be a close affinity in
terms of Black power movement to survive in their marginalized status and
oppressive circumstances. Bob Marley has an international significance to the
struggle of the oppressed, especially in Third World countries and Black nations
as shown in aforementioned album's "Survival." The album is covered with the
flags of all independent Black nations in the world, including Papua New Guinea
(PNG), the neighboring country of Indonesia, just across the border of Papua. The
title of the album “Survival” may suggest that they are bound together in unity to
survive. The Black Brothers were among those who raised political consciousness
through music with their fellow brothers and sisters in PNG, New Caledonia, and
2 Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Bob Marley. (Westport: Praeger, 2007), p 132.
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Vanuatu. Meanwhile, to most of their fellow Indonesians outside the island, The
Black Brothers simply wanted to show their Papuans' existence, uniqueness and
distinctiveness.
When political situation disallowed artists to freely express themselves,
subversive action then looms large. Therefore, this study would like to see how
Bob Marley and especially The Black Brothers managed to penetrate the
hegemonic and even oppressive public sphere through their music and songs.
Jamaicans and Papuans in this case are to be seen as the subordinate groups who
are marginalized by the dominant power. In avoiding direct confrontation with the
ruling power the subordinate groups tend to play safe ground through cultural and
artistic products including music and song.
Generally, this study is an analysis of the artistic musical response of Bob
Marley toward socio-political conditions in post-colonial Jamaica, and The Black
Brothers in the still colonized Papua in Indonesia. The impression of internal
colonialism in Papua is shown through investigations by International Crisis
Group and through testimonies by the locals, Papuan leaders, and activist
literatures.3 Particularly, the study is intended to investigate to what extent and
how Bob Marley and The Black Brothers used their music and songs as a form of
resistance against hegemonic and oppressive power domination.
In understanding the objects of Bob Marley and The Black Brothers'
artistic resistance, this study portrays the socio-political background where the
two icons emerged to illuminate the structural conditions behind the critiques or
protests. These distinctive socio-political conditions determine the methods they
3 Smith, Anthony L. Papua: Moving Beyond Internal Colonialism?, New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies4.2, December, 2002, pp 90-114. Web. January 20, 2015.<http://nzasia.org.nz/downloads/NZJAS-Dec02/Smith-Ng.pdf>
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would use in addressing their protests. Here the method used was passive
resistance through musical performance. Therefore, this thesis applies James
Scott's4 concept of hidden transcript by focusing on two basic questions: (1) What
are the differences and similarities shown by Bob Marley and The Black Brothers
in using music and songs as hidden transcript to voice their resistance? (2) How
does each artist use music, specifically song lyrics to show resistance?
This present study attempts to examine popular music as a
multidisciplinary mosaic by linking it to literary study, in order to create a niche in
English Literature studies using music as a text. The essence of song is an equality
of music and text,5 in other words, song is a bridge that connects music and text
that can enable a message to be clearly delivered. Music and words coexist
through song lyric with which people will have the opportunity to study language
as an art just like in poetry or in prose.6 Here, the literary analysis of song lyrics
can be intertwined with musical, performative and social contexts of the popular
music studied.7 Specifically, the room for literary researchers in popular music
study would be called the verbal space where the words go side by side with
musical tone. It seems quite likely that popular music depends on the words. They
provide people with a means of communication to articulate a response to the
song.8 It is no doubt that song lyric is a media to give a voice of individual and
social phenomenon. Therefore, understanding the lyric would be an essential thing.
It is an integral part of the musical experience. They connect the listeners by
4 Scott, James C. Domination and the Arts of Resistance, (Michigan: Yale University Press, 1990).5 Stein, Deborah and Spillman, Robert. Poetry Into Song. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), p. 20.6 Stein, Deborah and Spillman, Robert. Poetry Into Song, p. 20.7 Steinholt, Yngvar B. "Coognitive Poetics in the analysis of Popular Music: A new approach to songlyrics?" Web. 9 May 2014. <http://www.hum.uit.no/a/steinholt/cog_poe.pdf>.
8 Moore, Allan F. Analyzing Popular Music. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 40.
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enhancing the possibilities to be identified with the song.
However, the listeners or audience often do not pay attention and
anticipate the persuasion that a song carries through its lyric. As a result, they do
not decode the message that a singer intends to communicate. Another reason is
that music tends to affect people more physically and emotionally than cognitively.
In affecting people physically, music can contribute to socialization through dance.
While emotionally and cognitively, music affects people by inviting them to relate
to the themes of its lyrics to personal experience as a part of the act of processing
the message of a song.9 Furthermore, the language of a song sometimes happens
in the second semiotical order where the words have connotations through
symbolism and metaphorical expression that allow a song to produce layers of
meaning. Hence, it would require a precise approach to grasp the message.
As such, this study would conduct an in-depth analysis by using cognitive
poetic analysis which encompasses the three nature of literary study namely text,
reader, and context. Cognitive poetic analysis does not treat a literary text merely
as an object for leisure and pleasure but intellectualizing it. Bob Marley and The
Black Brothers' music and songs are not to be consumed for entertainment alone
but also for their ideological, political, and social movement purposes. It is in this
way that people will have a good understanding of the artistical power in music
and songs as a way to stimulate social consciousness and, possibly, mobilize the
listeners.
9 Worth, David Steven. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, postgraduate thesis, Texas TechUniversity, 1995, p. 47. Web. 18 January. 2014.<https://repositories.tdl.org/ttu-ir/bitstream/handle/2346/18392/31295009462697.pdf?sequence=1>.
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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Review of Related Studies
Music is not only for entertainment, but also a means to communicate. As
a contemporary popular art, music is always accompanied by song lyrics. It is an
artistic expression and reference to convey ideas, thought, and emotional feelings.
In this way song can be considered as oral verbal arts. In every song, the lyrics
and music coexist harmoniously. The literary aspects of song lyrics can be studied
closely as in poetry and prose. A representation to explain how popular music gets
into literary study is conducted by Steinholt.1 In his article, Steinholt proposed a
new approach to song lyrics through literary study using Peter Stockwell's
cognitive poetic. Cognitive poetic in his sense is to engage in close analysis of the
text, but also recognize that context has an important role in the creation of
meaning. Popular music is a multidisciplinary domain. A literary analysis of song
lyrics can be embedded in the musical, performative and social context of the
popular music. Cognitive poetic is an entry point that can help improve the
analysis. Furthermore, he explained about how listeners identify the texts by
imagining bodies that inhabit them, be it in a written poem or a song lyrics. The
task of literature science in popular music study is therefore to shed light on the
interrelationship between the body constructed in the lyrics and its surrounding
environment.
Steinholt argues that lyrics are an integral part of the musical experience,
1 Steinholt, Yngvar B. Cognitive Poetics in the analysis of Popular Music: A new approach to song lyric?Bergen University. Web. 12 December. 2013. <http://www.hum.uit.no/a/steinholt/cog_poe.pdf>.
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and they enhance the possibilities for the listener to be identified with the song. As
listeners, we identify texts (musical and lyrical) by imagining bodies inhabiting
them. However a text might be abstract, therefore in order to negotiate meaning in
a text we also project certain sides of ourselves onto an outer body, which we are
prepared to send negotiations with the imagined body in the text. This successful
negotiation and dialogue between default body and imagined one will bring new
experiences, new insights and can activate new thoughts and emotions. It can be
said that in cognitive poetics' nature there is a synergy between readers, text and
context to gain a better understanding over an explicit and implicit body of a
poem or a song. In popular music studies, the primary object of study for the
science of literature can center on the body or bodies which reside in the lyrics.
This body does not exist in isolation from any other bodies involved.
While there are several studies done on Bob Marley, only one study is thus
far found on The Black Brothers by Sonfor Wambrauw.2 Most studies on Bob
Marley focus on sociological and pedagogical values of his music and songs like
what have been studied by Edward Skopal,3 Manisha Nordine,4 and Mervin
Stoddart.5 One example that is closely related to literary analysis and this present
2 Wambrauw, Sonfor W. An Analysis of Theme and Tone in Six Selected Songs of Black Brothers (BaladaPramuria, Cinta dan Pramuria, Kisah Seorang Pramuria, Pramuria Tapi Biarawati, Untukmu Pramuria, andDoa Pramuria), unpublished undergraduate thesis, Manokwari: State University of Papua, 2014.3 Skopal, W. Edward, Jr. "Hear Dem Cryin" Rastafari and Framing Processes in Reggae Music, postgraduatethesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2005. Web. January 18. 2014.<http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-06142005-091954/unrestricted/03edskopal_ThesisBody.pdf>.4 Nordine, Manisha. Jammin' with Resistant Music and Popular Culture in Bob Marley's "Jah-Public," adissertation, University of Minnesota, 2007. Web. January 18. 2014.<http://books.google.co.id/books?id=7A5R1UUCzsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=traditional+song+as+resistance&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bgUaUdmeNMitiAe544DABA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=traditional%20song%20as%20resistance&f=false>.5 Stoddart, Mervin. Bob Marley's Lyrics: Understanding and Explaining Their Pedagogical Value, adissertation, Capella University, 2007. Web. 18 January. 2014.<http://books.google.co.id/books?id=_N4fvbkPYL0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=analisis+lirik+bob+marley&hl=en&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false>.
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study is research conducted by David Steven Worth.6 In his study, Worth focused
on analyzing metaphors used in Bob Marley's lyrics. The conceptual base for the
study is to treat music as communication.
To start with the only work on The Black Brothers, Sonfor analyses the
tone and theme in The Black Brothers' selected songs about "pramuria"
(prostitute).7 Sonfor considers The Black Brothers' song as oral poetry based on
the assumption by Flanagan that poetry is a literary work, written or orally used to
express the thought and feeling of the author. Using structuralism approach he
then divides and interpretatively analyzes the theme based on Waluyo's
categorization (humanity, social justice, sovereignty, and divinity). Next, he
analyzes the tone based on Meyer's categorization (sad, serious, public,
affectionate, bitter, and optimist).
Although Sonfor's study on The Black Brothers is useful, the treatment of
song exactly as a poem needs to be reconsidered. His analysis structurally divides,
translates, and analyzes the song per stanza and line. Changing the structure of the
song would raise a contradiction, given that a song has its own characteristics and
structure.
Worth’s research provides a good basic understanding in analyzing Bob
Marley’s lyrics. He is using Lackoff and Johnson’s theory which states that the
actual structure of the human conceptual system is metaphorical. Analyzing the
songs in the eight albums of Bob Marley, Worth assumes that a great deal of the
lyrics in those songs are often misunderstood by most people, especially
6 Worth, David Steven. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, Unpublished Thesis: Texas TechUniversity, 1995, p. 3. Web. 18 January. 2014.<https://repositories.tdl.org/ttu-ir/bitstream/handle/2346/18392/31295009462697.pdf?sequence=1>.7 Wambrauw, Sonfor W. An Analysis of Theme and Tone in Six Selected Songs of Black Brothers (BaladaPramuria, Cinta dan Pramuria, Kisah Seorang Pramuria, Pramuria Tapi Biarawati, Untukmu Pramuria, andDoa Pramuria), unpublished undergraduate thesis, Manokwari: State University of Papua, 2014.
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non-Jamaican, not only due to their pronunciation but also because of the
metaphors which are mostly related to Jamaica and Rastafari in particular.
Jamaican language is an extension of Jamaican Creole or Patois, that is a language
which has consciously developed based on philosophical reasons. Jamaican
language, says Worth is not a mere means of communication but more than that, it
is a holy tool which has inherent power to evoke and to be the thing meant.8 It
means that words are the source of power for the Rasta, which can change and
adapt accordingly to their philosophy and goals. Bob Marley uses and infuses this
kind of language into most of his songs, therefore without a proper knowledge,
Worth claims that many of the lyrics would seem meaningless, or be severely
misunderstood. He makes a clear division of patterns in relation to the structures
of Bob Marley's metaphorical expression which he views as a form of Bob
Marley's rhetorics in addressing protest and critics.
Worth's study reveals several trends in Bob Marley's metaphorical usage
based on his spiritual beliefs of Rastafarianism, Jamaican rural and urban proverbs
or wisdoms. There are eight metaphoric categories being discussed: light/dark,
up/down, nature, journey, Babylon, free/slave, poverty, and metaphors from
Rastafarian language.9 His discussion is quite helpful since it provides the basic
explanation on language and expression commonly found in Bob Marley's songs
which many times create confusion among his audience.
A more in-depth analysis on Bob Marley’s metaphorical language can be
found in the books of Dawes (Lyrical Genius) and Moskowitz (The Words and
Music of Bob Marley). Dawes analyzes all songs in Bob Marley's nine albums
8 Worth, D.S. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, p. 27.9 Ibid, p. 67.
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produced or co-produced by Island Records. His work is also quite helpful since
Dawes, as a Jamaican writer, puts light onto Bob Marley’s works through the
perspective of Jamaican context. Social, political, and cultural nuance of Jamaica
and Rasta are strongly embedded in Bob Marley's songs. The writer could see that
these two books are complementary to each other. Dawes discusses in details of
every Bob Marley’s songs album started from the first “Catch a fire” to
posthumous release of “Confrontation.” He addresses Bob Marley’s genius
through metaphorical expression, witty pun and euphemism to juxtapose social
and political realms with musical creativity. Just like what Dawes did, Moskowitz
also reveals the story behind Bob Marley’s songs and biographical review starting
from the early beginnings of the birth of Bob Marley until after his death. It is a
biography as well as discography completed with stories behind almost every
song and event.
Unlike the previous studies above, which mainly focus on each artist this
present study would attempt to investigate the works of Marley and the Black
Brothers in figuring the possible link between the two artists that their songs
possess elements of hidden transcript as a form of resistance against hegemony
and oppression by the power domination toward their respective social groups.
This study also would attempt to link the disciplines of popular music study and
literary study through the analysis of lyrics as a text. Despite of these facts, this
study would be in debt for those previous studies on related topic especially like
what has been done by Worth. He lays the ground as the stepping stone for this
present study. His metaphoric categories of Bob Marley’s songs open the way for
this present study. The writer uses his works as the blue print or guidance in doing
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the analysis. However, if there is any unjust of this present study, the writer would
open to any criticism that will encourage further study of Bob Marley's and The
Black Brothers' works.
2. Review of Jamaica and Papua Socio Political History
Review of relevant literature on the social and political contexts in which
Bob Marley and The Black Brothers's music emerged is necessary to understand
the condition which illuminate message in songs of Bob Marley and the Black
Brothers. Following is the depiction of socio-political climate in Jamaica and
Papua in arround 1960s to 1980s. This ill-fated hegemonic and repressive
condition somehow affects the method Bob Marley and The Black Brothers used
in their critique.
2.1. The Jamaican Socio-Political History
Jamaican history is painted with an explicit panorama of resistance, revolts,
insurrections, up-risings, and riots starting from the early days of slavery.10
Jamaica had contact with the European when Christopher Colombus first landed
on the Discovery Bay on May, 4th 1494. He brutally killed the indigenous people
on the island, Taino, who resited to claim the invented land for Spain. Within
approximately twenty five years, almost the entire Taino population (several
hundred thousands) vanished due to combination of forced labor,
under-nourishment, and disease.11 Lack of available laborers the Spanish then
began to import African slaves by relatively limited numbers to work on
10 Wright, Colin. Badiou in Jamaica, The Politics of Conflict. (Australia: Colin Wright and re.press, 2013), p.227.11 Ibid, p. 228.
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plantation to crop bananas, tobacco, cocoa, and sugar. Spanish ruled over the land
for three hundred years before English forced them to flee on May 1655. Jamaica
was officially handed over to England under a treaty in Madrid, Spain in 1670. As
the Spanish fled to the mainland of America and Cuba, the abandoned slaves
escaped to form jungle based escapees who later named the Maroons (from
Spanish for runaway, cimaroon). The Maroons play a significant role in Jamaica
future struggles against slavery. There were several revolts took place: in 1760 a
rebellion led by Tacky, an adherent of Mayal, a religious system that specialized
in encountering the hex of evil people, resulting in the killings of many whites and
destruction of plantation.12 In 1832, Sam Sharpe, a deacon in Native Baptist
church, also led a rebellion but ended in defeat. One of the well known was
Morant Bay rebellion which piloted by Paul Bogle, a Baptist deacon. Triggered by
poverty, injustice, and lack of public confidence in the central authority, he led a
protest march to Morant Bay courthouse on October 11th, 1865. The long march
turned to be a violent confrontation which cause nearly five hundred people were
killed. He was captured and hanged a few days later. However, his effort brought a
change in official attitude toward the people. Another significant social movement
was United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) led by Marcus Mosiah
Garvey. He sought the unification of all Blacks and spoke out against economic
exploitation and cultural denigration. He was also the man behind the
socio-religious movement, Rastafarianism which emerged in 1930’s. In 1927 he
prophesied that a King will be crowned in Africa to redeem all Blacks. This
prophecy was not taken lightly by his followers that they claimed it to be real as in
12 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley, Lyrical Genius, p. 25.
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1930 Prince Ras Tafari was crowned Emperor Haile Selassie I in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia. Ever since, in Jamaica many began to consult their Bibles in search of
scriptures which mentioned about this event. They discovered many passages
offered in support of Garvey’s prophecy. Among others are Revelation 5:2-5, in
which a descendant of David is described as able to loose the seven seals; Ezekiel
37:22-25, in which a descendant of David is prophesied to be ruler of the world;
Isiah 43:1-15, 65:9, in which descendant of Jacob is prophesied to be the ruler of
the world (Nicholas, 1979 in Worth).13 Using these passages they started to
preach that Selassie was the living God, he was actually the Messiah returned.
Apart from this spiritual awaits of a redeemer that came true, at last the day of
redemption arrived that on August 6, 1962 Jamaica got its political independence
from British colonial rule. However this was just a new beginning, the journey to
a full freedom still far from what being expected.
It was just like “jumping out the frying pan into the fire,” after the end of
the white colonial power, Jamaica faces a new problem. The history of Jamaica
modern politics was largely insinuated by the story of the two warring parties,
Jamaican Labor Party (JLP) and People National Party (PNP). The rivalry started
at the early formation of the parties by their founders Alexander Bustamante (JLP)
and Norman Washington Manley (PNP). Violence became institutionalized in
modern Jamaican politics. Political process was destabilized by corrosive
influence of partisan politics, whereby party loyalists dependent on political
patronage were encouraged by the parties to defend local constituencies and
participate in political conflicts.14 These conflicts kept on its trail until 1960’s
13 Worth, D.S. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, p. 15.14 Williams, Kareen Felicia. The Evolution of Political Violence in Jamaica 1940-1980, a dissertation,
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under Edward Seaga (JLP) and Michael Manley (PNP). Jamaica society was
divided into two poles which involved in war of party loyal supporters. Inner-city
neighborhoods were divided into certain sections according to political
allegiance.15 Political parties and their leaders mobilized grassroots supporters
through ideology, demagoguery, inter-party conflicts, political patronage, and
utilized the rhetoric of political campaign speeches to incite acts of aggression in
an effort to defeat their rivals.16
The times leading to each election were so terrifying. Acts of violence
directed at innocent people, such as shooting and arson, created fear and panic.17
The number of violence kept on increasing in each election 1972, 1976, and
reached its peak in 1980. The total number of murders reported in 1980 was
889.538, a number which attributed primarily to politically motivated violence
due to constituencies where the murders occurred and the people who were killed.
On December 3, 1976 Bob Marley, his wife, Rita, manager Don Taylor were
gunned in Bob Marley’s house at 56 Hope Road. Luckily they were all survived.
The attack was a few days before Bob Marley about to perform on "Smile
Jamaica" concert to ease the political tension before the election. There could be
some reasons behind the shooting, but one of them was because of the resentment
by the JLP of Bob Marley’s close relation to Michael Manley from PNP .18
Despite this devastating political race between politicians to take charge in
bringing the people to a brighter future, Jamaican governments both JLP and PNP
Columbia University, 2011, p. 3. Web. April 1st, 2014.<http://academiccommons.columbia.edu/.../Williams_columbia_0054D_10107.pdf>.15 Leslie, Glaister. Confronting the Don: The Political Economy of Gang Violence in Jamaica. (Geneva:Small Arms Survey, 2010), p. 12.16 Williams, K.F. The Evolution of Political Violence in Jamaica 1940-1980, p. 8.17 Ibid, p. 264.18 Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Bob Marley, p. 73.
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failed to reform the economy. This was mainly due to the lack of necessary
manufactories and infrastructure for agriculture to develop local industry.19 This
problem led to the country’s dependency on foreign capital and loans from IMF
and World Bank. Although IMF loans did generate short-term economic growth
but its long term effects was so devastating. Higher cost of living expense, and
firing thousands of civil servants increased unemployment. Jamaica was once
again implicitly colonized through the mechanism of debt. “Jamaica’s colonial
past has become an IMF structural present.”20
As what Bob Marley sings "No chains around my feet but I'm not free/ I
know I'm bound here in captivity," he is telling the people that a new form of
enslavement has entrapped new free Jamaica. Social and political phenomenon
has degraded people's humanity. This is what Bob Marley was struggling for, and
that he wants the people to know as he sings "emancipate yourself from mental
slavery/ 'cause none but ourselves can free our mind/ so won't you help me to sing
another song of freedom."
2.2. The Papuan Socio-political History
“A land of disputes” is perhaps the most fitting term to describe the
socio-political condition embedded to Papua, the world’s second largest island. It
was once a mysterious and an abandoned land. The first contact with outsiders
was when in 1545 a Spanish sailor Ortiz Retez landed on the island on his way to
Panama. He claimed the island for the King of Spain and named it “Nueva
Guinea” (New Guinea). The naming was due to the similarities of the population
19 Williams, K.F. The Evolution of Political Violence in Jamaica 1940-1980, pp. 258-265.20 Skopal, Edward, Jr. Hear Them Crying (Rastafari and Framing Processes in Reggae Music), p. 10.
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with those in Guinea, Africa. The Spanish left afterwards and never returned, the
modern name of the land only legalization to them.21 In 1605 a Dutch man,
Willem Janz, landed on the land. However some of his crews were slayed by the
locals which forced them to flee. Another colonial European who landed on the
land was the British troops. The Captain, John Hayes, proclaimed it as “New
Albion” in 1793. They set up a wooden fortress in Dore Gulf, Manokwari and
name it Fort Coronation. However due to diseases and conflicts with other
European competitors, the English withdrew. The Dutch then took their place and
claimed the island in 1828, mainly because of their East Indies authority. Despite
of their claim the Dutch did not set up administrative institutions on the island
instead appointed Sultan of Tidore to administer the territory.22 It was in 1907 that
they began to open the land for its natural resources. The Dutch oil company
started to tap into the region. This was followed by the mining corporation
between Netherland and America after the wealth of resources available (cooper
and gold) became increasingly apparent.
Regardless of the affinity between the two sides of New Guinea, a border
was drawn down the middle by European colonialists in 1895 and 1910 which
officially divided them. The Dutch claimed the western half while the eastern part
went to British and Germans. The first revolt against the European colonial power
was recorded in 1930s under a Messianic movement, "Koreri" around Schouten
Islands where Biak is the biggest one among them.23 Kamma, a Dutch missionary,
21 Osborne, Robin. Kibaran Sampari: Gerakan Pembebasan OPM, dan Perang Rahasia di Papua Barat.(Yogyakarta: ELSAM dan Putaka Pelajar Yogyakarta, 2001), p. 14.22 Brundige, Elizabeth, et all. "Indonesian Human Right Abuses in West Papua: Application of the Law ofGenocide to the History of Indonesian Control," a paper by Yale Law School, 2004, p. 10. Web. May 1st. 2014.<http://www.law.yale.edu/documents/pdf/Intellectual_Life/West_Papua_final_report.pdf>23 Osborne, Robin. Kibaran Sampari: Gerakan Pembebasan OPM, dan Perang Rahasia di Papua Barat, p.21.
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claimed that "Koreri" is more like a cultural and nationalism consciousness than a
religious movement. The "Koreri" movement was led by a woman named
“Angganita Manufandu” who was entitled “the Virgin of Judah.” She claimed that
the Dutch missionaries who happened to be colonialists had stollen and corrupted
the Bible before it was given to the locals and changed it with the teachings that
benefited the Dutch in gaining material matters and power.24 Despite of this
anti-white colonial power, West New Guinea increasingly became tenser when the
independence of Indonesia took place in 1945.25
On July 1945, a month before Hiroshima and Nagazaki were bombed, two
meetings were held by BPKI (Badan Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia), a
committee sponsored by Japan to prepare Indonesia independence, discussing
territory borders. The result of the voting was thirty nine voices for Indonesia
territory which consist of ex-Netherland East Indies including New Guinea, north
Borneo, Sarawak, Brunei, and Sabah, Malay, Portuguese Timor, and nearby
islands. Soekarno and Mohamad Yamin, were among this group. Nineteen went to
favor only ex-Netherland East Indies including New Guinea. While only six chose
only ex-Netherland East Indies, without New Guinea. Mohamad Hatta was among
this minority group. According to him the Papuans are Melanesian and that they
deserve to decide their own destiny as a free nation.26 Despite victory of the
majority in the voting, on the proclamation day of the Indonesia independence,
Soekarno made no mention of New Guinea to be part of the new nation. The
territory lies from the western most island in Sumatra to the eastern most island in
24 Osborne, Robin. Kibaran Sampari: Gerakan Pembebasan OPM, dan Perang Rahasia di Papua Barat,p.23.25 Saltford, John. The Anatomy of Betrayel: The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua,1962-1969. (London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003), p. 1.26 Osborne, Robin. Kibaran Sampari: Gerakan Pembebasan OPM, dan Perang Rahasia di Papua Barat,p.28.
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Mollucas. However, the disputes have continued to date.
On July 1946, a conference was held in Malino, Southern Sulawesi for
representations from eastern parts of the archipelago to discuss the possibility of
Indonesia federation which consist of four full autonomous states. Most of the
delegations favored to form Republic of Indonesia. However, a delegation of New
Guinea, Franz Kaisepo, refused to join and that the Papuans required a self
determination. He even proposed a new name for the island “Iryan.” It comes
from Biak which in a simple translation means “fog.” This is to describe the
uprising of the island like fog coming up from the sea. Despite of this
philosophical name, later Indonesia adopted it and made it became IRIAN, a
political acronym of “Ikut Republic Indonesia Anti Netherlands.”27 This new
apolitical name of Irian Barat (West Irian) was used by Soekarno when he issued
Tri Komando Rakyat (the Peoples' Triple Commands) to free Papua from the
Dutch's occupation. It is later in 1973 under Soeharto's administration that the
name changed to Irian Jaya.
From August 23 to November 2, 1949 another conference known as
Konferensi Meja Bundar (Round Table Conference) was held in Hague between
Indonesia and Netherlands. Both sides agreed to establish Republik Indonesia
Serikat (United States of Indonesia) with the Dutch Queen as the head and
Soekarno as the President. The Netherlands also agreed to cede sovereignty of
East Indies to Indonesia but kept Papua as its final foothold in Southeast Asia.
They both agreed that the status of West New Guinea will be decided in further
talks within a year which later proven to be fail.
27 Osborne, Robin. Kibaran Sampari: Gerakan Pembebasan OPM, dan Perang Rahasia di Papua Barat, p.31.
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The Dutch promised to bring West New Guinea into a better future by
educating and training the local indigenous people to govern their own country
before they leave. They started the process of nation building of Papua in 1950’s.
By 1957, they had created several positions for Papuan in government services. In
February 1961 the Dutch launched West New Guinea Council, a representative
body intended to encourage the establishment of a Papuan political elite that
would eventually govern the region after Dutch withdrawal.28 The working time
period was ten years where they can declare an independent when the people
agree.29 On December 1, 1961 the WNG Council voted to rename the territory
"West Papua" with a national anthem, "Hai Tanahku Papua" (O My Land Papua),
and a national flag, "Bintang Kejora" (The Morning Star). This was enough to
pull the trigger. Soekarno got very furious and the tense grew hotter. On
December 19, 1961 in Yogyakarta, Soekarno issued Tri Komando Rakyat (the
People’s Triple Command) calling for total mobilization of Indonesians to liberate
Irian Barat (West Irian).
Indonesian government began to embark on military tactics against
Netherlands in West Papua. Paratroops were launched on the island and forced the
Dutch to withdraw. Both of them were engaged in battle contacts along the West
Papua shores. In the assistance to feed his eagerness in winning the battle of West
New Guinea, Soekarno turned to Soviet Bloc to support his diplomatic pressure
and massive military expenditure.30 His visit to Moscow in 1956 resulted in the
granting of US$100 million credit. By 1962 Indonesia was the largest
28 Brundige, Elizabeth, et all. "Indonesian Human Right Abuses in West Papua: Application of the Law ofGenocide to the History of Indonesian Control," p. 13.29 Osborne, Robin. Kibaran Sampari: Gerakan Pembebasan OPM, dan Perang Rahasia di Papua Barat, p.54.30 Saltford, John. The Anatomy of Betrayel: The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua,1962-1969, p. 7.
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non-communist recipient of Soviet Bloc aid with credits exceeding US$1.5 billion.
Between 1962 and 1963, his government spent approximately US$2 billion on
military equipment. It can be seen that almost all of Indonesian naval vessels that
sunk during the battles were Russian-built.
With this threat, Washington took a position asserting that giving
Indonesian the control of the territory seemed to be the only solution to avoid
Indonesia being driven into Soviet Bloc.31 U.S. President John F. Kennedy played
a role in setting a negotiation between the Dutch and the Indonesians. On August
15, 1962 the two warring nations signed the New York Agreement under the
patronage of the United Nations. In this agreement there was not any single
representative of indigenous West Papuan whose land being disputed took part.
Under its terms, the Netherlands had to transfer its authority to United Nations
Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) on October 1, and the U.N.
administration would hand over the territory to Indonesia on or after May 1, 1963.
Further in the agreement, sometimes after the take over Indonesia must make a
referendum under U.N. supervision to allow the West Papuans to decide their own
fate, whether or not to join Indonesia. On May 4, 1963 Soekarno arrived in West
New Guinea (West Irian) for a visit. He appointed Eliezer Bonay as Governor and
banned all existing Papuan political parties and unofficial political activities.
There were about 1500 Indonesian commandos remain in the territory to assist the
local police. However, they were involved in harsh tactics to restrain Papuan
nationalist sentiment. Ever since armed struggle began between Indonesian
military and pro-independence Papuan resistance movement known as OPM
31 Saltford, John. The Anatomy of Betrayel: The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua,1962-1969, p. 11.
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(Organisasi Papua Merdeka) which was founded the same year after UNTEA
pulled out. Sporadic rebellions began to spread around the territory particularly in
the Bird’s Head region. One of well known revolts was “Arfai Assaults” who was
led by Sergeant Permenas Awom, an ex-PVK (Papua Volunteer Korps) in Dutch
time. Together with several OPM guerrillas they killed several Indonesian soldiers
and took their guns and ammunitions. Indonesian military responded by targeting
civilians as well as OPM fighters. Killings, disappearances, torture, and rape of
Papuans deliberately carried out by Indonesian military forces as a form of
explicit power domination. In addition to that, the Indonesian government
organized mass migrations from Java to West Papua under transmigration
program, a political driven agenda to equalize the number of local inhabitants.
This was an implicit form of the power domination.
Like fishing in the murky pond by neglecting the political unrest in the
territory, U.S.-based multinational mining corporation, Freeport, signed its
contract with the Indonesian government under its new appointed president,
Soeharto. Freeport was given a power over the local population and resources,
including the right to take land, and to resettle the local inhabitants without proper
compensation. This situation even worsened the situation leading to the
referendum. The people felt like they were going to be robed to nothing under
Indonesian authority.
1969 was a time of the biggest scam in all of Papuans’ history just like
‘9/11’ to the Americans.32 1969 provokes an historical monologue. It is the time
when the “Act of Free Choice” or “Penentuan Pendapat Rakyat (PEPERA) was
32 Glazebrook, Diana. "Permissive Residents" (West Papuan Refugees Living in Papua New Guinea), p. 22.
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held. Under the terms of New York Agreement in accordance with international
practice, all eligible adults have the right to vote. However, instead of one man
one vote, Indonesian government arranged 1.025 selective representatives out of
approximately 700.000 populations from eight assemblies. Most of those selected
representatives were not eligible since many of them were old men who could not
read and write. They were put in a solitary where they were intimidated,
brainwashed and bribed. They could not speak to people outside. Soldiers guarded
the entrance and they were accompanied wherever they went. They were also fed
well and given gifts of teapots, plates, Sanyo radios, bicycles, and Honda
motorcycles, things which are considered to be fancy in that time for Papuans.
Some even were given Javanese women.33 All of these things make it clear that
1969 “Act of Free Choice” or “PEPERA” was a form of mockery to Papuans. Its
implementation is bare: tactical selection, concealment, bribery, and seduction by
objects associated to pleasure. To Papuans it was a fraudulent while to Indonesian
government it was an unanimous victory. Planes scattered pamphlets on Papuan
sky proclaiming the victory.
Discontent with the condition OPM began to intensify its sporadic
rebellions. The clash with Indonesian militar broke in several places, Manokwari,
Enarotali, Byak, and Jayapura.34 As a response Indonesian government began its
military operations to infiltrate the island from any form of Papuan national
sentiment.35 The Indonesian militar targeted not only OPM freedom fighters but
also civilians. Any forms of social, religious, cultural activities were put under
33 Glazebrook, Diana. "Permissive Residents" (West Papuan Refugees Living in Papua New Guinea), p. 23.34 Osborne, Robin. Kibaran Sampari: Gerakan Pembebasan OPM, dan Perang Rahasia di Papua Barat, pp.91-99.35 Ibid, p. 310.
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suspicion by Indonesian government. People were intimidated and lived in terror.
Some were forced to flee across the border of Indonesian and Papua New Guinea
and lived in exile.36
The annexation and mal-administration by Indonesian government has
fostered Papuan nationalism. West Papuan experience of Indonesian
colonialization has caused the raising of what is called by Johanes Baptist Metz as
"memoria passionis" or collective memories of suffering that they long for
freedom. It is estimated that over ninety per cent of the West Papuans in that time
wanted independence.37
3. Theoretical Concepts
This section discusses several concepts that are considered important in
the analysis of Bob Marley and The Black Brothers’ lyrics in relation to each
respective's socio-political sphere. These are the entry points into the journey to
understand the wit of literary work in criticizing hegemonic and oppressive power
domination.
3.1. Cognitive Poetics
Steinholt38 uses the concept of cognitive poetics to link up the relation
between the disciplines of literature and music through the study of words in song
lyrics. Since communication in music happen lyrically, examination of the lyric is
36 Glazebrook, Diana. "Permissive Residents" (West Papuan Refugees Living in Papua New Guinea), p. 5.37 Saltford, John. The Anatomy of Betrayel: The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua,1962-1969, p. 78.38 Steinholt, Yngvar B. Cognitive Poetics in the analysis of Popular Music: A new approach to song lyric?Bergen University. Web. 12 December. 2013. <http://www.hum.uit.no/a/steinholt/cog_poe.pdf>.
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necessary. One way to accomplish it is through cognitive poetic analysis.
He uses Peter Stockwell's cognitive poetics concept, namely reading which
involves mental process and poetics concern on the craft of literature. It is a
reading which not only focuses on the text itself but also the context that also
plays an important role in constructing the meaning. In short, cognitive poetic is
an approach to a literary work through a close analysis of both text and context.
Cognitive poetics is all about reading literature since cognition is to do with
mental process in reading, while poetics concerns with the literary crafts. Reading
literary texts is not just an ordinary type of reading and should be treated in a
certain way. Ordinary types of reading is when people just read for themselves
and feel happy about it without bothering too much for discussing it,
intellectualize it, let alone fitting their understanding into theoretical framework.
Most readers have the tendency to treat literary texts as merely objects of fun and
pleasure. However, cognitive poetics does not allow reading literature for leisure
and pleasure, but instead reading to understand it, reflect on it, and
intellectualizing it. It is in this sense that this present study is to read the works of
Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' lyrics.
Furthermore, reading itself is not meant to come to an abstract end.
Reading is not to arrive at an absolute end of information we intend to get. Instead,
we need to take into account that very often the discovery of reading involves a
great deal of messy and perhaps contradictory facts of what we have thought
before. Therefore, what is important in reading a piece of literary work is the
detail to unveil all the interest and fascination behind a particular literary work.
When one reads a certain literary text, the questions that normally arise are as
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follows: What is it about? What does it mean? What does it mean for me? What
do I understand by it? All of these questions are to do with context and are a
crucial notion in cognitive poetics.
Furthermore, the key to have a better understanding literary values and
meanings lies in the ability to have clear view of its text and context. Cognitive
poetics provides us with it. It encompasses both social and personal circumstances
as it has the power to combine both individual and communal effects of language
and experience. Response to the questions might be personal and communal based
on the context. What we do with a piece of literary work depends very much on
the context in which we find ourself with the text. There are as many meanings as
there are different contexts for different readings. According to Stockwell, it is
important to recognize that readings have status not objectively but relative to
their circumstances. Therefore, when this particular study asks what do Bob
Marley’s and The Black Brothers’ songs mean? It is really asking what those
songs do, what are they being used for. Meaning is what literature does. Meaning
is use.39
3.2. Conceptual Metaphor
One of the main points of cognitive poetic analysis is the conceptual
metaphor, an idea popularized by George Lakoff which functions as a tool for
analyzing text.40 This metaphorical analysis then can provide a window into the
39 Stockwell, Peter. Cognitive Poetics. (London and New York: Routledge, 2002), p. 4.40 Lakoff, George. The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor. (Cambridge University Press: 1992). Web.January 18. 2014. <http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~israel/lakoff-ConTheorMetaphor.pdf>.
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conceptual system, or worldview, of a rhetor (speaker).41 Metaphor can be found
in many forms of communication, including spoken and written discourse.
Despite the fact that it is viewed as a literary device used for extraordinary or
poetic utterances, it also can serve as an ordinary and conventional forms of
communication. It is confirmed by researchers that metaphor is commonly used in
literature as in poetry, prose and song lyric. Like most songs, the lyrics in Bob
Marley and The Black Brothers' songs make a significant use of metaphor and
personification.
Leff in Worth (p.56) concludes that metaphor consists of a juxtaposition of
two terms normally regarded as belonging to different classes of experiences. The
same is true with personification in that the juxtaposition is specifically between
animate and inanimate; how the quality of animate is equated to inanimate.
Therefore the writer assumes that Leff's concept of metaphor is applicable to
personification as well. The two terms of comparison define the principle subject
of the metaphor and personification and the frame into which it is placed.
Richards in Worth (p.56) named these terms "tenor" and "vehicle" where widely
used and have provided a basic terminology for the study of metaphor in rhetoric.
An example is "man is wolf." In the example man is the tenor, the subject of the
metaphor and wolf is the vehicle, the frame into which man has been placed. The
attributes of a wolf is given to the man. A wolf is a predatory animal, a hunter,
often despised in history and regarded as a bad animal. Thus, the man is being
described as an undesirable, predatory, and animal-like person.42
Other examples are taken from Bob Marley and The Black Brothers. In
41 Worth, David Steven. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, p. 54.
42 Worth, D.S. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, pp. 55&56.
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"Wake up and live" Bob Marley equates life to a journey on a big road. "Life is
one big road with lots of signs/ so when you driving through the road don’t you
complicate your mind/ Flee from hate/ mischief, and jealousy." Here life is tenor,
subject of the metaphor, and big road with lot of signs is vehicle, the frame into
which life has been placed. Big road is a hectic place where people travel on.
Therefore, one needs to be careful in driving and paying attention to the signs.
Life is a journey that people need to stay in focus so that they will notice the signs
and not to get lost and to avoid accident. Hates, mischief, and jealousy make
people lose focus and that can be fatal both for themselves and others.
In "Melati Plastik" (Plastic Jasmine), The Black Brothers equates a girl to
a plastic jasmine, a handmade flower. The fake flower can look beautiful and last
forever but it does not have natural scent which is the essence of a true flower.
"Kau melati plastik/ dikau melati palsu" (You the plastic Jasmine/you are fake like
camouflage). You is the tenor, and plastic jasmine is the vehicle, the frame into
which you has been placed. The attributes of the plastic jasmine is given to you (a
girl).
Here we can see that the meaning emerges from the interaction of the two
terms. Jordan and Adams in Worth identified three functions of tenor and vehicle:
their interaction; the similarity or comparison on which that interaction is based;
and the dependency upon context of the meaning which emerges from the
interaction. The terms are juxtaposed and the juxtaposition leads to a pattern of
associations by the vehicle.
Based on Osborn and Ehninger in Worth (p.57), the role of context in the
metaphoric process consists of four level, which they call "qualifiers" that play an
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important role in affecting the meaning of a metaphor.43 The first deals with the
immediate textual or situational context within which the metaphor is used, the
second deals with social knowledge as discussed above, and the last deals with
associations provided by the individual listeners. Contextual qualifiers refer to the
context of a discourse in terms of its actual text and the situation in which it is
used. It is a social knowledge that bound to a particular audience at a particular
time. The writer would figure out an example, i.e. hostes. Originally this English
term means a waitress which does not have negative connotation at all. But when
it was adopted to be used in Indonesia during 1970s to 1980s the term has a
negative connotation similar to a prostitute.
The second level is called communal qualifiers. This level extends beyond
the text or audience but is culturally bound, relying on culturally-based social
knowledge. It directs the meaning of the metaphor by drawing from the funded
knowledge-the common experiences traditions, or folkways-of the public to
whom the stimulus is directed. The interpretation has been approved and stamped
upon them by authority. It means that the meaning of the metaphor has been
sticked and inherited and accepted by the folks. As an example is the color of red
and white. Red stands for the braveness of the martyrs who shed their blood and
white stands for the holiness.
The third level is called Archetypal qualifier. These qualifiers are not
temporally or culturally bound. They supply meaning based on "experiences
common to men of many races and ages-experiences relieved by each generation
anew." It means that the meaning of the metaphor or the symbol is already
43 Worth, D.S. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, p. 57.
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accepted and understood by many people and not exclusively oriented to one
culture. As an example is dove which symbolizes peace and heart for love.
The last level is private qualifier. This kind of context affects the meaning
assigned by a listener through personal or subjective associations. This qualifier is
important because even when contextual, communal, and archetypal qualifiers
share a "high degree of commonality" in a metaphor, it provides an interpretation
which is unique to the particular listener.44 As an example is taken from Bob
Marley's song "Burnin' and lootin'" "How many rivers do we have to cross/before
we can talk to the boss." The term river is commonly found in Negro spiritual45
songs which symbolizes trials and tribulation, but also can mean freedom, hope
and purification as in baptism. The term boss might refer to master slave or the
divinity of God. In the circumstance of crisis boss is the one to deal with if things
are to improve. Israelites got their freedom after they come to meet Pharaoh, their
slave master, begging for mercy through the guidance and will of their God. It is
in this sense that Marley would seem to employ these symbols.
There is a two-way connection between thought and language, language is
metaphoric in nature, therefore thought affects, and is affected by, metaphor. The
relationship between thought, language, metaphor, and social knowledge
eventuates into a position positing that metaphor provides a framework for reality.
All experience is shaped metaphorically. This shaping is called framing by
Mumby and Spitzack. They regard metaphor as providing frames through which
the public views, and forms opinions of, specific social issues.46 It is through this
44 Worth, D.S. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, p. 58.45 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley: Lyrical Genius, (London, United Kingdom: Sanctuary Publishing Limited,2002), p. 86.46 Ibid, p. 59.
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sense that the writer assumes that the metaphoric expressions in Bob Marley and
The Black Brothers' songs can provide frame into which people can see specific
social and political issues based on the qualifiers above.
3.3. Hidden Transcript
I tremble to speak the words of freedom before the tyrant
--CORYPHAEUS, in Euripedes, The Baccae
In his book, "Domination and the Arts of Resistance," James Scott
highlights his view upon power and resistance of the subordinate groups.
Influenced by Antonio Gramsci’s concepts of hegemony, Scott identified hidden
transcript of expression manifesting this resistance behind the official story of
hegemonic public transcripts.47 It is about how the resistance of subordinates
toward domination is disguised, muted, and veiled for safety’s sake. In order to
avoid direct confrontation with the ruling power, the subordinate groups manifold
strategies to insinuate their resistance in disguised form into the public transcript.
While public transcript is the official script of the domination which ties both the
oppressor and the oppressed into modes of acceptable behaviour,48 the hidden
transcript is what occurs below the surface.
The works of Erving Goffman may give a good insight to Scott's theory of
hidden transcript. Goffman's main focus is to analyze daily interaction to see the
power relation between the powerful and the powerless through what he
47 Barnard, Eben. Cultural resistance: Can such practices ever have a meaningful political impact? CriticalSocial Thinking:Policy and Practice, Vol.3 (2011), p.114. Web. December 12. 2013.<http://www.ucc.ie/en/appsoc/researchconference/conf/cstj/cstjournalvolume32011/ebenbernard/EbenBarnard.pdf>.48 Nordine, Manisha. Jammin' with Resistant Music and Popular Culture in Bob Marley's "Jah-Public," p.122.
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postulated as "theatrical performance." According to Goffman, individuals can
participate as both as performers and as audience. When on stage as performers,
individuals try to present themselves in a certain way in order to show the
preferred definition of the situation, while as audience they try to accommodate
the projected images of others to facilitate interaction rituals.49 As it is, the
interaction is not genuine and only a false pretense to maintain working
relationship. Scott even made it clearer that according to him appearances can be
deceiving. The offstage life is a completely different story. The powerless tend to
create their own stories than to accept the official stories of the dominant. In his
book, "Domination and the Art of Resistance: Hidden Transcript,"50 Scott defined
discourses and practices onstage as public transcript while hidden transcript as
offstage scenes that take place behind the suspicious eyes of the dominant. The
powerless only show their hidden feelings to families, friends, and colleagues.
Scott further states that the hidden transcript can be the act of passive
resistance which is deeply inscribed into everyday practices. This takes many
forms including cultural production such as music, jokes, rumors, and folklore.
The subordinate as the vulnerable groups not only have to control their anger but
have to conduct what amounts to veil the discourse of their dignity and
self-assertion within the public transcript.
The undeclared ideological guerrilla war that rages in this political spacerequires that we enter the world of rumor, gossip, disguises, linguistictricks, metaphors, euphemisms, folktales, ritual gestures, anonymity. Forgood reason, nothing is entirely straightforward here; the realities of powerfor subordinate groups mean that much of their political action requires
49 Joo, Hyung-min. “Hidden Transcripts...Shared?: Passive Resistance in The Soviet Case.” The KoreanJournal of International Studies, Korea University. Vol 8. No.2. 2010, pp. 227-298. Web. October 7. 2014.<http://www.kaisnet.or.kr/resource/down/8_2_04.pdf>50 Scott, James C. Domination and the Arts of Resistance (Michigan: Yale University Press, 1990).
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interpretation precisely because it is intended to be cryptic and opaque.51
The voice of the subordinate groups tend to penetrate the public sphere within the
public transcript through the world of rumor, gossip, disguises, linguistic tricks,
metaphors, euphemisms, folktales, ritual gestures, and anonymity. Therefore, one
has to read carefully to unveil the intended message behind those disguises.
If we wish to hear this side of the dialogue we shall have to learn itsdialect and codes. Above all, recovering this discourse requires a grasp ofthe arts of political disguise.52
It is through this sense that the writer assumes the works of Bob Marley and
especially The Black Brothers are the arts of political disguise.
Although Scott developed his concept of hidden transcript twenty four
years ago based on the life of the remote Malaysian village of Sedaka, the writer
of this thesis assumes that it is still applicable nowadays. It would seem that there
are not many disputes over the theory since it is still relevant and beneficial for
other researchers on power relation, especially in developing countries in Asia. As
far as the writer concern there is one article by Hyung-min Joo from Korea
University which has challenged the exclusivity of Scott's theory. Hidden
transcripts tend to be hidden tightly to Scott. In an analog, a slave cannot share his
hidden transcript with his master. The sharing is only with his families, friends,
and other slaves. Somehow these hidden transcripts can also be shared with the
master according to Hyung-min Joo.53 As an empirical support he uses evidence
in Soviet's social and political life where the sharing of hidden transcript between
the powerful and the powerless can possibly occur as a social phenomenon. This
51 Ibid, p. 137.52 Ibid, p. 138.53 Joo, Hyung-min. “Hidden Transcripts...Shared?: Passive Resistance in The Soviet Case.”
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new point of view does not change the basic tenets of Scot's theory but enriching
it.
3.4. Memoria Passionis
The concept of memoria passionis was proposed by German theologian,
Johannes Baptist Metz.54 There are two types of memory: static memory which is
only the recall of the past without any action and dynamic memory which the
recall of the past springs to the present and the future. Memoria passionis is a
dynamic memory. It is a collective memory of sufferings in the past ready to
explode in the present or near future. Metz theorized memoria passionist to be
manifested in a political consciousness and political action in the memory of
people's suffering. They are inscribed through social memory and flows incisively
and clearly from the mouths of ordinary people. It is through this sense that the
writer assumes Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' songs function.
4. Theoretical Framework
Under the scene of popular music atmosphere, the mass production and
commercialization make music impact people more on the physical and emotional
levels. This in turn will lead them to use music merely as pleasure and leisure. The
works of Bob Marley and The Black Brothers, however go beyond music being a
means of entertainment. Their works, this thesis shall argue, are the embodiment
of musical creativity and resistance. In order to understand it that way, one needs
54 Glazebrook, Diana. "Permissive Residents" (West Papuan Refugees Living in Papua New Guinea), p. 27.
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to focus more on the cognitive level. This only can be done if a person can reflect
and intellectualize music through cognitive poetic analysis. Stockwell's cognitive
poetics offers a good way to analyze the work of Bob Marley and The Black
Brothers, how to understand, reflect, and intellectualize their music through a
thorough reading of text and context.
Cognitive poetic analysis basically encompasses three main focuses in
literary study, reader, text, and context which cover the intrinsic and extrinsic
approaches. The intrinsic approaches including point of view, style, imagery or
metaphoric expression. While the extrinsic approaches including biography,
economy, politic, society, history, and psychology.
Like poetry and prose, the language in song's lyrics tend to happen in
second semiotical order where metaphoric expression loom large. Therefore
Lakoff's concept of metaphoric analysis plays an important role in this study. It is
an important tool to analyze the language used in Bob Marley and The Black
Brothers' lyrics which make a significant use of metaphor and personification.
Scott's postulation of the hidden transcript posits literary elements
(metaphor, euphemism, anonymity, linguistic tricks) which can be investigated
using Stockwell's cognitive poetics and Lackoff's metaphoric analysis. Those
elements in hidden transcript are the bullets or the style and rhetoric of the
subordinate groups in firing the ruling power. Bob Marley and The Black
Brothers' lyric would employ some of these elements.
The resistance in Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' protest songs can
be seen as a culmination of a long term sufferings. They are the voice and the
wailing of the sufferers as what Metz would theorize in his memoria passionis.
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The folks' stories manifested into songs that have power of redemption.
Generally in research, the problem determines the method. This present
study is a deductive project that moves from general issue of socio-politics and
popular music to the specific relationship between hegemonic and oppressive
power and song lyrics. It is a qualitative oriented study which focuses on
constructing meaning through descriptive and interpretative analysis.
In doing the descriptive and interpretative analysis, there are some stages
of procedures taken. First, the writer takes all songs by Bob Marley under Island
Records and The Black Brothers under PT. Irama Tara Records to study the
general patterns, forms, and themes. The selection of songs under the two labels is
very reasonable and purposively. Both of them were major labels in their time and
place that embodied the establishment and success. It is also to see the
commitment in the content of their music and lyrics as they entered into the main
stream of popular music scene. Music production plays an important role in the
direction of final musical product. Second, the writer purposively takes songs
which are assumed to have hidden transcript when read or analyzed based on the
characteristic or elements that they posses (metaphor, euphemism, anonymity,
linguistic tricks). This concept would be very much in line to the spirit of
resistance by Bob Marley and The Black Brothers. This study intends to figure out
the wit and genius of both Bob Marley and The Black Brothers by uncovering
their intended message behind their poetical and rhetorical lyrics. Third, all the
data are interpreted, including the translation of some lyrics from Indonesian into
English by the writer. Mostly the translation version is a free verse for the sake of
interpretation and not meant to be performed. And the last is to draw a conclusion
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37
of the analysis.
The writer also uses library research as well as online interviews through
Facebook with members and relatives of The Black Brothers. The analysis of the
data relies on the materials which strengthen and support the hypothesis of
discussion. Most of the data are taken from private and public library be it e-book
or printed book.
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CHAPTER 3
OVERVIEW INTO THE REALM OF BOB MARLEY AND THE BLACKBROTHERS’ CRAFTS - CONTENT ANALYSIS
Bob Marley and The Black Brothers are the embodiment of popular music
and resistance. Popular in a simple way means appealing to the people. As an
adjective it indicates that something be it a person, a product, a practice, or a
belief is commonly liked or approved of by a large audience or the general
public.1 Furthermore it also has a strong relationship with mass media. The mass
media refers to the press, publishing, radio, television, film, video, and recording
industry as a medium of production and dissemination. Therefore popular music is
a type of music that is mostly exposed in the mass media and appeals to a large
audience besides being economically and commercially profitable. Popular music
has always been a great mainstream in these area, among others are like jazz,
ragtime, blues, rhythm and blues (R&B), country, rock (rock 'n' roll and
rockabilly), pub rock, punk rock, acid rock, heavy metal, bubblegum, and reggae.2
Bob Marley's musical genre is reggae. He is even one of the main figures in the
emerging of this distinctive Jamaican sound. Meanwhile, The Black Brothers
employ more than just one genre; they played jazz, slow pop, slow rock, punk
rock, rock 'n' roll, disco, "keroncong," and even reggae.
Besides as an entertainment Bob Marley and The Black Brothers also use
their music to communicate a politically-charged message about important social
issues. Their music contains some protest songs which are intended to criticize
perceived problems in society like injustice, racial discrimination, war, social
1 Shuker, Roy. Understanding Popular Music. New York: Routledge, 1994, p. 2.2 Ibid, p. 4.
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inequalities, and oppression. Protest songs are commonly associated with folk
music, but in recent times they have come from all genres of music, including the
main stream popular music like reggae and rock. Such songs become popular
during times of social disruption and among social groups and their supporters.
In order to give a framework of both Bob Marley and The Black Brothers'
characteristics and styles this chapter specifically focuses on the content and form
of their music and songs which include a glimpse of biographical review of the
artists, structure, general and specific themes, tones, and metaphorical expression.
They serve as the main data of which possibility of bearing hidden transcript
which are analyzed further in chapter four.
1. Bob Marley's Music
Bob Marley was a talented and determined man in pursuing his dreams of
becoming a singer. To realize and materialize this, Bob Marley persuaded his step
brother, Bunny Livingstone, to join him. Then, in order to get more improvements
he needed someone to teach him the rudiments of music and to harmonize it with
his vocal technique. It was Joe Higgs who provided him with what he was needed
as the musical mentor as well as his spiritual teacher. Higgs plays an important
role in Bob Marley's life and musical career. He was a devoted Rastafarian and
had been part of the success of pre-ska singing artists who had made their
recording in 1960s. Higgs made an outdoor class to teach music to the ghetto
youths in Trench Town. There they would mingle with some talented young
Jamaican musicians, one of them is Peter McIntosh. With the union of Bob Marley,
Bunny Livingstone, and Peter Tosh, they formed a vocal group called "The
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Teenager." The group also included two female singers (Beverly Kelso and Cherry
Smith), and another talented boy named Junior Braithwaite.3 At first the group
sang cover version of American popular artists, among others like Ray Charles,
Frankie Lymon, and Stevie Wonder. Higgs not only taught Bob Marley's singing
vocalization, he also showed him how to play guitar and write three main parts of
a popular song: the chorus, the verse, and the bridge. Bob Marley then started to
write his own songs.
As the other members of the Teenagers left, there were only three of them,
Bob Marley, Bunny, and Peter. Eventually later Peter and Bunny also left Bob
Marley for their own solo career. Bob Marley then selected some new members to
form a new band. There came in the Barret brothers (Charlton and Aston), Marvin
Junior, Alvin Seecco Peterson, Tyrown Downy, Al Anderson, and the female
backing vocals (Rita Anderson, Judy Mowatt, and Marcia Griffith). The group's
name was changed several times: the Wailing Rude Boys, the Wailing Wailers,
and then Bob Marley and the Wailers. The name wailers suggests that they were
not just singing, in fact they were wailing. The group was wailing because they
had to experience unfairness in their life. They voiced what they experienced,
witnessed, and heard all around them.
As Jamaica obtained its political independence from British Empire in
1962, there was an intention to break with the colonial past. An effort to find a
new form of identity soon spread across the island especially among the youth.
The spirit even got stronger with the revival of socio-religious movement of
Rastafari which had sprung in Jamaica around 1930s and the advent of Jamaican
3 Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Bob Marley. (Westport: Praeger, 2007), p. 8.
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distinctive popular music (ska, rocksteady and reggae). The origin of
Rastafarianism can be traced to Jamaican nationalist Marcus Moziah Garvey who
was convinced that blacks must unite to overcome oppression. He established the
United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Jamaica and United States of
America. One of his ideas was that the African diaspora must go back to Africa as
their place of origin. This repatriation is accompanied by his prophesy that African
diaspora must look to the first African King for their salvation. In 1930, Haile
Selassie I was crowned emperor of Ethiopia. The followers of Garvey took it as a
sign and begun to consult the Bible to relate it with this event. This is how
Rastafarianism was born. Basically the core tenets of Rastafarianism are 1) Haile
Selassie I or Rastafari Makonenn is literally God on earth; 2) Ethiopia is literally
heaven on earth; 3) The goal of the African diaspora is to return to Africa
(Ethiopia); 4) Marijuana is used as sacrament.4 Rastas claim that marijuana is the
weed of wisdom that was found growing on the grave of King Solomon and that
smoking it will enlighten them spiritually. Despite the fact that many people view
Rastas as drug users, yet in their defense, they believe that it brings a person
closer to himself or herself and allows for a deeper self-discovery. They even cited
a biblical reverence to it, i.e. Psalms 104:14 to claim its sacramental properties:
"He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man, that
he may bring forth food out of the earth."5
In musical industry the early music producers in Jamaica who had
established recording companies previously in the late 1950s decided to stop
4 Peterson, David J. "Get Up Stand Up." English 100 (2008), p. 7.5 Haner, Mark. “Bob Marley’s Spiritual Rhetoric, the Spread of Jamaican Culture and Rastafarianism,” aseminar paper. West Oregon University, 2007, p. 9. Web. January 22. 2014.<https://www.wou.edu/las/socsci/history/senior_seminar_papers/2007/thesis 07/Mark Haner.pdf>
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imitating the sounds of America in the early 1960s. They wanted to launch a truly
Jamaican sound. It made the young talented musicians began experimenting in
studios. As a result, came Jamaica distinctive popular music (ska, rocksteady and
reggae) to exist. Ska was a mixture of Jamaica indigenous musical form,
American Jazz, and Rhythm and Blues.6 It is a meeting and blending of two or
more older traditions and new genre as an elaboration of form. Jazz influenced
ska's horn sound, R&B and Mento influenced the guitar style, while blues and
African elements influenced the call and response vocal.7 Rocksteady is the next
development of ska. It is characterized by the emergence of more emotional
vocals. It also emphasizes vocal harmonies and slower rhythms like American
soul music. Rocksteady signed that the people no longer wanted to dance as
recklessly as they had before in ska time. Reggae music is perhaps the
masterpiece or the jewel of Jamaican popular music. It signals the maturity of the
long term process. Like rocksteady, reggae rhythm is slowed down to allow the
increasingly social and political messages to be heard.
1.1. Theme in Bob Marley's songs
There was a thematic shift in the development process of Jamaican
popular music. Starting from the ska period in around early 1960s to rock steady
in the mid-1960s until reggae's advent in the late 1960s. Early ska songs were
primarily love songs. The lyrics tend to be light and were generally about love and
love making. However to some people, ska also can be deceptive. It might have
6 King. Stephen A. Reggae, Rastafari, and the Rhetoric of Social Control. (Mississippi: University Press ofMississippi, 2002), p. 4.7 King. S.A. Reggae, Rastafari, and the Rhetoric of Social Control, p. 19.
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sounded happy but it also expressed the social and political conditions in Jamaica.
Some even claimed that ska actually represented the first form of a popular protest
music, a typical mild protest. As an example is Bob Marley's ska hits "Simmer
Down." It was then inherited to rocksteady and reggae where the protest was
molded and getting even stronger.
For young talented musicians who mostly are devoted Rastafarians, the
advent of Jamaican popular music (ska, rocksteady, and reggae) brings a new way
to disseminate the beliefs instead of traditional forms such as street preaching,
church sermon and pamphlets. Lyrically those three genres promoted Rastafarian
ideologies and tenets. However it is reggae which increasingly asserts more
aggressive social and political protests. Generally reggae artists would sing issues
like Rastafari as the living God, African glory, marijuana, injustice and oppression
by the police or government and personal pain of living in poverty.8
By non-probability sampling there are seventy eight songs from eight
albums that are taken from Bob Marley under the label of Island Records: Catch a
Fire (1973); Burnin’ (1973); Natty Dread (1974); Rastaman Vibration (1976);
Exodus (1977); Kaya (1978); Survival (1979); Uprising (1980). The selection of
songs under this label is done with a specific reason and purpose. They are the
epitome of Bob Marley's establishment and success. Under the genius owner of
Island Records, Chris Blackwell, Bob Marley and the Wailers successfully
introduce Jamaican new distinctive sound of reggae to the world. In order to
penetrate the international market and audience Bob Marley and his band was
presented as a black rock band.
8 King. S.A. Reggae, Rastafari, and the Rhetoric of Social Control, p. 55.
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Despite some new musical arrangements to meet the market and mass
demands, Bob Marley kept on insisting to not change the basic original style and
the message that he was trying to deliver. The true spirits of reggae would dwell
on the style and message. Generally Bob Marley’s songs consist of two types of
theme, i.e. 1) social, political, and religious or a mixture of the three; 2) love
songs or dance tunes without a political or religious message9 (see table 2 in
appendix 1). Like other reggae artists, Bob Marley's lyrics would deal on things
about Rastafarian tenets like Jah (Haile Selassie I or Rastafari), repatriation to and
glorification of Africa as the Black's motherland, and the use of Marijuana, as well
as social and political phenomenon such as Jamaican history, violence,
government's hypocrisy, and poverty.
Developing what has been found by DeCosmo and Skopal,10 the writer
classifies theme in Bob Marley’s songs into five categories: Babylon;
Rastafarianism; Pan-Africanism; Livity; and Romance. The theme of Babylon
illustrates all types of oppression. It covers colonialism, slavery, racism,
capitalism, corrupt government, hypocrite politicians, society and all other type of
human degradation. The theme of Rastafarianism deals with religious and spiritual
beliefs. It encompasses Jamaican and African mysticism with Christianity under
the issue of the divinity of Selassie as the black Christ using titles like God, Lion,
King of Kings, Father, Lord, and the natural world over man-made world. The
theme of Pan-Africanism designates Africa as heaven on earth under the term of
Zion, Father Land, Ethiopia, and also it deals with repatriation to Africa as Marcus
9 DeCosmo, Jan. Religion and Revolution in the Lyrics of Bob Marley. Working copy of an article inCaribbean Studies Assn. Conference, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico (1994), p. 2. Web. January 12. 2014.<http://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/CA/00/40/01/62/00001/PDF.pdf>.10 Skopal, Edward, Jr. Hear Them Crying (Rastafari and Framing Processes in Reggae Music), pp. 52&52.
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Garvey prophesied. The theme of "livity" depicts the Rasta life style, and a
collective vision of the good under the issue of unity, peace, love, freedom,
education, ganja, understanding, self-reliance, and "ital" (specific Rasta diets).11
The theme of romance deals with love between man and woman under the issues
of falling in love, breaking up, searching for love, and love-making.
As it is figured out, there are two most dominant themes in Bob Marley’s
songs, they are the central theme of "livity" and Babylon with the significant
number of thirty three and twenty six out of total seventy eight songs (see table 3
in appendix 1). They signify and emphasize Bob Marley’s militancy as a social
and political commentator. His songs are his prophetic pronouncements and
advocacy for the oppressed. While the central theme of romance shows Bob
Marley’s sophistication as true lovable and gentle romantic individual out of his
mean and scornful look. Growing up in the ghetto street of Kingston, Bob Marley
was known as one of the rude boys with a nick name "tuff gong." Despite of
having this rebellious and aggressive quality Bob Marley offered a more subtle
and peaceful way in dealing with the oppressive system. This can be seen in the
central theme of Rastafarianism. Bob Marley employs his spiritual beliefs and
mysticism to face the problems. Although first appeared as a social movement
against colonialism and imperialism Rasta then became a religious based
movement which combines Christianity and African and Jamaican mysticism.
Bob Marley knows for sure that at the time of tribulation where the hopeless and
powerless have no place to lean on, religion or spirituality is a way of other than
political action that can possibly turn to be effective means for salvation and
11 Skopal, Edward, Jr. Hear Them Crying (Rastafari and Framing Processes in Reggae Music), p. 53.
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liberation.12 The central theme of Pan-Africanism shows Bob Marley’s African
heredity affirmation and pride of self identity in relation to his respective beliefs
of African glory.
1.2. Bob Marley's Lyrical Style
Kwame Dawes in his book “Lyrical Genius” portrays Bob Marley’s genius
capability in composing music and writing sophisticated lyrics. His lyrics are a
mixture of Jamaican folk wisdoms, mysticism, biblical psalms and ghetto life’s
struggles. The lines in most of his songs are stunningly poetical. It shows his
technical capacity as a song writer.
Reggae music is strongly embedded with Rastafarianism and Jamaican
rural and urban wisdom. They are both developed out of a tradition of oppression,
Christianity, African and popular culture. As what has been stated before,
Rastafarianism first emerged in around 1930’s but it took about three decades for
this socio-religious movement to gain more power with the advent of reggae in
1960s. Both reggae music and Rastafarianism revival are the forms of
post-colonial spirit. The sense to break with the colonial past makes Jamaican
society began to develop new identities through many cultural products including
reggae music.13
There are several source of influence to illuminate the characteristics of
Bob Marley's songs namely Rasta language, Jamaican urban and rural wisdoms,
and spiritual and mysticism. Bob Marley grew and spent most of his life time in
the center of the peasants where he would get in touch daily. Therefore much of
12 DeCosmo, Jan. Religion and Revolution in the Lyrics of Bob Marley, p. 3.13 Worth, D.S. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, p. 20.
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his songs are sung in their language which is deeply rooted in their culture and
life.
1.2.1. Rasta Language
Before one enters into the realm of Bob Marley’s works it is very
significant to take a look into the general pattern in his lyrics. This is a guidance to
have a better understanding especially about the language used. Bob Marley’s
lyrics are a mixture of local folk wisdoms, Rastafarianism, Biblical psalms and
ghetto life’s struggles. The lines in most of the lyrics are stunningly poetical.
When associated with Rastafarianism, reggae often infuses social, political,
and religious critical lyrics and become music of resistance. Most reggae lyrics
would employ Rasta language, an extension of Jamaican creole or Patois, a typical
broken English that developed during the time of slavery among the slaves.14
This heavy metaphoric Jamaican language often misunderstood by the
non-Jamaicans.
There are two scholars who set the categories of Rasta talk, Pollard and
Roberts.15 Pollard divided Rasta talks into four categories: First, words which
taken on new meaning. The words assign a new meaning to fit into Rasta
philosophy; Second, words which bear the weight of their phonological
implications. The words are changed to reduce incompatibility and arbitrariness
between linguistic sign and the meaning; third, the category of I words. For the
Rasta I is considered to be the most sacred and significant letter in the alphabet. I
is tied up with the concept of sight because I is homophone to eye which is the
14 Worth, D.S. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, p. 27.15 Ibid, pp. 27-33.
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organ of sight; fourth, words with the most extensive changes. The examples of
Pollard’s first category are baldhead and Babylon. This can be found in Bob
Marley’s "Crazy Baldhead" and "Babylon System." Baldhead is used to refer to
non-Rasta or unbelievers. The absence of dreadlock, a distinctive Rasta uncombed
hair, is viewed as a baldhead. Babylon is taken from the Bible which is used by
Rasta to refer to all oppressive system. The examples of second category are
downpress and overstand that can be found in Bob Marley’s "Guiltiness" and "Get
Up Stand Up." The word oppress homophones or sounds like up-press. Up is
identified with goodness, and oppression is clearly not a good thing, therefore it is
changed to downpress. The word overstand has been changed from the word
understand. For the Rasta when people see truth, they do not stand under it,
instead over it and control it. The examples of third category are I and I and inite
and imanity. This can be found in some of Bob Marley’s lyrics, like "So Jah Seh"
and "Jamming." I and I can be used for first person plural like "we" or first person
singular "I". In this way it means I and Jah to indicate that Rastas are bound
together with Jah, who exists all the time within themselves. Other I-words are
made by simply replacing the first syllable of the word with I. Inite and imanity
come from the words unite and humanity. The examples of the fourth category are
hardly found in Bob Marley’s songs but the writer took Pollard’s examples i.e.
"satta" which means relax or have a seat comes from the word sit.
Roberts makes Rasta talk even clearer in his categories. He divided Rasta
talk into four categories. First is biblical or apocalyptic speech. Rasta speech is
influenced by King James Version of the Bible. They always dichotomize
concepts according to good and bad. Second, words which are related to Africa.
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Rasta views Africa as a sacred and significant place, therefore reference to it
frequently occur in their speech. Third is a pun or play on words. The
manipulation of language is one of the primary elements in Rasta talk. Playing on
sound and words’ structure is viewed as an attempt to make them more logical or
more consistent with progressive thinking. While the fourth is I-words as what has
been discussed before. The examples of first category are the concepts of Babylon
and Zion as can be seen in Bob Marley’s "Babylon System" and "Jammin.'" The
examples of second category are Rastafari, the original name of Ethiopian
Emperror, Haile Selassie. The term Jah is a shortened name of Jehovah which
comes from the Hebrew word for God, Yahweh. The examples of the third and
fourth category are downpress and I and I which have been discussed previously.
Bob Marley lyrics are purposefully composed based on the concept Rasta
and reggae philosophy. The careful and conscious words choice facilitates Bob
Marley’s poetics and rhetorics in giving his commentary upon social and political
injustice.
1.2.2. Jamaican Grounded Metaphor
Bob Marley’s lyrics are always quite literary than just spontaneous and
impressionistic. They are filled with careful literary style mainly metaphor and
personification. Through this literariness the lyrics talk about daily life and the
forces of political life. Bob Marley tends to sing and explore more in Jamaican
dialect than official Standard English. This might because of the idea that the
richness of the wisdom dwells in the center of the peasants where the oral
tradition is embraced.
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This thesis focuses on the songs that contain the Jamaican grounded
metaphors (patois or street language and local wisdom) and spiritual grounded
metaphors (Rastafarianism, Bible, and mysticism). Jamaican grounded metaphors
deals with a number of Bob Marley’s songs which are built around metaphors that
are derived from Jamaican social life. Among others that the writer assumes to be
firmly grounded are: "Stir It Up,""I Shot The Sheriff," "Duppy Conqueror,"
"Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)," "Who The Cap Fit," "The Heathen," "Kaya,"
"Ride Natty Ride," and "Bad Card."
"Stir It Up" is a seductive song which richly contains metaphorical
reverences to love making, like in the second verse, “I’ll push the wood (stir it,
stir it, stir it together)/ then I bless ya fire.” The wood is often referred as man’s
genital in Jamaica. While the pot as in the second verse “When you show and stir
your pot” is referred as woman’s genital. The action verb of love making is to stir
it together. Its equality to cooking makes the sexual dimensions quite appetizing,
“Your recipe is, darlin,’ is so tasty.” Here Bob Marley makes a daily reference to
cooking activities.
In "I shot the sheriff" Bob Marley sings a line which is quite unfamiliar to
average non-Jamaican audience, “Everyday the bucket a go a well/ One day the
bottom a go drop out.” This is a Jamaican metaphoric expression means that every
time you mess up with me, one day you are going to get it. Here he warns those
who are attacking the underprivileged that at some point they will not take it
anymore and will just explode. He is not commanding for arm physical violence
but instead giving a prophesy of doom to the evildoers.
In “Duppy Conqueror” Bob Marley is singing about Jamaican mystic lore.
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Duppy in a simple translation is a ghost. It is a restless spirit that haunts the living
to do harm. Duppy is also used by Jamaican to refer to the whites because of their
light-skinned complexion. It implies the whites as a colonial authority. In its
metaphorical sense it refers to everything that constitutes evil forces like corrupt
government, politicians, and policemen. Bob Marley proclaims himself as the
duppy conqueror that will bring down this kind of oppressive manifestation.
Another song "Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)" draws our attention to
the contrasting experiences between the rich and the poor. Here Bob Marley sings
lines that rely on Jamaican proverb, “A rain a-fall but the dutty tuff/ a pot to cook
but d’ yood no’nough.” It means that despite of the rain is falling, the dirt remains
hard and unresponsive. And the second line goes “a pot to cook but the food not
enough.” The rain and dirt refer to farming metaphor as Bob Marley would
expose to this when he grew up in the hills side back in the St. Ann.16
A pot on the fire constitutes the communal pot of the ghetto in the
government yard of Trench town as he would also sing in “No Woman No Cry.”
“I remember/ when we used to sit /in the government yard in Trench town”.../log
woods burning through the night/ and we would cook corn meal porridge.” The
message is obvious that despite of the positive observation, i.e. them belly full,
rain a-fall, and a pot to cook, the negativity still happens in reality, i.e. hungry,
dutty tuff, and food no-nough. From these hardship, Bob Marley then calls the
audience to response with dance, as he sings, “we’re gonna dance to Jah music/
dance/ forget your troubles and dance.” Dance here is not an escape instead it is a
way to deal with it. It is not a secular act, but a deeply spiritual one, as the dance
16 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 125.
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is to Jah music. The dancer is worshiping Jah as he or she faces the hardships of
life. It is through the worship that one can redirect pain and anger. It gives the
poor or the underprivileged hope.
In "Who the Cap Fit" Bob Marley employs rural Jamaican proverb that is
incomprehensible to most non-Jamaican listener. Here he sings lines like, “I throw
me corn/ me no call no fowl/ I saying cook-cook-cook/ cluk-cluk-cluk.” Literally
the lines mean: I throw my corn, but I will not call the fowls to eat the corn.17 The
onomatopoeia cook-cook-cook, cluk-cluk-cluk is an attempt to simulate the
calling of chickens. In other words it can be translated as “Don’t call yourself a
chicken just because you eat my feed; I never said I was endeavoring to feed
chickens.” That is, “You are who you show yourself to be, not who you might say
you are.” 18 Basically it is a sinical song to the hypocrites and parasites as he
would sing in the second verse, “hypocrites and parasites will come up and take
the bite.”
Bob Marley wants to educate the people that duplicacy always happens in
politic which cynically refers to as "politrics." Hypocrite politicians will do so
much good for the poor only to win election. They live on false pretense and
would likely exploit friendships and relationships to achieve their own goals.19 In
the second verse Bob Marley applies another Jamaican expression su-su in lines
“some will eat and drink with you/ then behind them su-su ‘pon you.” The sound
su-su is meant to mimic sound of whispering. So it means whispering behind
someone’s back, gossiping or speaking ill.20 Here Marley makes a Biblical
17 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 167.18 Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Bob Marley, p. 67.19 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 168.20 Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Bob Marley, p. 68.
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reference where Jesus was betrayed by Judas on the table when he calmly stated
someone would betray him. Basically it is in this manner that Bob Marley
intended to address his witty sarcasm”Who the cap fit, let them wear it” which
simply means that who feels it knows it. He does not specifically mention anyone
but there is an implication to be about specific people.
In "The Heathen" Jamaican creole shows in the chorus “de heathen back
dey ‘pon the wall.” Heatens are those who do not know the truth or who will not
accept the truth. All people who seek to do ill to the righteous are the heathens.21
So when translated it goes “Jah put the heathen’s back against the wall.” It is a
statement of faith that despite the bad things happened to him Jah still guides and
protects him.22 This song is pointing to the gun men who fired him at his home in
Hope road. It is the resurrection of Bob Marley to rise again from his wounded
situation and live to fight another day as he sings in the first verse “Rise up fallen
fighters/ rise and take your stance again/ This he who fight and run away/ Live to
fight another day.”
In"Kaya," Bob Marley is singing about marijuana. Kaya in Jamaican
patois means ganja. It is used for spiritual purposes for the Rasta. It is a sacrament
and part of Bob Marley’s and most Rasta's daily routine. During Rasta gathering
they usually sing, dance, read and discuss Bible while sharing chalice or ganja
pipe. For Rastas, smoking weed or marijuana will make them feel closer to Jah
(God). It is used as a sacrament. However, in this particular song he is talking
about smoking ganja as relaxation as he would describe it in patois “feelin irie,”
which means feeling good and peace. There seem to be no significance in the song
21 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 201.22 Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Bob Marley, p. 79.
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but here Marley is glorifying one of the basic tenets in Rasta teaching about
marijuana as God's creation to be enjoyed in the motion of freedom.
In "Ride Natty Ride" Bob Marley opens the verse with a line, “dready got
a job to do.” Dread and natty are words that have taken a new meaning in
Jamaican creole which refer to the Rasta. The song is about the task of the Rasta
to fulfill Jah mission in destroying evil system as well as a faithful affirmation of
Jah's guidance. Riding natty may not be a cowboy, instead a righteous force of
apocalypse to destroy the wickedness.23 Here he would infuse some biblical
references. One of them is final judgment day with apocalypse source of power
(fire). Another Jamaican expression is “go deh” which literally means to go there,
and to do the punishment.
"Bad Cards" is a song specifically aims at and to condemn Bob Marley’s
ex-manager, Don Taylor, who cheated and betrayed him.24 Taylor had to show his
bad card which is his true self.
1.2.3. Spiritual Grounded Metaphor (Rasta and Biblical Reference)
As his involvement in Rastafarianism grew stronger Bob Marley started to
infuse biblical reverences into his lyrics. His strong devotion made him studied
the Bible with the intensity of a priest.25 The same is true to his political
awareness.They become the source of inspiration to write songs.
Bob Marley’s lyrics are deeply rooted in Rastafarianism. They are really
dense with word play, wit, and deep philosophy of language. Rastafarianism is a
23 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 276.24 Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Bob Marley, p. 106.25 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 18.
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syncretic religion which combines beliefs and practices from many religions.26
However, the writer can see that the dominant influence comes from Christianity.
It can be clearly seen as the Rastas would make a lot biblical reference in their
speech and chant.
Spirituality usually dichotomizes its concept between good and bad,
between positive and negative. Therefore Bob Marley’s metaphoric expression
mainly built based on this concept. Worth in his thesis divided eight metaphoric
categories in Marley’s songs: Light/Dark, Up/Down, Nature, Journey, Babylon,
Free/Slave, Poverty, and metaphors from Rastafarian language. However, writer
will only divide it into three categories: Light/Dark, Up/Down, and Biblical
reference.
For Bob Marley Jah is light. People who are in the light will be able to see
the truth about the state in which they live. Those who walk in the dark endanger
themselves because of the minimum visuality. They are not able to see without the
guidance of sight. This Light/Dark category can be seen in the metaphoric terms
such as light, day, bright, morning, night, sun, moon, new day, and darkness.
In "Concrete Jungle" Bob Marley opens with “No sun will shine in my day
today (No sun will shine)/ The high yellow moon won’t come out to play/
Darkness has covered my light/ and has changed my day into night.” These lines
depict the underprivileged living in the ghetto among the concrete buildings
where the sun and moon cannot expose their light unto the people. Despite their
poor condition Bob Marley assures the people that Jah will prevail over the
darkness.
26 Worth, D.S. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, p. 19.
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He also emphasizes the same message in "Could You Be Loved" and in
"Get Up Stand Up." In the first, he sings“in the darkness there must come out the
light.” Jah as the light is the source of hope for the people in the tribulation. While
in the later he sings “Now you see the light/ and stand up for your rights.” Bob
Marley claims that the people have much long been fooled under the hegemonic
power that once they see the light of truth they must stand up against it.
In “Talkin’ Blues” he criticizes the church as many Rasta distrust
Christianity and view it as a symbol of religious oppression. Here he sings “I’m
gonna stare in the sun, Let the rays shine in my eyes.” Meaning that he wants to
look deep into Jah light and let His shine of wisdom comes upon him. The
mission of a true believer is not to follow other believers but to follow Jah as the
source of truth.
Bob Marley sings more about the shadow of oppression in "Revolution."
The lyrics are as follows, “Can’t trust the shadow of the dark/ so my friend I wish
you could see.” Living in the dark is scary and full of terror that people cannot
move freely but once the sun comes in they are free to move even dancing.
In “Sun is Shining” Bob Marley sings “Sun is shining/ the weather is
sweet,” that it “make you want to move your dancing feet.” Through out more of
other Bob Marley’s songs we will still find this Light/Dark metaphoric pattern.
They basically explain about understanding and living in the truth and goodness
of Jah will lead people to a physical and spiritual freedom.
Other than the light/dark symbol, Bob Marley also uses the Up/Down
contradiction to describe about Jah (God). Jah is also associated with the upward
direction while the wickedness is downward. In seeking for Jah’s wisdom, people
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are urged to direct their effort upward.27 This Up/Down category can be seen in
metaphorical expression like Zion, higher, lift, up, above, and sky.
Zion is taken from the Bible. It’s King David’s dwelling palace which was
on top of a hill. Up is associated with dwelling place of Jah. It is also a hierarchy
status of Jah who is above humans and that He is superior. It can be seen in
"Jammin'" when Bob Marley proclaims “Holly Mount Zion/ Jah sitteth in Mount
Zion and rules all creation.” In "No More Trouble" Bob Marley sings “If you hope
good down from above.” The hope for goodness comes from Jah that will make
you strong and be able to help the weak as he adds in the next line “Help the weak
if you are strong.”
The confession of Jah protection and superiority is shown by Bob Marley
in "Ambush in the Night," as he sings “Through the power of the Most High/ we
keep on surviving.” It is a song addressed to Bob Marley attackers in his house at
fifty six Hope Road where he was gun shot but eventually survived because of Jah
protection.
The word “up” is also a metaphor to show the people's effort to reach the
righteousness of Jah as it is shown in "Get Up Stand Up". Once people know the
truth they must stand up and not to bow down. The emphasis on people's
relentless efforts to beat oppression by relying in Jah's help can also be seen in
"Jamming'" “no bullet can stop us now we neither beg nor we won’t bow." Then
also in "Survival", in which he sings "We’ve gotta live up/ ‘cause the Father’s
time has come.”
The word “up” is contrasted with negative qualities i.e. “down”. This
27 Worth, D.S. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, p. 74.
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expression can be seen in “Concrete Jungle” as he sings “I’ve got to pick myself
up from the ground.” He has to get up from the state of being on the ground to
reach his freedom. Down metaphoric expression is very significant in Rastafarian
language. The word downpress means oppression. The word oppression
phonologically sounds like up-press, therefore it is changed to down-press to
match its negative connotation. It can be seen in "Exodus" as he sings “Jah come
to break downpression,” and in "Guiltiness" “Woe to the downpression.” Basically
Up/Down category describes the holiness and righteousness of Jah and its
contradiction to the wickedness of Babylon or oppression. It is about Bob
Marley’s rhetoric upon positive and negative quality. Jah and Zion are described
as being up, while Babylon or oppression is described as being down.
It can be observed that Bob Marley’s lyrics are also very biblical. Directly
or indirectly he uses the Bible as a reference in most of his songs. Bible is an
essential text for the Rasta. Bob Marley's exposure to the routine practice of Bible
reading affects many of his songs.
Direct biblical reference can be seen in "Hallelujah." Here Bob Marley
uses biblical terms such as hallelujah, and sheep. Hallelujah means praising God
while sheep usually refers to Jesus' followers, while Jesus Himself is the shepherd.
The song contains affirmation of Jah's guidance and hymn of praise by Jah
children.
In another song called "Survival" Bob Marley glorifies Jah's protection as
he equates the Black survival out of the oppression to the story of Daniel and his
friends Shadrach, Michach, and Abednego to defy the hubris of King
Nebuchadnezzar when he sings “We’re the survivors/ like Daniel out of the lions’
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den” and “We’re the survivors/ like Shadrach, Michach, and Abednego thrown in
the fire, but a-never get burn.”
Meanwhile in "So Much Things To Say" Bob Marley recalls the story of
betrayal in Jesus' crucifiction as he sings “I’ll never forget no way/ they crucified
Jesus Christ.” While in "Exodus" he equates the repatriation to Africa to the
biblical account of Moses and Israelites as they were led out of Egypt28 when he
sings “Send us another brother Moses, from across the Red Sea.”
In another song, "Johnny Was" Bob Marley paraphrases the book of
Romans 6:23 when he sings “Now she knows that the wages of sin is death/ gift
of Jah is life.” In "Small Axe" Bob Marley quotes the Bible as he opens the verse
with Proverbs 22:8 in line “You’re working iniquity to achieve vanity” And in the
second verse he paraphrases the book of Psalm 7:15 and Proverbs 26:27 in the
line “And whosoever diggeth a pit, shall fall in it.” Basically the inclusion of
biblical reference is to show the affirmation of Bob Marley’s devotion to Jah
(God).
1.3. Bob Marley's Lyrical Form
Bob Marley proves himself as a real craftsman and a poet. He would
employ a great deal of rhymes. It is part of the grace of his songs. The way the
songs unfold rhythmically through the use of rhyme scheme makes they become a
wonderful shaping lines which are filled with musicality even when they are
spoken.29 Alliteration and assonance can be found in many of his songs to
28 Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Bob Marley, p. 79.29 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 48.
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establish a musicality in the lines.30 It is his typical construction to play with
sounds through a spoken phrase and sweet tunes.
A clear example on the use of rhymes can be seen in "Concrete Jungle."
Here he employs a great deal of rhyme scheme. In the opening verse of the song
there is an echo line of assonance, "in my day to day." While in the second verse
he plays with a rhyme that is magnificent. Happiness is/sweet caress is,
around/bound, and ground/found. Bob Marley was really care and conscious in
word diction to construct most of his lyrics to make them sound astonishing and
"Concrete Jungle" is only an example.
Other examples of good rhyme can be seen in "Bend Down Low,"
"Revolution," "Jamming," "Waiting in Vain," "Easy Skanking," "Is This Love,"
"She's Gone," "Crisis," "Ride Natty Ride," "Bad Card," "Pimpers' Paradise,"
"Could You Be Loved," and "Forever Loving Jah."
Other than as a means to construct a good sound pattern, word diction
somehow also designates the tone or implicit attitude of the author or singer. Bob
Marley's intention to employ vernacular Jamaican patois might suggest many
things and one of them would be to boost a distinctive identity as a form of
resistance to the oppressive system. This in turn reveals that the tone in most of
his songs would be cynical, ironic, sarcasm and serious. Bob Marley tends to be
not openly aggressive in addressing a protest. They sound more subtle and
restrained yet they are very ironic and cynical. Like in "Concrete Jungle" he sings
"No chain around my feet but I'm not free." In "Get Up Stand Up" he sings "We
sick and tired of you ism-skism game/Dying and go to heaven in Jesus name
30 Ibid, p. 49.
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Lord." In "Burnin' and Lootin'" he sings "How many rivers do we have to cross?/
Before we can talk to the boss?" In "Small Axe" he sings "if you are a big three/
we are the small axe." Bob Marley made a good harmonious and subtle song to be
catchy even to the ears of those he was protesting. It is his poetics and rhetorics to
launch a non-violence protest and promoting peace and harmony. On or off the
stage and live or in studio Bob Marley was fighting a war. Out of the sweet and
harmonious tunes and lyrics there is a serious rage against the oppressive Babylon
system.
2. The Black Brothers' Music
Music and song have long been part of Papuan culture. It is a way to
preserve its culture and identity. Despite the fact that Papua is part of Indonesia,
Papuan musicians tend to associate themselves with Melanesian culture from
other Pacific islands. They share a typical dance, musical instruments like
ukuleles, tifa (snake skin drum), and sing in four part harmonies.31
The emergence of Papuan popular music started around 1950s to 1960s
when there were a lot of Hawaiian groups spread in almost big towns in Papua.
Among others which was quite famous and outstanding is Gagak Hitam (Black
Raven) from Jayapura. The band played Hawaiian music at wedding parties, and
other local formal and informal gigs. As there was a stagnancy of Hawaiian music
in 1960s the youth starting to shift direction. The group formed a full band and
changed its name to Blue Boys. They began to play various genre of music like
31 Moksha, Clara. Violence and oppression against musicians in forgotten conflict. Music Freedom Report no.4: West Papua (March 2012). Web. 1 May. 2014.<http://musicfreedomday.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/MusicFreedomReport_WestPapua.pdf>.
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rock and roll, hard rock, rock, jazz, blues, pop, and even keroncong covering
western, Latin and Indonesia popular hits.32 The band then again changed its
name several times from Blue Boys to Sombar Hitam (Black Shadow), Aitumeri
(name of a stone in Manokwari), and Lost Iriantos Primitif.
The history of early Papua popular music almost mainly focuses on one
name, Mimi Fatahan. He is like Papuan version of Jamaican Joe Higgs who
mentoring music and harmonies to local youths and the man behind those early
groups and bands in Jayapura including The Black Brothers. He is also a close
relative to Andy Ayamiseba, The Black Brothers' manager. Despite of his
mysterious disappearance on 12 September 1978, he had shown a path and good
spirit for the upcoming musicians in Papua.
The Black Brothers was formed by Andy Ayamiseba in mid 1970s in
Jayapura. He selected best musicians from three local bands in Papua. Benny
Bettay (Bassist), Stevie Mambor (Drummer) and Musa Fakdawer (Vocalist) from
P dan K band, Jochie Patipeiluhu (Keyboardist) from Patilapa brothers in Jayapura,
and the last is Hengky Mironthoneng (Lead Guitar) from The Hops band in
Biak.33 Being convinced that Jakarta offer the best opportunity to pursue their
musical career, Andy then brought them there. Demanding horn session players to
add a distinctive color to the band, Andy brought in Amry Kahar (Trumpet player)
from Sorong and Abdullah Junus (Saxophonist) from Yogyakarta. The early
formation was fixed. In Jakarta The Black Brothers made a weekly performance at
local bar, Ankerage. They played various genre of music like rock, rock and roll,
jazz, blues, reggae and keroncong. They tend to play western rock hits from band
32 Al Qatiri, Igir M, Menelusuri Jejak Langkah Sang Legenda, p. 22.33 Al Qatiri, Igir M, Menelusuri Jejak Langkah Sang Legenda, p. 29.
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like Deep Purple, Grand Funk Rail Road, and Led Zeppelin, and Indonesia pop
melancholic songs from artist like Rinto Harahap and Charles Hutagalung (The
Mercys).34 They also played several numbers of their own songs which attracted
Nyong Ben Seng, a music producer of PT. Irama Tara, to sign them a contract. On
June 1976 The Black Brothers launched their first album entitled "Irian Jaya"
which rocked Indonesian popular music scene and got a positive response from
large Indonesian audience. When on a road tour they attracted around 50.000
people, hence they only performed in big stadium which somehow even could not
hold the eager fans.35
Although their success does not last long (1976-1979), they had several
achievements. Their second album "Derita Tiada Akhir" (Endless Sufferings) was
the most successful album with 300.000 copies sold.36 Some of their best songs
are successfully covered by other artist like "Kisah Seorang Pramuria" (Story of a
prostitute) by Charles Hutagalung (The Mercys) and Indonesian famous rock band,
Boomerang. The most recent one is the reggae cover version of "Hari Kiamat"
(The End of The Day) by international reggae artist Quino (Big Mountain). In
1977, the band had a golden record award, and became one of the most expensive
bands for a show in Indonesia with other famous groups like God Bless and SAS.
Reportedly in 1982 when they were settled in Netherland, their disco version of
PNG (Papua New Guinea) song "Jalikoe" reached third place on a European disco
chart.37
The Black Brothers can be considered as a unique band because they blend
34 Ibid, p. 38.35 Al Qatiri, Igir M, Menelusuri Jejak Langkah Sang Legenda, p. 40.36 Ibid, p. 37.37 Whimp, Kathy. Protection of Intellectual, Biological and Cultural Property in Papua New Guinea. (ANU EPress, 2013), p.118. Web. 14 May 2014.
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Papua traditional folk song with popular music taste. They succeeded in bringing
their culture and folk stories to the ears of other Indonesian fans. The audience
seemed to embrace them because of the way they do it musically. When on live
show they tend to play funk rock which creating waves in the crowd yet their
recordings are dominated by melancholic pop songs. It somehow shows their two
personalities or characteristics as a band.
2.1. Theme in The Black Brothers’ songs
Following the main stream themes in popular music, The Black Brothers
also sing about love (falling in love, breaking up, and searching for love), leisure
and pleasure (party and dance). However, they would also inserted some social
criticism, folks and cultural pride, and friendship. Since the The Black Brothers
can be associated to Black power movement, it is believed that their supposedly
love themes are actually political in some sense.
It can be argued that The Black Brothers sees that music is the opportunity
to break the negative prejudice of the media that Papua is a backward area with
backward people. The band aims to promote their remote island to the rest of the
country. This can be seen in their physical style on live performance (big loose
curly hair, and traditional costumes) and be heard in their lyrics which voicing out
the pride of their self identity and their homeland. Although many of their songs
are sung in bahasa Indonesia, there are several songs sung in their natives
language. Mainly those natives’ songs are about the beauty of the nature, love and
friendships.
There are sixty six songs out of eight albums produced by PT. Irama Tara
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Jakarta: "Irian Jaya 1" (1976); "Derita Tiada Akhir" (Endless Sufferings, 1976);
"Lonceng Kematian" (Death Albatross,1977); "Kenangan November" (November
Memories, 1977); "Kaum Benalu" (The Parasite, 1978); "Misteri" (Mistery, 1978);
"Volume Perdana" (The Prime Volume, 1979); "Hening" (Silence, 1979) (see
table 5 in appendix 1). These albums might be the life time achievement since
until today The Black Brothers is the only band from Papua which successfully
signed and launched a professional albums in Indonesia. They are the symbol of
Papua popular music and one of Indonesia greatest bands.
Generally The Black Brothers' songs consist of three types of theme, i.e. 1)
social criticism; 2) cultural pride and identity; 3) romance and dance tunes (see
table 4 in appendix 1). Specifically the writer constructed the theme into five
categories: Irian Jaya or Papua; Romance; Social criticism; Pramuria (prostitute);
and other minor themes. The central theme of Irian Jaya or Papua designates self
pride under the geographical reference like Jayapura, Gunung Syclop (Mt.
Cyclop), Danau Sentani (Sentani Lake), Jalan Angkasa (Angkasa Street), Pasir 2
(sandy beach 2), physical appearance like hitam (black) and kribo (curly). The
inclusion of Irian or Papua native songs in almost every album is quite unique.
Apuse (1st); Huembello (2nd); Amapondo (3th); Samandoye (5th) and;
Mangge-mangge (6th), Ino mote ngori in 7th album is a Ternate song written by
Amry Kahar. The musical arrangement of those folk numbers is a combination of
traditional chant and tunes with popular music style like pop, rock, jazz, and
disco.
The central theme of romance deals with love between man and woman
under the issue of falling love, breaking up, and searching for love. The Black
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Brothers' love stories mainly about sentiments of affection, sorrow, and romantic
longing. However as the writer could see the dominant one is mainly about sorrow.
The penchant for tearful sentimental wallowing in the longings and
disappointments of frustrated protagonist seems to be the main characteristic of
The Black Brothers’ love songs.
The central theme of social criticism designates protest to corrupt
government about corruption, poverty, and poor labor. Based on the short online
interview with Jochie Pattipeluhu, the keyboardist who composed most of The
Black Brothers materials said that social criticism is another important concern
that they should put into songs. These are the things that rarely done by most
bands and singers during that time. Specifically, The Black Brothers make their
commentary upon social and economical degradation happened in Indonesia as a
result of corrupt government and rich men wickedness. There are seven songs
addressing the issue: "Hari Kiamat" (The End of the Day); "Lonceng Kematian"
(Death Albatross); "Gundik-gundik latah" (Talkative Concubines); "Kaum
Benalu" (The Parasites); "Kuncup Putih" (White Buds); "Tangan Hampa" (Empty
Handed); "Tanah Dosa" (Land of Sinner).
The central theme of Pramuria (Prostitute) is a typical characteristic in
The Black Brothers song that it exists almost in every album under specific terms
beside Pramuria such as Juwita Malam (Night Angel), Kupu-kupu Malam (Night
Butterfly), and Melati Plastik (Plastic Jasmine). The persistent existence in every
album makes the writer puts it as one segmented theme though it can be included
into the central theme of romance. Written mostly by Hengky, the lead vocal, they
are said to be his autobiographical love story. He wrote six out of the total nine
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songs addressing the issue, i.e. "Kisah Seorang Pramuria" (Story of a Prostitute),
"Cinta dan Pramuria" (Love and Prostitute), "Doa Pramuria" (The Prostitute's
Prayer), "Untukmu Pramuria" (To you, O prostitute), "Balada Pramuria"
('Ballads of a Prostitute), and "Pramuria tapi Biarawati" (Prostitute but Nun),
while the rest were written by Yochie Patipeluhu and Ian Antono, i.e. "Juwita
Malam" (Night Angle) and "Melati Plastik" (Plastic Jasmine). Hengky seems to
be a true lover who positions himself as a pro-feminist who treats the prostitute in
a more respectable way. He defies the tendency to use prostitute as merely sexual
object that dehumanize women. There is a distinctive difference when Hengky’s
"Pramuria tapi Biarawati" (Prostitute but Nun) and Ian Antono’s "Juwita Malam"
(Night Angel) are compared. Pramuria (a prostitute) who is normally considered
as a sinner can also have the pure and divine character of biarawati (a nun). In
“Juwita Malam” (Night Angle), Antono sees a prostitute as a mere symbol of
slick and sin as well as a sexual object to man’s satisfaction. In addition to that,
the segmentation of pramuria (prostitute) theme in The Black Brothers' songs also
to show another implication of reading. Pramuria (prostitute) in this new layer of
meaning can also symbolize the exploitation and degradation of Papua natural
resource or a mere object of government's satisfaction. Here lies the political
nuance which is discussed further in next chapter.
The minor theme covers the less dominant themes other than the majority.
It includes themes such as friendship or brotherhood, and the glory of God’s
creation, and number of dance tunes. The theme of friendship discusses
relationship between friends like in "Sahabatku Angie" (My best friend Angie).
Glory of God's creation contains the praising of God's blessings and grace like in
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"Kurnia Ilahi" ('Divine Grace). The theme of dance tunes covers songs which are
written for leisure and pleasure which includes the issue of drinking, party, and
dancing like in "Musik Masa Kini" (Today's Music) and "Goyang Disco" (Disco
Dance).
Out of the five themes the two most dominant ones are romance and Irian
Jaya with the significant numbers of twenty one and sixteen out of the total sixty
six songs (see table 6 in appendix 1). This is to prove the band's real characteristic
as a typical popular band to sing of love song yet they might also lead to
something deeper than just a romantic in the perspective of cognitive poetics
which emphasize on the cognition of reading the lyric as a literary text by
considering the context.
2.2. The Black Brothers' Lyrical Style
The Black Brothers' lyrics are a mixture of Papuan folk chants with
popular music which have a nuance of wisdom and mystic beside poetic love
stories, and social critics. They are rich with imagery devices mainly metaphor
and personification. The lyrics tend to be spontaneous and impressionist. Despite
Papuan have their own daily dialect which is Papuan Malay, they prefer to use
standard Bahasa Indonesia as the lingua fanca, except some local folk numbers.
Carrying this spirit The Black Brothers’ songs resonate with the deep emotion of
the people. They can be summed up as resignation, honesty, and simplicity of
lifestyle. Their lyrics are rich with metaphors, however they are not as thick and
dense as Bob Marley’s Jamaican metaphors. Their metaphors and personifications
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operate mainly on archetypal qualifier which tends to be general and easy to
understand. The source of their metaphoric expressions are love stories, nature,
social life and somehow mystic and spiritual in a certain way. However as the
writer assumes, The Black Brothers’ metaphors can be summed up into two main
categories: romantic grounded (love stories, nature) and Papuan grounded
(native’s language, geographical and physical reference).
2.2.1. Romantic Grounded Metaphors
The Black Brothers is a romantic band in a real sense. As one can see in
table of the dominant theme in their songs (table 6 in appendix 1), romantic love
song category has the highest percentage. This is to prove the claim by most of
their audience that The Black Brothers is a melancholic pop band. However,
romanticism does not only deal with the subject of love, the writer could see more
than that. Based on the history of the Romantic Movement in Europe, the early
association with romanticism in mid eighteen century is natural exotism,
adventure, terror, and mysticism. Romantic’s taste favors simplicity and
naturalness.38 The early spirit of romanticism is to go back to nature and against
rationalization by the enlightenment period. Romantic writers tend to value more
on tender sentiment of affection, sorrow, and longing. However out of all
emotions celebrated by romanticism, love is the most popular. Despite the fact
that great romantic works deal on terror or rage, the motive behind this passion is
mostly a relationship between a pair of lovers. In the classical world love had
been more or less associated with sex. Love used to be viewed as natural
38 Brown, Marshall. The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism, Volume 5, Romanticism. (CambridgeUniversity Press, 2008), p. 92.
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birthright by the romantics. The shifting in thinking allows love to be equated to
romance that the two are now generally viewed as synonymous.
The Black Brothers have almost these qualities to be considered as
romantic. The writer can see that their songs consist of love stories, the exoticism
of nature, mysticism, and social criticism. Their love songs are mainly dominated
with sorrow, tearful sentimental wallowing in the longings of the heart and
disappointments. The songs in this category are as follows: "Terjalin Kembali"
(Getting Back Together), "Balada Dua Remaja" (The Ballads of Two Teenagers),
"Putus Ditengah Kerinduan" (Losing You In The Middle of Deep Longing),
"Kisah Seorang Pramuria" (Story of a Prostitute), "Derita Tiada Akhir" (Endless
Sufferings), "Hilang" (Gone), "Keroncong Kenangan" (Song of Memory), "Doa
Pramuria" (The Prostitute's Prayer), "Melati Di Tanah Gersang" (Jasmine on the
Barren Land), "Sahabatku Angie" (My best friend Angie), "Tragedy Awal
Agustus" (Tragedy on Early August), "Gadis Lembah Sunyi" (The Girl from the
Lonely Valley), "Kenangan November" (November Memory), "Tiada Senyum
Diakhir Senja" (No Smile When Dusk Ends) "Untukmu Pramuria" (To you, O
Prostitute), "Layu Diujung Senja" (Wilted at the End of Twilight), "Balada
Pramuria" (Ballads of Prostitute), "Lagu Yang Terpotong" (The Unfinished Song),
"Gerimis Dihati Gersang" (Drizzle on a Dry Heart), and "Hening" (Silence). The
pitiful circumstance of love is summoned to reinforce the emotions through
metaphoric expression. Love is viewed as a fragile object that can easily break. In
"Balada Dua Remaja" The Black Brothers sing "Kisah cinta hancur berderai"
(our love story falls apart) and in "Hilang" they sing "Bunga di hati layu sudah/
berguguran daun-daunnya" (flower in my heart goes whithered/ the leaves are
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falling down). Love is full of pain and loneliness in the circumstances of being
cheated or left alone. This typical situation can be found in most of the lyrics of
the songs above. In "Hilang" they sing "Kini ku sendiri lagi/ melangkah dalam
kepedihan/ tiada penghibur hati/ tertelan dalam kesunyian" (Now I’m all alone/
walking with the pain/ no one to call on to/ being swollen into loneliness). In
"Keroncong Kenangan" they sing "Kini kusendiri mengenangkan/ semua kisah
indah bersamamu" (Now I’m alone/ reminiscing all wonderful stories with you).
In "Melati Di Tanah Gersang" they sing "Di wajahnya terukir goresan kesedihan"
(upon her face etched scratches of grief). In "Gadis Di Lembah Sunyi" they sing
"Kini ku sendiri tiada menemani/ gadis di lembah sunyi" (Now I’m on my own
with no company/ the girl in the valley of silence). In "Tiada Senyum Diakhir
senja" they sing "Hanyalah kesepian yang menemani di hati/ bersama bayangan
yang terlukis menyiksa diri" (only loneliness is the company to my heart/ with the
shadow painted torturing myself). In "Untukmu Pramuria" again they sing
"Hidupku dalam dunia ini/ penuh dengan derita" (My life in this world is full of
sorrow and pain). In "Hening" they sing "Hari-ke hari sunyi yang menemani"
(loneliness is my friend from day after day). In "Terjalin Kembali" they sing
"Hanya titik air mata/ mengiring mu pada dia yang pertama menyentuh
hatimu"(only a tear drop can lead you back to him who firstly touch your heart).
In "Hilang" they sing "Kini ku sendiri lagi/ melangkah dalam kepedihan" (Now
I’m all alone/ walking with the pain). In "Gerimis Di Hati Gersang" they sing "Di
simpang jalan ku menatapmu/ berlalu bersama kasihmu"(In the crossroads I saw
you passed by with your lover).
Jochie Patipeluhu as The Black Brothers' golden ink who wrote almost all
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the lyrics is known to be very poetic. All of these pitiful love experiences are
made beautiful and moving by infusing the imagery devices mainly metaphor and
personification. This can be seen in lines such as "Bunga di hati layu sudah" (the
flower in my heart goes whithered), "Di wajahnya terukir goresan kesedihan" (on
her face there's a scarce of pain), "Terkenang sekeping hati terluka sudah/ dalam
danau air mata/ bagai sekuntum melati sayup melambai/ di tanah gersang selalu
gelisah" (remembering a broken heart/ in the lake of tears/like a jasmine waving
by/upon a barren land always uneasy) "malam hampir merapat pagi/ sinar lembut
menyentuh telaga/ unggas membisik nada sendu" (night almost comes to dawn/
shines gently touch the pond/birds singing blues) "biduk tua yang membisu" (an
old silent boat). These emotional expressions clearly seem to be exaggerated or
artificial but they could possibly build out of real individual experience that was
genuine.
Different from enlightenment period which favored reasoning and
rationality, romanticism like its early spirit strengthen the hold of religion and
mysticism. Though not explicitly seen, The Black Brothers' songs are built up out
of spirituality. As an example we can see the songs about prostitute that Hengky,
the lead vocal, wrote. Here implicitly Hengky inserts a biblical allusion in the way
a prostitute should be treated. For him a prostitute deserves to be honored and
loved and that we are all sinners and do not have right to judge others. This
attitude can be seen in the lyrics of songs such as "Kisah Seorang Pramuria"
(Story of a prostitute), "Cinta dan Pramuria" (Love and a prostitute), "Doa
Pramuria" (The prostitute's prayer), "Untukmu Pramuria" (To you, O prostitute),
"Balada Pramuria" (ballads of prostitute) and "Pramuria Tapi Biarawati"
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(prostitute yet a nun).
There are several biblical allusion that can be found in those songs: First,
an allusion to John 8:7 in which Jesus Himself when asked by the scribes and
Pharisees about a woman taken in adultery who about to be stoned, he calmly
responded “He that is without sin among you, let him cast a stone at her.” Second,
an allusion to Luke 7:36-50 where a prostitute came to Jesus and washed his feet
with her tears, wiped them with her hair and kissed and anointed them with
ointment. Jesus then forgave her sins. It is in this effort and attitude that Hengky
puts in his song "Doa Pramuria" (the prostitutes prayer) where he inserted a
prayer of a prostitute "Oh Tuhan Engkau Maha Pengasih/ Engkau Maha
Penyayang/ Kiranya Engkau mau datang dengan kemurahan tanganMu/
mengampuni semua dosa-dosaku/ kuserahkan sisa hidupku/ didalam tanganMu
saja Oh Tuhanku/ amin" (O merciful and loving God/ I hope you would come
with your gratefulness hands to forgive all my sins/ into your hands I give the rest
of my life/ O my Lord /amen).
Another example of biblical allusion is also depicted in “Hari Kiamat”
(The End of the Day) about the condemnation and the doom of the evil doers. The
believe of judgement day is deeply based on the spiritual level. The main tenet of
Christianity and some other religions is that our present attitudes and deeds will
decide our fate in the next life. In this song, The Black Brothers depicts the real
situation of the poor and demands an action by the rich otherwise they will have a
serious consequence. The real situation is the poor keep begging for sympathy
from the ignorant rich. The demand of an action is that they shall help the poor.
The biblical allusion is based on Matthew 25: 31- 46 about the judgement day. In
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verses 40-43 it is said: “And the King will answer and say to them, Assurdly, I say
to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it
to Me. Then He will also say to those on the left hand, Depart from me, you
cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was
hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a
stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in
prison and you did not visit Me.” Those who help the poor are actually do it for
God, and that He will recognice them as the chosen ones who will survive His
rage at the judgement day.
Another biblical allusion to the song is on Luke 10:25-36 about the good
Samaritan. Here lie the basic teachings of Jesus when He said in verses 27 and 28:
“You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all
your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And He said
to him, You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”
2.2.2. Papua Grounded Metaphor
Papua grounded metaphor in The Black Brothers’ songs mainly consist of
folksongs and exoticism of Papua's nature. Despite the fact that folksong and
exoticism of nature are supposed to be put under romantic grounded metaphor,
they are more likely to be put in a separated category in order to show their
uniqueness. Different from other popular bands in 1970s except Koes Plus, The
Black Brothers includes folksongs into almost every album they released.
Just like any other folksong, Papuan folksongs mainly talk about its nature
and vegetation, its people, local wisdoms and mysticism. Papuan folksongs deal
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with the surrounding where the people live with their daily circumstances and
tradition, as well as their mystical lores. Papuans who live in mountainous area
will sing about the exoticism of nature using terms such as mountains, hills, rivers,
birds, and lake. Meanwhile those who live in seashore will sing about nature using
terms such as sea, beach, waves, boat, fish, rocks, fishing, and fishermen. As an
example is “Ino Mote Ngori" in Ternate language which means “Come follow
me.” The song is about a fisherman calling for his friends to follow him to go
fishing. Another example is "Yawonde" in Ambai language, a tribe in Yapen Island
which means "I row my boat seashore." According to Peter Wamea, a relative of
The Black Brothers, the song is about triumphant tribal sailors.
When talking about its people they use terms such as black and curly. This
can be seen in song such as "Dewi Kribo" (Curly princess) Here they sing "Dewi
kribo Danau Sentani/ hitam manis menawan hati" (Curly princess of Sentani
Lake/ black sweet and appealing). This song challenges the normal and general
concept of beauty which is propagated by the hegemonic world.
There is one song which clearly deals with natural mystic. It is the famous
"Huembelo" which means the howling wolve or dog. It is a song from Moi/Klabra,
a tribe in Sorong, northern part of the island. The song is about the omen through
midnight lamentation of a dog. A howling dog designates the presence of a spirit
as a sign of terror and lamentation. The song is wildly performed by Abdullah
Yunus through the beat of punk rock music. The repetition of the lyric somehow
sounds like a spelling mantra adding the nuance of mysticism.
Another characteristic in The Black Brothers’ songs is the glorification of
nature. The Black Brothers share the exoticism of Papua nature through
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picturesque expression and geographical reverences. In "Irian Jaya 1" they sing
"Hutan lebat yang meluas, sungai berliku-liku/ Irian Jayaku ku bangga akan
asalku...Indah nian alammu sejuk nyaman cuacamu"(Lush forest as far as you
could see/ winding rivers flowing by/ O My Irian Jaya/ I’m really proud of my
native...how lovely is your nature/ the weather is cool and cozy). In "Jayapura Di
Waktu Malam" The Black Brothers sing about the beauty of Jayapura city at night,
"Indahnya malam/ indahnya bukit/ bertaburan cahaya/ di malam hari"(How
lovely is the night/ how lovely are the hills/ the stars are brighly shine/ in an
appealing night). In "Kali Kemiri" The Black Brothers sing about the beauty of
Kemiri River which located in Sentani, Jayapura, "Indah tempatnya, jauh di atas
sana Kali Kemiri bersembunyi di balik pohon nan tinggi/ Kali Kemiri" (How
lovely is the place/ far between the montain/ Kali Kemiri/ hiding behind the giant
trees/ Kali Kemiri). In "Irian Jaya 2" they sing about the towns in Papua with
their uniqueness. They glorify its vegetation and natural resources as they sing in
the chorus, "Suburnya tanahku asalku Irian Jaya/ Kau kupuja slalu/ asalku Irian
Jaya/ banyak kekayaan yang masih terpendam di sana" (How fruitful is the soil/
my origin is Irian Jaya/ there are still multitude of wealth still buried underneath).
In "Keroncong Gunung Cyclop" they sing about the beauty of Mt. Cyclop in
Jayapura which is depicted as a King, Princess and fortress, "Bagai seorang raja/
dikelilingi ribuan bukitmu/ di kakimu terentang danau indah bagai
permaisuri...malam hari kau berubah bagai benteng terlupakan"(Like a powerful
King/ surrounded with thosand hills/ underneath your feet lies the lovely lake like
a princess...in the night you turn to be a forgotten fortress). In "Pantai Pasir Dua"
they sing about a wonderful Pasir Dua Beach, a beach in the suburb near Jayapura.
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"Keroncong Irian Jaya" is an autobiograpical song of Stevie Mambor, the
drummer, who as a wanderer away from home is longing for his birth place, Irian
Jaya.
All these forms of nature glorification is aimed to break down the negative
image that comes to people's mind about Papua and its people. It is not a cannibal
island where its people are uncivilized. It is a land of milk and honey with its
friendly people. Ever since the two German missionaries, Ottow and Geissler
landed on the land in 1885, many Papuans have been baptized and converted into
Christians and being educated. That is why to some extend The Black Brothers
existed to tell that the people of Papua have come into the light and therefore they
are supposed to live triumphantly.
2.3. The Black Brothers' Lyrical Forms
Lyrically The Black Brothers is far away less rhythmical than Bob Marley.
Despite the lyrics consist of a lot of metaphoric expressions yet the lyrics do not
have significant rhyme patterns. It is also very rare to hear sound play like
alliteration and assonance. Most of The Black Brothers' songs are more like a
short story than a poem. They are narrative story using a combination of simple
language and metaphoric language. The diction in the lyrics is not meant for
rhythmical sound. As a example is "Keroncong Gunung Cyclop" (Song of Mt.
Cyclop) where they sing "Betapa agungnya/betapa megahnya/tinggi kau
menjulang/bagaikan seorang raja dikelilingi ribuan bukitmu/di kakimu terentang
danau indah bagai permaisuri" (How glorious is you/how great is you/stand firm
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and strong/like a King surrounded by thousand hills/underneath you feet lies a
lake like a princess). The singer carefully chose those words in the lyric to
describe the exotic natural scene of the mountain by using poetic element of
personification. However if the lines are spoken or sung they do not sound
rhythmical since they do not rhyme and do not have alliteration and assonance.
This is the typical lyric in most of The Black Brothers' songs.
The theme of a song designates its tone. The Black Brothers songs are
mainly about romance and Irian Jaya/Papua. The typical love story in their song is
about the searching for love, breaking up and being left alone. However when
singing about their land, Irian Jaya/Papua, they are full of enthusiasm and
optimism. Then when addressing a criticism they are cynical and ironic. While
singing for leisure and pleasure they are joyful and happy.
3. The Sense of Affinity between Bob Marley and The Black Brothers
The existence of Bob Marley and The Black Brothers are the
representation of their respective social group who happened to be marginalized.
This notion can be seen and sensed through the naming of their bands, Bob
Marley and The Wailers and The Black Brothers. Here, it can be seen that they are
the wailers who wail and lament for the unfairness and hardships of their life yet
the experience abounds and unites them in the ties of brotherhood to fight through
music and song.
Song is a medium to communicate message and its lyric is a form of
rhetoric which posses an argumentative ideals. However, different from ordinary
conventional way, it has an aesthetic appeal that plays a significant persuasive role
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in music besides tones and beats.39 The combination of language, performance
and music composition makes song a powerful form of communication.40 In
terms of language used, song lyric has a number of unique characteristics which
emphasizes aesthetic appeal of an argument.41 The poetic and rhetorical devices
Bob Marley and The Black Brothers infused into their songs to persuade the
audience are simple yet attractive in language, words, and sound.
Specifically both Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' songs are rich with
imagery devices such as metaphor and personification. Their metaphor and
personification basically operate through the concept of tenor and vehicle. They
juxtapose two terms which normally regarded as belonging to different classes of
experiences.The two terms of comparison define the principle subject of the
metaphor and personification and the frame into which it is placed. Their meaning
emerges from the interaction of these two terms. The similarity on which the
interaction is based comes from the common aspects shared by the tenor and
vehicle to form a meaning which is called "ground." However, as the grounds for
constructing and interpreting metaphors and personifications are based in
commonly accepted notions as Leff suggested, the context which determines their
meaning may be immediate (bound to the audience or occasion) or it may be
social. Therefore, the pattern and structure of Bob Marley and The Black Brothers'
metaphor and personification can be clearly seen through the four levels of
39 Roberts, W Rhys. Rhetoric by Aristotle. An Electronic Classics Serries Publication. Pennsylvania StateUniversity, 2010-2013. Web. January 21. 2014.<http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/aristotl/Aristotle-Rhetoric.pdf>.40 Worth, D.S. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, p. 53.41 Haner, Mark. "Bob Marley's Spiritual Rhetoric, the Spread of Jamaican Culture and Rastafarianism," aseminar paper. West Oregon University, 2007, p.3. Web. January 22. 2014.<http://www.wou.edu/las/socsci/history/senior_seminar_papers/2007/thesis07/Mark%20Haner.pdf>.
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context proposed by Osborn and Ehninger.42 This context is called qualifiers 1)
Contextual qualifier which refers to the context of a discourse in terms of its
actual text and the situation in which it is used. This can be audience-bound social
knowledge in its most restrictive sense and social knowledge bound to a particular
audience at a particular time; 2) Communal qualifier which extends beyond the
text or audience but is culturally bound, relying on culturally-based social
knowledge. It directs meaning of the metaphor and personification by drawing
from the funded knowledge-the common experiences, traditions, or folkways-of
the public to whom the stimulus is directed. The interpretations somehow has
been stamped upon by authority; 3) Archetypal qualifier is not temporally or
culturally bound, instead it supplies meaning based on experiences common to
men of many races and ages-experiences relieved by each generation anew; and 4)
Private qualifier which refers to the meaning assigned by a listener through
personal or subjective associations. It has an interpretation which is unique to the
particular listener. And as the writer concludes, Bob Marley and The Black
Brothers' metaphors and personifications seem quite likely to operate based on
contextual, communal and archetypal qualifiers.
Besides imagery devices, there is also sound devices like rhyme,
alliteration and assonance. However it is Bob Marley who employs more
attractive and creative sound device in his lyrics than The Black Brothers.
By seeing all of these features of lyrical styles and forms in Bob Marley’s
and the Black Brothers’ songs, the writer argues that both of the artists would
likely to have intended purpose in using them as their method and a medium to
42 Worth, D.S. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, p. 57.
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voice message about social and political unrest than a mere as an entertainment.
Artistical language use and sound pattern in the song is used to launch protest in a
much safer way against agressive authority. It has a nuance of what is theorized by
James Scott as hidden transcript. These forms of artistical language styles and
forms somehow possess elements of Scott’s hidden transcript. They show the
richness, creativity and witty pun of both Bob Marley and the Black Brothers as
the wistle blower among their respective social groups.
A much deeper insight into the song to see the hidden transcript is
discussed in the next chapter. In order to have a better understanding, the analysis
will include the extrinsic element which is the context of social and political
history to company the base intrinsict elements which have been shown in this
chapter. Imagery and sound devices in Bob Marley and the Black Brothers’ songs
are very significant poetic and rhetoric elements which are developed based on the
social and political background. In an attempt to resist the power domination they
can be considered to be voice under domination which posses ideological
resistance based on Scott's theory. They are passive resistance disguised through
literary artistic elements.
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CHAPTER 4
THE HIDDEN TRANSCRIPT IN BOB MARLEY’S AND THE BLACKBROTHERS’ SONGS
In the previous chapter, the focus is on the content and structure of the
lyrics with respect to the subject matters in both Bob Marley’s and The Black
Brothers’ lyrics. The writer breaks down the content of the lyrics to see the
patterns and styles being used. It turns out that they are quite impressive and rich
with aesthetic and literary expressions. As it is, a closer look at the song is worth
doing in this study, given that a textual analysis alone will not be sufficient as to
reveal the relationship between an artist as an individual with his or her social,
cultural and political background in a certain place and time.
This chapter deals with the socio-political realities which become the
backdrops of each artist's songs. Specifically it deals with how Bob Marley and
The Black Brothers as popular artists who emerged from the marginalized society
under repressive power use their song lyrics to facilitate a consciousness of
resistance among members of their respective social groups. Mainly this study
focuses on the lyrics of two popular music icons whose songs have been situated
in what the writer would assume the legacy of Black protest music: reggae legend
Bob Marley and pop legend the Black Brothers. A comparative analysis on the
selective lyrics of each artist major-label studio albums is to explore the role of
music or song in the construction of hidden transcript in impoverished Black
communities in hegemonic post-colonial Jamaica and in “still colonized” Papua
society.
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1. The Socio-Political Context of Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' Songs
Emerging from racially, culturally, economically, and politically
marginalized social conditions, Bob Marley and The Black Brothers used music or
song as a vehicle of critique. In other words, their songs are the evidence of a
collective effort by the marginalized social groups to coerce the consensus of the
hegemony by the dominant power. As what is stated by Antonio Gramsci on his
notion of the concept of hegemony, this form of coercion emerges from within the
life of the lower classes.1
The concept of hegemony is closely related to the dialectical unity
between leadership and domination which including moments of consensus and
coercion.2 This concept is strongly influenced by Gramsci’s question of power.3
When dealing with power, one would usually refer it to its explicit form that is,
authority or expertise. Here the processes are visible and deliberately carried out.
To the writer’s consideration the examples are like: slavery, detention, kidnapping,
torturing, impunity, exploitation, and corruption; while implicit power domination
takes place in a form of hegemony. Hegemonic power influences people’s
behaviour as effectively as explicit force of power can do. This can be in a form of
government laws and policies which are accepted as a consensus in a society. The
implementation of these two forms of power dominations are intended to
perpetuate or secure power control over the subordinate groups, and to repress the
political rivals and the possibility of people’s revolts.
In understanding the general circumstances of explicit and implicit power
1 Fontana, Benedetto. Hegemony and Power. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993), p. 14.2 Fusaro, Lorenzo. Gramsci's concept of hegemony at the national and international level, King's CollegeLondon, 2010, p. 1. Web. March 29. 2014. <http://iippe.org/wiki/images/0/09/CONF_IPE_Fusaro.pdf>.3 Crehan, Kate. Gramsci, Culture and Anthropology. (London: Pluto Press, 2002), p. 6.
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domination and the coercion and specific objects of Bob Marley and The Black
Brothers’ critiques a better understanding of social and political reality is
necessary. In order to understand why sounds and words of their lyrics have been
arranged in a certain way, we must understand the context within which their
composition seemed meaningful and urgent. Following is the analysis of the Bob
Marley and the Black Brothers lyrics to figure out the hidden transcript by also
seeing the context of socio-political background.
2. Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' Music and Song asCounter-Dominant Power Alternative
Power domination may effectively suppress the subordinate or
underprivileged groups, but in reverse it may also foster the resistance among the
groups. Despite of the explicit and implicit domination of tyrant, the
counter-dominant power alternatives can and do exist.4 People began to raise both
arm physical revolts as well as non-physical rebellions. The Maroons (Jamaica)
and OPM guerrilla (Papua) are both a form of physical resistance. However, due
to the lack of military tactics and aids they were both shifted their method to
non-physical struggles. This can be seen in the emerge of movements which
emphasize on raising cultural and political awareness and mobilization of the
people such as United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), Rastafarianism in
Jamaica and Koreri in Papua, West New Guinea Council and OPM international
campaigns for Papua. In addition, the writer assumes that the shifting was strongly
influenced by the involvement of intellectuals or academicians, religious leaders
4 Jacobs, Steven. "Rebel Music from Trenchtown to Oaktown: The Lyrics of Bob Marley and Tupac Shakur asCounter-hegemonic Culture," post graduate thesis, University of Florida, 2009, p. 14.
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and musicians who tend to favor a non-violence resistance. As what is intended by
this study, the writer will focus on the involvement of musicians in the struggles
against power domination through their music and songs.
In an effort to break with the colonial past or dealing with brutal
oppressive system music and song seem to be one of promising solutions. As what
is suggested by Metz on "memoria passionis” that the social memory of the
hardship flows through the mouths of the people. It is in this sense that the writer
assumes music and song can function as the language to voice it. Jamaica and
Papua culture are basically developed through oral tradition. The history is
preserved through folklores, folksongs, music and dance. In Jamaica these
traditions were preserved in many ways by the slaves.5 While in Papua they have
long been rooted deep in people's culture.6 Music and language are closely
affiliated possess considerable historical and geo-cultural depth.They resemble
myth, religious rituals, and facilitate movements or dance. They can serve as a
window into people’s history and perceived realities.7 As the global music grew,
in seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the links between music and rhetoric were
frequently acknowledged.8 In popular music scene, the emphasis is on music as
culture and it function as the bearer of meanings.9 Therefore, language plays an
important role. Basically music and words coexist through song. Song is word
oriented where the effort is to apply verbal principles to music where words are
5 Worth, David Steven. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, p. 6.6 Aditjondro, George Junus. Cahaya Bintang Kejora, pp. 115-120.7 Skopal, Edward, Jr. Hear Them Crying (Rastafari and Framing Processes in Reggae Music), p. 6.8 Agawu, Kofi. Music as Discourse: Semiotic Adventures in Romantic Music. (New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 2009), p. 15.9 Johnson, Bruce and Cloonan, Martin. Dark Side of the Tune: Popular Music and Violence. (USA: AshgatePublishing Limited, 2009), p. 13.
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carefully chosen to accompany music.10 Most people define the meaning of a
song based on its lyrics. In the light of music as a rhetoric and discourse, it can be
conceptualized that music is a vehicle that carries words, making them memorable
through an appealing tune.11
In dealing with power domination or hegemony, music and song can have
political significance regarding their ability to influence people’s identity as well
as motivation and capacity to act. They provide a template for ethical social action
to those who truly listen to the music.12 Despite the fact that there is no empirical
evidence that lyrics of a song affect or reflect listeners' beliefs and values, yet they
can act as an avenue of expression that connect with and articulate a listener's own
feelings.13 Jamaica independent in 1962 was coincidently with the advent of
Jamaican distinctive popular musics (Ska, Rocksteady, and Reggae) which also
helped to promote Rastafarianism movement. The combination of popular music,
politics and social movements had become the force in shaping a collective
national consciousness.14 Through the birth of popular music and Rastafarianism,
they manifest as a language of protest and become the loudest voice against
oppressive system. While in Papua, the political scandals in 1963 and 1969 had
led to a long time disputes that had fostered the Papuan sentiment and nationalism.
The emerge of popular music and song had given the people means of voicing
their concern and criticism. In relation to Metz’ theory of memory passionis,
10 Agawu, Kofi. Music as Discourse: Semiotic Adventures in Romantic Music, p. 17.11 Jacobs, Steven. "Rebel Music from Trenchtown to Oaktown: The Lyrics of Bob Marley and Tupac Shakuras Counter-hegemonic Culture," p. 15.12 Skopal, Edward, Jr. Hear Them Crying (Rastafari and Framing Processes in Reggae Music), pp. 4&5.13 Jacobs, Steven. "Rebel Music from Trenchtown to Oaktown: The Lyrics of Bob Marley and Tupac Shakuras Counter-hegemonic Culture," p. 15.14 Freeland, Gregory. "Music and the Rise of Caribbean Nationalism: The Jamaican Case," a paper toDepartment of Political Science, California Lutheran University, p. 3. Web. May 2nd. 2014.<http://culturaldiplomacy.org/Music-and-the-Rise-of-Caribbean-Nationalism-Gregory-Freeland.pdf%e2%80%8e>.
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music and song to Papuans are the voice and the language of long term memory
of the hardships. These forms of artistic resistance provide the opportunity for
discourse about alternative political realities, as well as to give emotive
articulation to them, and the importance of such expression cannot be
overstated.15
3. Bob Marley and The Black Black Brothers’ Songs as the Language ofResistance
Resistance is a broad and general concept, therefore it needs to be
narrowed down to avoid misconception in contemporary theories of resistance.
This can facilitate an understanding of the specific forms of resistance found in
Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' actions, music, and specifically lyrics. Based
on Oxford English Dictionary resistance is defined as "the act, on the part of
persons, of resisting, opposing, or withstanding." It is said that from 1417 to 1874,
usage of the term begins with resistance to "enemies" and "Rights of Sovereignty"
and later shifts to "national resistance." The emphasis of the term has moved from
individual acts to collective processes, and so has the meaning. It is then defined
as "organized covert opposition to an occupying or ruling power." Since then, the
definitions are increasingly associated with political struggle and against political
institutions.16 Despites of this contemporary definition more upcoming problems
keep coming. Therefore one needs to position him/herself to a certain position to
see this phenomenon.
One can understand these concerns more through the post-colonial lense.
15 Jacobs, Steven. "Rebel Music from Trenchtown to Oaktown: The Lyrics of Bob Marley and Tupac Shakuras Counter-hegemonic Culture," p. 16.16 Nordine, Manisha. Jammin' with Resistant Music and Popular Culture in Bob Marley's "Jah-Public, p. 17.
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Here resistance action belongs to the context of struggles for independence from
colonial and imperial governmental, in addition to ideological and cultural
forces.17 To this we can add more specific forms of resistance ranging from
struggles for human rights to civil rights, labor rights and equal gender rights,
environmental sustainability and anti-war movements. It is through this point of
view that the writer sees Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' works.
As what has been explained previously that in the contemporary use,
resistance seems quite likely to be associated with politic. This general nuance of
political resistance can be narrowed down to three major modes of inquiry:
cultural resistance, structural resistance, and ideological resistance.18 Cultural
resistance is distinguished by a sense of action, movement, creation and
demonstrative challenge that proactively seeks alternative forms of being, living,
and critiquing. In this particular study, cultural resistance includes manipulation of
language and aesthetic. Structural resistance is distinguished by the challenge to
dominant and institutionalized networks of political and media processes. It
highlights alternative forms of political mobilization and information distribution
that is not readily recognized in formal structures. In this particular study it points
to how Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' music and songs are disseminated
and used as a tool of socio-political mobilization and information distribution.
Ideological resistance is defined as challenge to a system of beliefs and assertion
derived from colonial and neo-colonial constructs that organize social existence. It
is a direct challenge to the colonial discourse that functions as an instrument of
power articulated through assumptions and characteristics of modern society. The
17 Nordine, Manisha. Jammin' with Resistant Music and Popular Culture in Bob Marley's "Jah-Public, p. 18.18 Ibid, p. 20.
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clear example in this study is Bob Marley's message of unity, love and resistance
as opposed to colonial discourses that uphold racial, and national divisions, street
violence, and oppression, and Black Brothers' message of gender and labor
equality as opposed to common discourses that uphold labor and gender
discrimination and inequality to the subordinate groups by the government.
This particular section elaborates the function of language both verbal and
aesthetic as a form of cultural resistance. It explores the elements constructing an
aesthetic appeal that Bob Marley and The Black Brothers use in their lyrics. The
realm of their language of resistance can be understood in the context of Jamaican
and Papuan social and political history.
Based on the history of the oppressed or subordinate groups, the use of
artistic resistance always seems to be the option. The oppressed or subordinate
groups tend to use language, dance, and music to mock those in power, express
rage, and produce fantasies of subversion. "Dances, languages, and music provide
communal bases of knowledge about social conditions, communal interpretations
of them, and quite often serve as the cultural glue that fosters communal
resistance."19 These forms of artistic resistance to the writer's consideration can
be viewed to be filled with hidden transcript as what is suggested by James Scott.
The voice of the oppressed or subordinate groups tends to penetrate the public
sphere within the public transcript through artistic and cultural production such as
music, jokes, rumors, and folklores. In avoiding frontal confrontation with the
ruling power the oppressed or subordinate groups manifold strategies to disguise
their resistance into the public transcript where it is accepted to be something
19 Jacobs, Steven. "Rebel Music from Trenchtown to Oaktown: The Lyrics of Bob Marley and Tupac Shakuras Counter-hegemonic Culture," p. 16.
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which is not harmful. This ideological resistance is disguised, muted, and veiled
for safety's sake. 20 Their vulnerability has caused them to avoid direct
confrontation. This gives them a typical reputation to be cunning and deceptive in
disguising their criticism and protest.21
When associated with social and political phenomenon, the music and
song are usually accompanied by socially, politically, and religiously critical lyrics
and function as a form of protest or resistance music. Emerging from racially,
economically, culturally, and politically marginalized society, the writer assumes
that Bob Marley and The Black Brothers as popular music artists would likely to
use their song lyrics to facilitate consciousness of resistance among the members
of their respective social groups. However, under social and especially political
conditions the frontal attacks on powerful groups can be strategically unwise or
even unsafe. These conditions affect the method Bob Marley and The Black
Brothers would use in resisting the power domination.
This research conceptualizes the music and songs of Bob Marley and The
Black Brothers to be contained with hidden transcript that manifested through
public sphere as a form of counter-power domination alternative and analyzes the
selective lyrics of each artist as a critique of each artist's respective social and
political order. The writer takes hidden and public transcript as the basic theory
and emphasizes song lyrics to allow the artist's voice to speak as their songs are
examined for critical messages of their social and political contexts during the
time when their music emerged.
Hidden transcript is manifested within public sphere for safety's sake
20 Scott, J.C. Domination and the Arts of Resistance, p. 137.21 Ibid, p. 136.
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through rumor, gossip, disguises, linguistic tricks, metaphors, euphemisms,
folktales, ritual gestures, and anonymity.22 It is through them that the writer
assumes song lyrics experience its affinity to literary realm.
The music and songs of Bob Marley and The Black Brothers were selected
as the focus in this study because of the abounding similarities and engagement
between the social and political contexts. Both of them emerged from Black
society who racially, economically, culturally and politically marginalized. The
parallel link between the two does exist in the acceptance of their context to be
analogous. Each of them explicitly and implicitly speaks against the hegemonic
and oppressive colonial power domination. Despite it happened apart in different
countries, both of them represent the social and political conflict in around the
same periods of time 1960's to 1970's. It was also the time of their musical career.
They represent Black power movement which employs popular music as a form
of social and political critique.
4. The Analysis of Hidden Transcript in Bob Marley and The Black Brothers'Songs
The hidden transcripts within Bob Marley and The Black Brothers’ songs
are revealed through the characteristics that they possess and social and political
context from which the music emerged. As what have been identified, basically
Bob Marley and The Black Brothers songs containing elements of hidden
transcript: metaphor, anonymity, euphemism, and linguistic tricks. Since these
elements have intention of not a straightforward expression, it requires an in-depth
22 Scott, J.C. Domination and the Arts of Resistance, p. 137.
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analysis. We must admit that not all interpretation could match as what is intended
by the writer or artist. However, by seeing the social and political background and
using the concept of cognitive poetics which emphasize critical reading, the writer
would try to interpret Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' song lyrics based on
the nuance of hidden transcript.
4.1. The First Element of Hidden Transcript: Metaphor
As what has been explained in the previous chapter, Bob Marley and The
Black Brothers songs are strongly embedded with metaphorical expressions. They
are a way to show the artistical and literary richness in their works. The words are
carefully chosen to mingle with the tunes and tones of the music. In relation to the
context of hegemonic power domination, metaphor can function as a method or a
way of resistance. Word’s diction in this occasion is used to suspend a protest or
criticism through metaphorical expression which contains an image, central theme,
or story line that is associated with socio-political entity, event, or issue being
described. The language of a song usually occurs in the second semiotical order
where it tends to have multiple meanings. In order to understand it we need to see
the context and do a close analysis to its text.
Both Bob Marley and The Black Brothers provide us with the assertions of
metaphorical expressions which characterized or given a nuance of lived
experience in their respective marginalized social context. Their common explicit
songs of protest and resistance are generally about suffering and hardship which is
manifested in the issue of poverty. Other sufferings such as violence, racism, and
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imprisonment are explicitly expressed in Bob Marley's songs, while in The Black
Brothers' songs not all of them are discussed and explicitly described, they tend to
be implicit and hidden. This might be due to the social and political condition in
Indonesia which strictly not allowed them to do so.
Generally both artists described that their life is filled with sufferings.
Such sufferings caused them to reflect on their lived experience individually and
communally within their respective marginalized society. Depiction of this
general suffering can be seen in Bob Marley's "So Much Troubles In The World":
"We the street people talkin'/ Yeah, we the people strugglin'/...so muchtrouble in the world..."
Here Bob Marley asserts himself as part of the people who suffer by using
person plural pronoun "we." In describing the suffering he experiences, he is not
just talking for himself but rather for his community.
The struggling in the street depicts the life of the poor who are homeless.
This is a typical urban life of the poor or the city life of the underprivileged people.
The street is where the struggle is tough, only the fittest of the fittest shall survive
as he would sing it in "Could You Be Loved." The street also specifically refers to
Trench Town ghettos, where Bob Marley grew up. The shanty town is notorious
for its reputation as a home to the poor and the criminals. Compare this lyric to
the first verse in The Black Brothers' "Untukmu Pramuria" (To you, O prostitute):
"Hidupku dalam dunia ini, penuh dengan derita" [My life in this world, isfull of suffering]
The song opens with a general statement of suffering before entering into a
more specific one. The line "full of suffering" gives a nuance of many kinds of
sufferings which can mean anything. One of them would be the social rejection
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and alienation because of his relationship to his concubine as specifically depicted
in this song. The singer portrays himself as being unlucky and full of miseries
throughout his life. The use of first person singular "aku" (me) is to characterize
personal experience of suffering. Yet, whereas Bob Marley expresses ghetto life
suffering and portrays himself as a part of the community, The Black Brothers
express the suffering in a more personal and alienated way. This is the key point
that manifests throughout the lyrical analysis. Furthermore, both Bob Marley and
The Black Brothers depict specific manifestations of suffering in their lyrics.
There are several kinds of sufferings that they portray namely the sufferings
because of poverty, racism, violence, and imprisoned life.
4.1.1. Metaphoric Depiction of Poverty in Bob Marley's and The BlackBrothers' Songs
One common similarity between Bob Marley and The Black Brothers is
their concern about poverty. Bob Marley and The Black Brothers give a clear
depiction of poverty in their respective society. They portray it as a form and
obvious sign of suffering and as the consequence of their marginalization. There
are examples of illustrative lines in Bob Marley's songs which address this
specific matter, among others are: "Them Belly Full (But We Hugry)," "Talkin
Blues," and "One Drop":
"Them belly full, but we hungry/ A hungry mob is an angry mob/ A raina-fall, but the dutty tough/ A pot a-cook, but d' food no 'nough" (ThemBelly Full)
"Cold ground was my bad last night/ And rock was my pillow too" (Talkin'Blues)
"They made their world so hard/ Every day we got to keep on fighting/
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They made their world so hard/ Every day the people are dying/ Fromhunger and starvation/ Lamentation" (One Drop)
They are a form of sarcasm to those in power using a rich metaphorical
expression. Here Bob Marley diagnoses the problems by identifying the suffering
of the people. The first song contains a very typical Jamaican proverb. It is a
communal qualifier since the metaphors rely heavily on culturally-based social
knowledge. Bob Marley who grew up in the country side of St. Ann and later in
Trench Town was very much exposed to this type of local wisdom. "Them belly
full but we hungry" is a sharp observation of the ghetto. Bob Marley is criticizing
the promise of Michael Manley's campaign of "better must come." It is clear to
Bob Marley that better has not come yet. What is clearer is that better has come
only for some.23 While the elitist rich live in the abundance, the poor must go to
bed with empty bellies.This circumstance sparks anger and tension that make the
hungry man becomes an angry mob, "a hungry man is an angry mob."
Unfortunately, despite of this condition, the government remains
unresponsive and turns a blind eye upon them. It is clearly depicted in "a rain
a-fall but the dutty tuff." Despite of the rain that is falling, the ground remains
hard and unresponsive.24 Here Bob Marley relies on farming metaphor, a thing
that he used to do in St.Ann before he moved to Kingston. "A pot a-cook, but
d'food no 'nough" portrays the image of a pot on the stove to cook meal but
unfortunately it is insufficient to feed the multitude. It shows a communal pot of
the ghetto where the poor usually cook meal outside in the yard and share it
together, as what Bob Marley also described in "No Woman No Cry," "I
remember when we used to sit/In the government yard in Trenchtown/And then
23 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 122.24 Ibid, p. 125.
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Georgie would make the fire lights/logwood burnin' through the nights/Then we
would cook cornmeal porridge/Of which I'll share with you."
After fully recognizing the condition of the people, Bob Marley then
suggests solution and calls for action. It can be seen in the next lines "We're gonna
dance to Jah music, dance.../Forget your troubles and dance/Forget your weakness
and dance /We're gonna chuck to Jah music, we're chuckin.'" At a glance this
solution and action would be absurd and nonsense. People think it is a call to
escape from the realities of life and become consumed by false securities of
partying and dancing.25 In fact, it appears to rest on the fundamental contradiction.
It only can be comprehended when we understand the point of the dance in the
context of communal acts of worship. Bob Marley grew up in rural Jamaica where
he would be exposed to the value of the church and the communal act of worship.
Other than that, there were also the cult groups such as Kumina and Pocomania
that held ceremonies of worship, healing, and community affirmation in prayer
circles, dance circles, and song circles.26 Through this cultural point of view, we
can clearly see the dance that Bob Marley would have meant. Therefore, the call
to dance here is the call to be connected with a spiritual center.
Dance here can be seen as an act of transformation in the movement
towards healing. It is in the light of reading the dance in this way that we can see
the revolutionary quality of the song. The word "chuck" means to throw, to push,
or to walk or dance in a posture of defiance and aggression.27 In understanding
the revolutionary vision of Bob Marley it would be seen as an action to chuck
against oppressive system that cause all the problems in Jamaica. Here Bob
25 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 122.26 Ibid, p. 123.27 Ibid, p. 127.
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Marley's call for the people to chuck to the music is in fact an aggression of
resistance to the oppression.
"The making of songs about poor people, the writing of the story of thepeople of Trench Town into history and time, was an act of defiance andresistance."28
Another problem for the poor besides the lack of food is the shelter.
"Talkin' blues" specifically talks about Bob Marley's rebellion sense and militancy.
It opens with a clear statement of Bob Marley's personal experience, "Cold ground
was my bad last night/and rock was my pillow too." Despite, it is a lore of Bob
Marley's experience in Nine Miles, St. Ann where he used to lay outside with his
head on rock, it can also be a figurative expression of the hardship in Trench
town.29 Trench town is an over-populated town in Kingston where government
built public housings for the poor. Some cannot afford to rent a house that they
have to share shelter. Bob Marley also was once given a room behind Coxone
Dodd's studio, as he had no place to stay. This typical experience of sharing
shelter also appear in his love song "Is This Love," "We'll share the shelter of my
single bed'/We'll share the same room/For Jah provide the bread."
The long life experienced of hardship has shaped Bob Marley's militancy
as he would sing it in the next lines "I've been down on the rock so long/I seem to
wear a permanent screw." Rock is a hard place but specifically it is a reference for
Jamaica. Therefore, basically the rock represents the hardship of living in Jamaica,
where one must be tough enough to survive as Bob Marley would sing in "Could
You Be Loved," "Only the fittest of the fittest shall survive." While "Screw face"
is a mimic of anger, an expression of an angry person. Therefore "the permanent
28 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 128.29 Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Bob Marley, p. 55.
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screw" means the condition of being a sufferer and being angry at the world. It is
a mask of a sufferer who is constantly hurt by society. 30 Much of the
metaphorical expression in this song can be considered to happen in the level of
contextual and communal qualifiers since they refer to the context of the political
discourse or the situation in Jamaica.
"Talkin' Blues" moves from personal experience into the realm of larger
political arena by asserting explosive action. However, Bob Marley would use a
more vulnerable confession of blues lamentation to sooth the anger and explosive
militant voice. It is not a blues song, but a song that employs the blues.
Revolutionary instinct is covered through blues lamentation. So basically "Talkin'
Blues" means that Bob Marley is talking to them who threating him when he
writes songs about revolution and that what he is doing is only "talkin' blues"
which harmless.31
"One Drop" is an example of Bob Marley's wit and creativity. It is a song
about Bob Marley's reggae sound characteristic which emphasize one drop
drumming style. Yet, Bob Marley then infused street connotation of violence
which emphasize the spirit of resistance. Bob Marley who grew up in the street
would infuse much of the street slang and spirit into his songs. A one-drop person
is a person who is able to dispose an enemy with a single blow.32 Layer of
meanings is one characteristic in Bob Marley's songs. Here he is talking about his
music style, praise song to Jah, and revolution. The specific issue dealing with the
condition of poverty comes in the lines "They made the world so hard/Everyday
the people are dying/From hunger and starvation/Lamentation."
30 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 148.31 Ibid, p. 150.32 Ibid, p. 272.
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Hunger, starvation and lamentation are the starking characteristics that the
poor experienced. Bob Marley diagnoses the problems and lays the responsibility
on the hands of "them." And then he proposes solution and calls to action. Instead
of lamenting and falling into despair in the face of the hardships outline, Bob
Marley asks the people to look to the path of prophesy for redemption, "but read it
in revelation/You'll find your redemption." Music celebration becomes a
championing of the teachings of Rastafarianism. To get the message we need to
stop and listen to it, feel it and then find something of its transformative power,
"Feel it in a one drop/...we're making the one stop/...now feel this drumbeat/as it
beats within/playin' a riddim/resisting against ism and skism."
The pleasure of music is not the only aim, but a way to struggle and a way
to give a single blow to "them" who cause the problems. "Ism" here refers to
wickedness, cruelty, trickery, and acts of unfairness. The "skism" refers to the
divisions by the Babylon system, a Biblical nuance name which is used to refer to
Western society, the symbol of oppression.33 Both of them are Rastafarian terms.
In this particular song the metaphorical process happen in the two level
of metaphoric process: contextual and communal. Bob Marley employs contextual
term such as "one drop," and specific Rastafarian terms.
The Black Brothers' songs which specifically address the issue of poverty
are "Hari Kiamat" (The End of The Day) and "Lonceng Kematian" (Death
Albatross):
"Di tepi jalan/si miskin menjerit/hidup meminta dan menerima/yang kayatertawa/berpesta pora/hidup menumpang di kecurangan/sadarlahkau/cara hidupmu/yang hanya menelan korban yang lain/bintang jatuhhari kiamat/pengadilan yang penghabisan" - "Hari Kiamat"
33 Worth, David Steven. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, p. 29.
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[All along the street/all people suffering/and beg for every single thingthey need/Rich man's laughing/sucking the blood of the sufferers/hechoose to live a life of no repay/it's time for you to realize/they way youlive your life/which making people suffer everyday/cause stars will fallingdown/there's no way you can run/for the people they will be redeemedagain- The End Of The Day].
"Hey kau yang munafik/kapan akhir sandiwaramu/saling berlombamengjar kekayaan/tak kau bawa mati nanti/...kasihani mereka/hidupnyamelarat/suatu waktu kau kan jatuh/neraka tempatmu"- "LoncengKematian"
[Hey you the hypocrites/please end your silly game/racing on the ratrace/it won't be worth in your doom/...be mercy upon them/living a hardlife/one day for sure you shall fall down/hell will be your last doom -Death Albatross].
The metaphorical process in these two songs happen in the level of
archetypal and communal qualifier because although they do not employ too
much dense metaphorical expression, some parts of the song are directly related to
communal or social knowledge. At first glance they use terms which are common,
general and easy to be understood by all people. In "Hari Kiamat" (The End Of
The Day) The Black Brothers begin by portraying the social gap between the poor
and the rich. The poor are begging for the mercy from the rich who live a
hedonistic life. The beggars strolling with emptied bellies all along the street
while the rich men were laughing and partying. There is no doubt that this is the
clear picture of Jakarta, and The Black Brothers would have witnessed it
themselves. Boasting itself as the megapolitan city of Indonesia, Jakarta becomes
the main attraction for all kind of people. The big city life is the place of hardships
with all kinds of sufferings.
The typical individualistic life style of big city is likened to a concrete
jungle where only the fittest of the fittest shall survive. Seeing such condition, The
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Black Brothers call on to action to evoke people's basic humanity to care for
others, "Sadarlah kau/cara hidupmu" (It's time for you to realize/the way you live
you life). They present a warning that unless such individualistic behaviour is
changed, one is going to suffer the consequences in the judgement day.
Meanwhile, the phrase"bintang jatuh" (the falling stars) can have two
possible meanings. First it prophesies that your wealthiness will not last forever
and that one day you will end up with nothing. Secondly it has a spiritual nuance
of Armageddon or the end of the day which is an absolute end to universe where
everything will be destroyed to ash. The final judgment is also the prophesy where
people will be judged based on their deeds in their life time.
"Lonceng Kematian" (Death Albatross) can be said to be the sequel of
"Hari Kiamat" (The End Of The Day). It is a condemnation to the rich who refuse
to do good for the poor. However, the metaphoric process in this song happen in
the level of communal qualifier since it uses expression which is culturally bound.
It can be seen that "Lonceng Kematian" (Death Albatross) is based on the
Christian values. The Black Brothers who mostly grew up in Christian tradition
might use it as their song title since it suggests a sense of dread and fear. For
Christians the church bell is a call for congregation especially on Sunday.
However, it also can be used as a sign or to send a message that someone has just
passed away. It is a common Christian tradition in Papua to ring the church bell to
announce the death of a person. They will ring the church bell a certain number of
times according to the age of the departed. So basically the song is a
condemnation towards the wicked people and serves as a warning for those who
live a greedy life.
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4.1.2. Metaphoric Depiction of Racism in Bob Marley and The BlackBrothers' Songs
Bob Marley and The Black Brothers relate their suffering to their race. The
marginalization is not due to economic differences but racial differences as well.
Their lyrics explicitly and implicitly relate to the issue of race in the context of a
white and Asian dominated society. Bob Marley address the issue in "Burnin' and
Lootin'," "Duppy Conqueror," "Natty Dread," "War," "Zimbabwe," "Survival,"
"Africa Unite," and "Ride Natty Ride."
"Give the food and let me grow/ Let the Roots Man take a blow" (Burnin'and Lootin')
"I'm a duppy conqueror" (Duppy Conqueror)
"Dread, Natty Dread now/ Dreadlock Congo Bongo I/ Natty Dreadlock ina Babylon" (Natty Dread)
Until the philosophy which hold one race superior/and another isinferior/is finally and permanently/discredited/and abandoned/ everywhereis war.../until the color of a man's skin/is no more significant/than the colorof his eyes/me say war" (War)
Most of the metaphors in these songs are thickly charged with Jamaican
expression. In this way the metaphoric process happen in the level of contextual
and communal qualifier where the understanding is bound to a particular audience
at a particular time as well as relying on culturally-based social knowledge. Some
terms and expression would be out of context for a non-Jamaican audience.The
word "roots man" in Jamaica specifically relate to a Rasta or a black person.
Expressions like "how many rivers to cross/before we can talk to the boss" is
taken from the story of negro spirituals that embraced the crossing of rivers as a
symbol of freedom.34 It also has a sense of Biblical nuance where it borrows the
34 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 85.
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image from the story of the Israeli crossing the red sea.
Duppy is a Jamaican patois meaning a ghost. In this context it is used to
address white colonial power. The whites with their fair complexion are likened to
the pale look of ghost. Duppy was always depicted as a white-faced monstrosity.35
Whereas "Natty Dread" is the claiming of Black and Rastafarian cultural history
despite of the Whites captivity.36 Natty dread is specifically refers to the matted
hairstyle of most Rastas which also relate to the Black. "Natty dread in-a
Babylon/... Natty is twenty one thousand miles away from home" means that the
Black has been stolen away from Africa to live under the White oppressive system.
"Babylon" is the symbolic description of everything that has conspired to bring
about the downfall of the African.37
In all of those songs Bob Marley points out that there are several
causes of racism namely the system of slavery, the system of colonialism, the post
colonialist and neo-colonialist policies of Europe. All these system and
philosophy have destroyed the Black that Bob Marley tried to make the people
realize and stand up to fight to reach a triumphant victory. His message was
especially clear in "War." That until a man is judged by the color of his skin and
not by his deed the world will be in a war.
The Black Brothers sing about the nuance of racism is implicitly depicted
in "Dewi Kribo" (Curly Goddess).
"Dewi kribo danau Sentani/Hitam manis menawan hati" - "Dewi Kribo"
[Curly princes of Sentani Lake/Black and sweet appealing my heart -Curly Goddess].
35 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 92.36 Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Bob Marley, p. 54.37 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 141.
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At a glance the song does not reflect anything about racism but if we take
a closer look, it is charged with deep concerns on the issue. By seeing it through
the lense of poetic analysis the metaphoric process can happen in contextual level
where the specific terms used are based on the social knowledge bound to a
particular audience at a particular time. It also can happen in the level of private
qualifier where the context affects the meaning assigned by a listener through
personal or subjective associations. The interpretation is unique to a particular
listener.
"Dewi Kribo" (Curly Goddess) gives a sense of pride upon an identity as a
black person. Dewi which means goddess is often associated to beauty and power.
Commonly a physical beauty is depicted in literature, advertisement, and market
as a lady with long blond hair and a light complexion. It is in this sense that the
image of “Dewi Kribo”(Curly Goddess) appears to be the opposite, beauty is
signified by a lady with curly hair and a dark complexion. It is a sort of counter
hegemonic paradigm that The Black Brothers wanted to show. The message of the
song is that "black is beautiful" as the famous slogan of the Black Power
movements of the 1960s would suggest. The tone of the song is happy and
positive. Being black does not mean Papuans are inferior, instead they must be
proud and that they are also forward despite of so many prejudices and negativity.
4.1.3. Metaphoric Depiction of Violence in Bob Marley and The BlackBrothers' Songs
Bob Marley clearly addresses the issue of violence in some of his songs.
Among others are "Slave Drivers," "I shot the sheriff," "Burnin' and Lootin',"
"Johnny Was," and "Ambush In The Night." They depict the violence in the
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community as a consequence of the way society is structured and how it
influences everyday life.
"Everytime I hear the crack of a whip/my blood runs cold/I remember onthe slave ship/How they brutalized the very soul" (Slave Driver)
"I shot the Sheriff/But I swear it was a self-defence" (I Shot The Sheriff)
"This morning I woke up in a curfew/O God I was a prisoner too/Couldnot recognize the faces standing over me/They were all dressed inuniforms of brutality" (Burnin' and Lootin')
"Woman hold her head and cry/'Cause her son has been shot down in thestreet and died/From astray bullet" (Johnny Was)
"Ambush in the night/All guns aiming at me/Ambush in the night/Theyopened fore on me now/Ambush in the night/Protected by His Majesty"(Ambush In The Night)
The metaphoric expression used in those songs posses a sense of Jamaican
context therefore they tend to be based on contextual and communal qualifier. In
"Slave Drivers" Bob Marley opens the first verse with "The crack of a whip"
which provokes a historical monologue about slavery. Recalling the brutalized
ancestors in the past has caused his blood runs cold in anger that could possibly
lead to explosives respond. However in this song Bob Marley does not try to
provoke Jamaicans to do violence but instead to educate them about contemporary
oppression. Here Bob Marley tells the people that they are still in captivity. The
new forms of slavery are poverty, illiteracy, and economic juggernaut working to
exploit the poor.38 These new forms of slavery have long been entrapped people's
mentality. Therefore they have to realize and stand up to make a change.
While another song, "I Shot The Sheriff" is a typical cowboy movie story.
Here Bob Marley portrays a figurative battle between a Sheriff and a person who
38 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 65.
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shot the Sheriff. Sheriff represents the system while the person who shot the
Sheriff stands for ordinary people. Generally the song talks about the prosecution
upon the people by the unjust system. The shooting was a self defense. The song
is a warning of a possible explosion as it is shown in lines "Every day a bucket
a-go a-well/One day the bottom will drop out." It is a Jamaican expression which
means "every time you mess up with me, one day you are going to get it." Bob
Marley admitted that he actually wanted to sing "I shot the police," but he could
not because he said the government would not allow him to do that. Therefore in
avoiding direct conflicts with the authorities he makes a parable.39 The act of
rebellion is a stance against injustice.
"Burnin' and Lootin'" is based on Bob Marley's personal experience living
in the ghetto. The police came with guns to raid the area. Everyone living in
Trench Town was a fair game for their raids.40 The vivid description lies in line
"they were all dressed in uniform of brutality." In this single line Bob Marley
makes it clear that they are policemen. Their uniform is the symbol of brutality. In
this act of dreadful violation Bob Marley is asking "how many rivers do we have
to cross?" The crossing of rivers is a symbol of freedom. So basically Bob Marley
is wondering when all of this brutality will come to an end.
"Johnny Was" is a narrative song about a tragedy of the death of someone
who is innocent. He is the victim of the situation. Here Bob Marley gives a picture
to humanize those who were killed each day on the streets of Kingston.41 This is
a cynicism and irony because it is a typical story by the police when they shot
someone for no apparent reason. The song is a form of a condemnation upon the
39 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 80.40 Ibid, p. 84.41 Ibid, p. 163.
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cold-blooded killing of the innocent. Yet in the end Bob Marley still have hope
that despite of this tragedy Jah will never forget them.
"Ambush In The Night" is based on a personal story of Bob Marley. On
December 3rd, 1976 Bob Marley was shot by gunmen who broke into his house at
Hope Road. No one was killed but this was a serious threat. There were some
possible reasons, but it might because of political tension before the 1976 general
election. Here Bob Marley depicts a clear picture of envision from all direction
when he sings "all guns aiming at me now." However his faith of Jah guidance
made him survived the attempt. He claimed that he was being protected by "His
Majesty."
While Bob Marley clearly tell stories and condemn the violence, it seems
quite likely that The Black Brothers purposefully obliterate or hide the issue
because the possible cause could be the sensitivity of the issue in Indonesia during
the New Order regime of Soeharto. The censorship was so strict that no popular
artist nor band would discuss it openly. However, according to the writer there
seems to be one song which implicitly deals with the issue. It is The Black
Brothers' well known "Huembelo." Based on a short interview with the singer
who sang the song himself, the writer comes up with his own interpretation.
According to the private qualifier of metaphorical process, the interpretation can
be unique to a particular listener beside its communal aspect which is culturally
bounded.
"Huembello" is a folk song of Kalabra tribes in Sorong, Papua. The song is
wildly sang and performed in punk rock style by The Black Brothers. It has a
strong sense of mystic and mystery. The power of the song is not in the meaning
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of its lyric but the effects that it causes. Just like mantra, the lyrics are orally
spoken without a clear script. Even until today no one can ever sing the song
better the original singer, Abdullah Yunus.
According to him the song talks about a howling dog like a wolf.
Generally and specifically in Papua context, the howling of a dog is a sign that
bad and restless spirits are ready to haunt and harm the living.42 In Papua this evil
spirit is known as "suanggi." Suanggi in a simple translation is a ghost, just like
"duppy" in Jamaica. A suanggi can be a living person who master the dark crafts
and tend to be viciously impetuous and quite devious. Thus in the implied sense
the suanggi is almost always the ghost of the oppressive and brutal authority.
Somehow, in a contemporary usage suanggi also specifically refers to the
policemen or military force who dressed in uniform of brutality just like what is
depicted in Bob Marley's "Burnin' and Lootin'."
Therefore "huembello" is a crying and hysteric panic that chaos is ready or
in the progress of happening. Police and military raid was a common scene in
Papua during 1960s to 1980s.43 The infiltration of OPM freedom fighters would
lead to numbers of innocent people missing, jailed, tortured and killed just like
what is depicted by Bob Marley in "Johnny Was." This political unrest situation
has caused thousands of refugees across the boarder of RI and PNG.44 They seek
for an asylum like The Black Brothers themself in 1979.
42 Nasution, Ikhwanuddin. "Sistem dan Kode Semiotika Dalam Sastra:Suatu proses komunikasi," LOGAT:Jurnal Ilmiah Bahasa dan Sastra, Universitas Sumatra Utara, Vol IV No 2 (2008), p. 111. Web. July 2. 2014.<http://repository.usu.ac.id/bitstream/123456789/16736/1/log-okt2008-4%20(1).pdf>.43 Osborne, Robin. Kibaran Sampari: Gerakan Pembebasan OPM, dan Perang Rahasia di Papua Barat, p.310.44 Glazebrook, Diana. "Permissive Residents" (West Papuan Refugees Living in Papua New Guinea), p. 120.
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4.1.4. Metaphoric Depiction of Prison in Bob Marley's and The BlackBrothers' Songs
Bob Marley speaks of prison in a contemporary usage which emphasize
more on the mental captivity through hegemonic ideology than a mere physical
one. This metaphoric prison can be seen in songs like "Concrete Jungle," and
"Redemption Song."
"No chains around my feet but I'm not free/I know I'm bounded incaptivity" (Concrete Jungle)
"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery/None but ourselves can freeour minds" (Redemption Song)
The lyrics in these songs are thick with metaphor and personification. They are
deeply poetic. The metaphoric expressions are based on communal sense which is
culturally bound and relied heavily on social knowledge. In "Concrete Jungle"
Bob Marley employs nature image of jungle to a physical place called the
ghetto.45 This concrete jungle of Trench Town in Jamaica is a physical place that
entrapped the Blacks who have been stolen from Africa, as Bob Marley would
sing it in "Natty Dread," "Natty is twenty thousand miles away from home."
Trench Town has been a place of hard living, poverty, illiteracy, and oppression.
All of these things entrap the people. Bob Marley uses language of slavery when
he sings "No chains around my feet but I'm not free." The actual physical slavery
has been discarded over a century before, yet there seems to be a larger
enslavement. No chains but no freedom; no slavery but no happiness. The
reflection of Trench Town makes Bob Marley considers the source of captivity is
poverty, illiteracy, and economic juggernaut of working to exploit the poor. The
45 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 47.
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lament of the ghetto is not a physical chain anymore.
In “Redemption Song” Bob Marley shows that there is a shift from
physical imprisonment imposed by other to mental imprisonment imposed by our
own selves. Although physical slavery has been abolished in Jamaica, the people
are still limited due to the internalization and structuralized of a colonized and
enslaved mentality of inferiority.
Although Papua has never been undergone physical enslavement like
Jamaica, but it seems quite likely that its people are mentally enslaved just like
what Bob Marley depicts in "Redemption Song." The long term negative
stereotype and stigmatization has penetrated the people's mentality to feel inferior
among their fellow Indonesian brothers and sisters. Therefore despite there is no
specific song of The Black Brothers addressing the issue, their existence in
Popular music scene in Indonesia was an effort to encounter this inferior mentality.
Standing on the behalf of Papuans, The Black Brothers want to show that they are
also forward in this generation. And that they also can boast a triumphant victory
on whatever they posses. The specific song which talks about triumphant victory
is "Persipura," the local football team of Jayapura which is well known in
Indonesia.
“Persipura” is not just a song about winning a game over an opponent in
the field, but more than that it contains spirit of triumphant not only as a sport
team but also as a human being in daily life. For most Papuans, sport culture
seems to be one of the ways besides music and dance culture to deal with the
hardship of their life. In Papua almost every aspects of life has been suppressed by
political prejudice where almost every activities are put under suspicion of
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possible threat of nation integrity. Any social and cultural activities to voice their
concern toward injustice and to show their existence are strictly controlled by the
government. Therefore when the Black Brothers sing of Persipura, they want to
show to their fellow brothers and sisters in the country the very existence of
Papuan. They want to fight the mental inferiority of their respective people and to
show that they are also forward among other Indonesians. The figurative “mutiara
hitam” (black pearl) signifies a prescious posessions. Furthermore, the word
“black” signifies their proud of being black instead of negative stigmatisation
which attach to it by most people. Based on this point of view, the writer assumes
the song “Persipura” has a similar sense and purpose like Marley’s “Redemption
Song” to free people’s mental and thinking captivity to not feel inferior but
instead must live high and feel triumphant. Persipura is the answer to Bob
Marley's calling to help him singing another song of freedom in "Redemption
Song." Persipura is the redemption song that helps the people to emancipate
themselves from mental slavery of feeling inferior. This is to show that they are
also forward among their fellow Indonesians. Here The Black Brothers sing
"Orang tlah tau, semuapun tau/di lapangan hijau/ kini tlah muncul di ufuk
timur/mutiara hitam...bermain gemilang menerjang lawan/ dan selalu gemilang"
(People know, everyone knows/in the field/now come from the east/ the black
pearl...playing wonderfully attacking the opponent/and always win).
In conclusion both Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' song lyrics are
rich with metaphoric expression of suffering. The metaphoric expression tend to
cover all the four level of the process: contextual, communal, archetypal, and
private. However it would seem that the dominant ones lie on the level of
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contextual and communal. They characterize the specific and typical life of the
people in Jamaica and Indonesia, specifically Papua.
Bob Marley presents depictions of suffering explicitly with greater
frequency than The Black Brothers. It can be seen that not all types of suffering
are discussed by The Black Brothers implicitly except for the issue of poverty.
This is due to the socio-political condition. However, wittily The Black Brothers
covers their intended message through metaphorical expression by not
straightforwardly discussing those issues (racism, violence and prison).
Accordingly, Bob Marley is very specific and detail in describing the everyday
hardships and realities poetically through rich metaphorical expression. This is to
sooth the pain as to give pleasure by employing images and parables.
In most of his songs about suffering Bob Marley tends to diagnose the
condition first by identifying the problems, and then offer problem's resolution
and call for action. While The Black Brothers only use this pattern in some of
their songs about social criticism. However, their call for action again is implied
through a form of arising people's self worth and pride.
Bob Marley and The Black Brothers have one thing in common in that
they both connect the marginalized status of their social groups to race and cry
about the consequences of being poor and black in a country where reality is
defined and justified by the dominant race and hegemonic power. Thus, they
explicitly and implicitly discuss about suffering, how hunger is the manifestation
of poverty, and how violence, racism, and prison are the consequences of their
marginalized status.
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4.2. The Second Element of Hidden Transcript: Anonymity
A lexical or dictionary definition based on Merriam-Webster's Dictionary
defines anonymity as the state of being anonymous. The adjective anonymous is
explained as not named or identified or of unknown authorship or origin or
lacking individuality, distinction, or recognizability. While based on the
synonym-definition, anonymity is namelessness. However, further consideration
needs to be made since the lack of name is not sufficient to be anonymous.
Therefore, another postulate adds that anonymity is the absence of a true identity.
Knowing someone's identity is more than just taking note of his/her name.
In the common parlance of communication traffic there are three things
that need to be considered: Sender (S), Message (M), and Receiver (R). Basically
there are three types of anonymity associated with network of communication that
may be of interest: Sender anonymity, where the adversary cannot tell which user
sent that message; Receiver anonymity, where the adversary cannot tell which
destination a specific message is sent to; and, Relationship anonymity, where the
adversary cannot tell which destination a user communicates with.46
According to James Scott, anonymity is one of techniques that serve to
shield the subordinate groups' identity while facilitating open criticism, threats,
and attacks.47 The prominent techniques to accomplish this purpose among others
include spirit possession, gossip, rumor, anonymous threats and violence, the
anonymous letter, and anonymous mass defiance. In addressing their criticism
through their songs, it seems quite likely that Bob Marley and The Black Brothers
also employ this method of anonymity.
46 Johnson, Aaron. "Design and Analysis of Efficient Anonymous-Communication Protocols," p. 14.47 Scott, J.C. Domination and the Arts of Resistance, p. 140.
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4.2.1. The Sender Anonymity
It is clear that many times a singer acts as the sender of a message in a
song that he sings. Therefore it is hard to hide his identity as the sender of the
message. However, in a certain case which relates to a sensitive matter, a singer
tends to position himself as an observer and create a unanimous lore to make it
seems like a rumor despite it can be based on a true event. Bob Marley who
clearly proclaimed himself to be a militant "soul rebel" somehow use a more
indirect criticism to avoid direct confrontation with the authority. One possible
example is the story of violence in "Johnny Was." The song uses a narrative
structure that tells a story that most people felt was based on true incidents.48 It is
a straight ballad that introduces a mystery for the person who has witnessed so
many tragedies in the ghetto. The emphasize is not on the person who report the
event but more on the incident which is anonymous. Questions like where, why
and when did it happen, and did Johnny really exist seem to be a rhetoric since the
answer is ambiguous. This open ended story becomes a lore that spread among the
people.
Here Bob Marley cleverly unveiled the face of violence and brutality
through anonymous lore about Johnny. The emphasize and warning is that even a
good man like Johnny can be the victim of an astray bullet. An astray bullet
generally symbolizes brutality and specifically relates to impunity. Unlike what
has been found in the story of Johnny, through a thorough investigation the writer
found out that this typical technique of sender anonymity is nil in The Black
48 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 161.
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Brothers' songs. The issue of violence is avoided. The possible cause might be the
high sensitivity and the risk of addressing the issue in the New Order Regime. As
far as the writer consider, during that time period in Indonesia people lived in
fright and terror. Thus the writer would argue that there seems to be not a single
popular artist or band would have a nerve to explicitly address criticism regarding
violence by the brutal authority. It was also due to the tight censorship of what can
and what cannot be put into song by the recording company.
4.2.2. The Receiver Anonymity
There is a common sense in popular music that a singer is reaching the
multitudes but pretends that he is reaching only you.49 But it also can be the other
way around, he is reaching the multitudes but in fact he aims at a specific person.
In the receiver anonymity the adversary cannot tell which destination a specific
message is sent to. Regarding specific issues or sensitive criticism, a singer tends
to conceal the target of criticism. He avoids direct naming of the person who is
being criticized. This technique is due to the fear of retaliation, that by doing it
much of the fear is dissipated.50 In its simple way much of the receiver anonymity
take form of personal pronoun like you, they, he/she, possessive pronoun like your,
their, and his/her, and reflective pronoun like himself/herself, and them selves.
Bob Marley and The Black Brothers like the other popular artists would employ
this technique in much of their songs. It seems quite likely that when it comes to
the addressee, they tend to play safe by not directly name it.
In Bob Marley songs we can see this pattern exist in almost every song.
49 Scott, J.C. Domination and the Arts of Resistance, p. 109.50 Ibid, p. 140.
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Bob Marley is a typical singer who is very straightforward in positioning himself
as a militant freedom fighter. Despite of the fact, he somehow indirectly name the
addressee or the target of the criticism. Many times he clearly declares the blame
directly to the rich, government and politician. However, some of the songs still
hide the real receiver of his criticisms. As examples we can see in "Get Up Stand
Up," "Them Belly Full (But we hungry)," "Want More," "Crisis," "Ambush In The
Night," and "Bad Card."
"We sick and tired of your ism-skism game/Dyin' and goin' to heaven inJesus name, Lord/We know when we understand/Almighty God is a livingman/You can fool some people sometimes/But you can't fool all the peopleall the time" (Get Up Stand Up)
"Them belly full but we hungry/an angry man is an angry mob" (ThemBelly Full)
"Now you get what you want/do you want more/...They stab you in theback/and they claim that you're not looking" (Want More)
"So much have been said/So little been done/They still killin' thepeople/and they having a lots of fun/They just want to be the leader/in thehouse of the rising sun" (Crisis)
"See them fighting for power/But they know not the hour/So they bribingwith their guns, spare parts and money/Trying to belittle our integritynow/They say what we know/Is just what they teach us/and we're soignorant/'cause everytime they can reach us/Through politicalstrategy/they keep us hungry/ and when you gonna get some food/yourbrother got to be your enemy" (Ambush in the night)
"Oh man it's just a big disgrace/The way you draw bad card" (Bad Card)
The anonymity in those songs above lies in the absence of direct naming and
destination. It is replaced and blurred by personal and possessive pronoun.
Generally "Get Up Stand Up" is a song about corrupt and oppressive political
systems. However, specifically Bob Marley is admonishing the preacher man
when he sings in the first verse "Preacher men don't tell me that heaven is under
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the earth." Here lies his spiritual belief of Rastafarianism that heaven is located on
earth, that is in Africa. He is criticizing the church about false teaching regarding
metaphysic heaven. Therefore the second person plural "you" and possessive
pronoun "your" in the bridge of the song is pointed at the Pope and Catholic
Church.51 The line "almighty God is a living man" is a reference to Ethiopian
Emperor, Haile Selassie I. Hence, basically the song is an affirmation of Bob
Marley's Rastafarian beliefs as well as a criticism toward the Church. The Rastas
accuse the Church as a form of white hegemonic power that has distorted some of
the basic teachings about Black or African glory.
As what has been explained previously, 'Them Belly Full" is a song which
portrays a gap between the poor and the rich, between "we" and "them." While the
poor are strolling with empty bellies, the rich men are abundantly full. It is
obvious that "them" refers to the rich. However, specifically Bob Marley aims this
criticism toward Michael Manley's government. They made a promise in 1972's
election through the slogan of "Better must come." What is clearer to Bob Marley
is that better has come only for some who are rich.52
"Want More" is a song of social commentary that makes use of folk
wisdom. The basic criticism lies in the chorus through a sarcastic question, "Now
that you have gotten all you have wanted, do you still want more?" What seems to
be obvious is the greediness of "you." The "you" whether it is singular or plural
refers to the "backbiter" in the next lines. The figure of "you" is a figure who will
betray and stab you in the back.53 In this sense the figure can be the hypocrites
who specifically relate to the rich and corrupt politicians like what Bob Marley
51 Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Bob Marley, p. 41.52 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 122.53 Ibid, p. 165.
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would also depict in "Them Belly Full." Those hypocrites would pretend to do so
much good to hide their true cruel intension like in "No Woman Nuh Cry,"
"Observing the hypocrites/Mingle with the good people we meet."
In "Crisis" Bob Marley opens it with a statement of what was going on in
Jamaica, "They say the sun shines for all/But in some people world it never shines
at all." The sun is a symbol of hope and optimism. Thus when Bob Marley sings it,
he is showing the hopelessness instead of what has been promised by the
government or politicians to bring hope and better changes. It is also a criticism
like what he would previously sing in "Them Belly Full" that the better has come
only for some. Specifically the song talks about the condition of Jamaica which
had just been through a bloody election where the guns had been injected into the
city to complicate the political warfare.54 The number of crime increased just
because of political opportunism. Therefore it seems quite likely that Bob Marley
would blame the politicians who intensionally implanted hatred to their fanatic
supporters in order to win the election through a warfare gang especially between
the youth. After the election, the politicians who had won the election had
naturally forgotten those who helped them win, and those who had lost incapable
of helping the people. The people only became the victim and a game for the
political race.
"Ambush In The Night" is again a depiction of the dreadful condition in
Jamaica in 1970s and specifically based on an assassination attempt at Bob
Marley. Here Marley blame the "Babylon" through the ubiquitous and ambiguous
"them." Babylon refers to all unjust system, the rich, the criminals, corrupt
54 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 234.
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government or politicians and even the police. In the sense of the song "them"
specifically may refer to the corrupt politicians who have managed to bribe,
coerce and implant those who could have been brothers with guns, spare parts,
and money to carry out the act of murder. This song has a strong relationship with
the previous song "Crisis."
Those who are unfamiliar with the biographical story of Bob Marley
would not have any idea that "Bad Card" is actually a song about Bob Marley's
manager, Don Taylor. The song is a condemnation and accusation to Don Taylor
who betrayed Bob Marley by stealing lots of money. The line of "the way you
draw bad cards" describes Bob Marley's feeling that Taylor had worked or played
him too long. Eventually, he had to show his card which is his true self.55
This pattern of receiver anonymity also appears in The Black Brothers
songs. They take similar form through the ubiquitous and ambiguous personal
pronouns. Specifically they appear in songs of social commentaries, among others
are like: "Hari Kiamat'' (The End Of The Day), "Lonceng Kematian" (Death
Albatross), and "Kaum Benalu" (The Parasites).
"Sadarlah kau cara hidupmu/Yang hanya menelan korban yang lain" -"Hari Kiamat"
[It's time for you to realize the way you live your life/which makingpeople suffer everyday - The End of The Day].
"Hey kau yang munafik/kapan akhir sandiwaramu/salingberlomba/mengejar kekayaan/tak kau bawa mati nanti" - "LoncengKematian"
[Hey you the hypocrites/please end your silly game/racing on the ratrace/it won't be worth in your doom - Death Albatross].
"Dia senyum di musim panen/mengikis habis hasil tanammu/tak hiraukan
55 Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Bob Marley, p. 106.
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siapa dirinya" - "Kaum Benalu"
[He smiles in the harvest time/eat upon all your crops/don't care whohimself is - The parasites].
In these songs The Black Brothers show their empathy and sense of
affinity with the poor. Basically "Hari Kiamat"(The End of The Day) and
"Lonceng Kematian" (Death Albatross) are closely related to each other. In the
lyrics they do not directly address the criticism by using the personal pronoun
"kau" (you) and possessive pronoun "mu" (your). However, it is quite obvious that
they are meant for the rich and specifically the government. The people or the
poor are only the victims of the situation just like what Bob Marley would depict
in "Crisis." These two songs are a clear picture of Jakarta of 1970s that
everywhere people would encounter many beggars strolling along the streets and
alleys. The government who supposed to be responsible seemed to neglect the
condition. The mall administration of national bills has increased the numbers of
corruption. Therefore, these two songs are a strong condemnation and prophesy to
the rich or corrupt politicians of the consequence of their hypocritical game. This
final Biblical consequence of their deeds is really fatal since God has the power to
exterminate both their physic and soul.
"Kaum Benalu" (Parasites) is a symbol of hypocrites just like what Bob
Marley would also sing in "Who The Cap Fit," "hypocrites and parasites will
come up and take a bite." Both in Bob Marley and The Black Brothers's song, the
greedy image of parasites share the same characteristic that they would usually
mingle with the people just to take advantage out of them. Practically the song is
the praxis between the laborers and the rich, between the people and the parasites.
It is about how the rich only consume the harvest of the poor without putting
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much care upon their wealth and paying sufficient reward for their hard labor. The
Black Brothers use the personal pronoun "dia" (he), " possessive pronoun "mu"
(your), and reflective pronoun "himself." They position them selves as the sender
of the message to warn the people of the hypocrites who will only take advantage
of their hard labor.
4.2.3. The Relationship Anonymity
In the relationship anonymity the adversary cannot tell which destination a
user or sender is to communicate with. Understood it in this context, the
relationship anonymity is a slightly different to receiver anonymity in a simple
way that it doesn't employ personal pronoun despite there is an intended target
receiver. The sender tends to speak of something without explicitly mention a
name and discuss a specific subject to show a relationship to the intended target. A
singer tends to use it as his rhetoric to do sarcasm. One example can be seen in
Bob Marley's "Zion Train."
"Two Thousands years of history/Could not be wiped so easily...Zion Trainis coming our way" (Zion Train).
It is not clear which destination or to whom Bob Marley communicates. It is more
than just a personal statement since there must be someone who is accused of
committing deletion of two thousand years of history. Basically the song is talking
about the long suffering by the Black people.56 That they will depart out of
Babylon to Zion. Those who chose wisdom and not wealth, and those with self
control can join the ride. Thus we can conclude that it is a sarcasm to the white
56 Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Bob Marley, p. 107.
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colonial power, who have oppressed the black. And that despite of this condition
the black are the chosen one by the almighty God to ride on to his dwelling place,
Zion.
In The Black Brothers we can see the typical example of relationship
anonymity in "Misteri" (Mystery).
"Gelap mendebu kelam tak bertepi/kabut kian tebal di jalan ini/deraplangkah yang kususuri/manusia memendam keadilan/...semoga nanti kantiba saatnya/seberkas cahaya menyinari/membuka semua misteri/tabirhidup di bumi pertiwi" - "Misteri"
[Clouds of darkness/endless blacknes/the fog swells on this road/everystep I take/humaan silenced the justice/...may one day/a spark of lightshine through/uncovering all the mysterie/all the veils in the life of thisland - Mystery].
As the title suggested, the song is about mystery. Throughout the song The Black
Brothers sing about mystery through the image of "gelap" (darkness), "kabut"
(mist), and "tabir kebenaran" (veil of truth). It is hidden to whom do they talk to
regarding the issue of mystery. Here The Black Brothers also employ the image of
"Cahaya" (sun or shine) like what Bob Marley would also use in some of his
songs like "Sun is shining," "Get Up Stand Up," and "Crisis." Sun and shine
symbolizes hope, truthfulness and happiness. So when The Black Brothers sing
the shines is being covered by dark shadow, it means that something has gone
wrong and they are hopeless and there must be someone they accused of
committing it. Although it is still ambiguous and mystery but one can conclude
that The Black Brothers are communicating to the corrupt system which is the
authority. This conclusion is based on what they would also refer to in their
previous songs regarding criticism.
Both Bob Marley and The Black Brothers tend to use anonymity to cover
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direct naming or identity of the addressee. The most common type of anonymity
that can be found in their songs is the receiver anonymity which takes form of
personal, possessive, and reflective pronoun. The clear intention of using
anonymity is to avoid direct confrontation and retaliation with the authority. In
doing so, much of the fear can be dissipated.
Anonymity is Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' rhetoric. Despite many
of the songs are obviously related to the specific target, they tend to play with
words through metaphor and anonymity. Using anonymity is like to throw a bite
and beat around the bush waiting for the snake to come out. Those who feel it will
come up and take the bite like what Bob Marley would sing in "Who The Cap
Fit," "Hypocrites and parasites will come up and the bite" and that "who the cap
fit/let them wear it."
4.3. The Third Element of Hidden Transcript: Euphemism
As part of resistance against oppressive power domination and hegemonic
structures, both Bob Marley and The Black Brothers employ euphemism as their
means of criticism. In a situation where direct verbal confrontation is not safe,
euphemism offers a solution. It is an accurate way to describe circumstances by
those who wish to avoid sanctions or retaliation.57
There is a strong relation between euphemism and taboo. Taboo refers to a
proscription of behaviour for a specifiable community at a certain period of time
and place.58 Etymologically euphemism comes from the Greek word "Euphĕmĕ
(eu: 'good, well,' and phĕmĕ: 'speech')." Euphemism is basically stirred by two
57 Scott, J.C. Domination and the Arts of Resistance, p. 152.58 Hammad, Omar Abu. Euphemism: Sweet Talking or Deceptive?, p. 3.
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basic reasons, either it is for sweet talking or for deception. It is said to be a sweet
talking when it is used to substitute taboos, impoliteness and profanity. The idea
of sweet talking is to replace taboos which are demonic, offensive, forbidden or
impolite.59 As example among others are like the word "cock" is replaced by
"rooster," the word "vagina" is replaced by "Miss V," "make love" for "having
sex," the word "gosh" for "God," "Jeez" for "Jesus," "darn" for "damn" and "heck"
for "hell."
Euphemism is said to be a deception when it gives a false impression. It
misleads, distorts reality, pretends to communicate, makes the bad seem good, or
in short makes the unpleasant appear attractive or tolerable and to avoid or shift
responsibility. In this way euphemism is meant to deceive the recipients in the
public sphere. Therefore, euphemism is generally related to doublespeak which
can be found in three main categories of discourse: law enforcement and military,
political and nuclear which sometimes function as a means of propaganda.60
While in the context of power domination it functions as rhetoric in resisting the
corrupt system in a safe way. The common techniques used in deception are
circumlocutions and jargon. They are deliberately dishonest ways of using words,
phrases, or expressions to make bad seems good or tolerable. To cite one example,
a terrorist can possibly become a freedom fighter, undergoing imprisonment
without legal justification as preventive detention, and being defeat as strategic
withdrawal, etc.
59 Ibid, p. 4.60 Hammad, Omar Abu. Euphemism: Sweet Talking or Deceptive?, p. 13.
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4.3.1. Euphemism as Sweet Talking
Growing up in the rural Parish of St.Ann and urban Kingston, Bob Marley
was exposed to the rural proverbs and street language which he later on utilized in
his songs. They are his richness to become a lyrical genius. He found some
creative and artistic ways in depicting the phenomenon of life deliberately to the
people. And one of them would be euphemism. There are some dos and don't in
the society which need to be considered. Therefore in discussing a certain issue, a
singer tends to use euphemism as sweet talking to soothe the roughness and
vulgarity. Clear example of sweet talking can be found in Bob Marley's songs like
"Stir It Up," "Easy Skankin'," "Kaya," and "Pimper's Paradise."
"Stir it up, little darlin,'/stir it up/come on baby/stir it up...I'll push thewood/then I blaze your fire/Then I'll satisfy your heart's desire/Said I stir itevery minute/all you got to do/is keep it in baby...quench me/when I'mthirsty/come on and cool me down when I'm hot/your recipe is darlin'/is sotasty/when you show and stir your pot" (Stir It Up)
Excuse me while I light my spliff/Oh God I gotta take a lift/From reality Ijust can't drift/That's why I'm staying with this riff" (Easy Skankin')
Got to have kaya now/Got to have kaya now/Got to have kaya now/For therain is falling" (Kaya)
A pimper's paradise/that's all she was now/A pimper's paradise that's allshe was...she loves to model up in the latest fashion/She's in the scrambleand she moves with passion/She's getting high, trying to fly the sky/Nowshe's bluesing when there ain't no blues" (Pimper's Paradise)
"Stir It Up" is Bob Marley's most seductive love song about love making.
To soften the vulgarity and the taboo, in the chorus he employs the image of
cooking to depict the circular, up and down motion of love making "stir it up little
darling."61 Furthermore he makes a good parable of man's and woman's genital to
"wood" and "pot" so they would sound polite. The way he used those euphemism
61 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 62.
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and parables makes the song sounds good and far from the sense of vulgarity.
"Easy Skankin'" and "Kaya" are Bob Marley's two relax songs about
smoking ganja, enjoying reggae music and treating each other with respect. They
depict the 1970s Jamaican Rastafarian drug culture. As what has been explained
before that the Rastas use marijuana or ganja as sacrament and ritualized it as part
of their daily life.62 Rastas cite many Biblical references to "the herb" in their
defense of its use in ceremony as well as daily life. It is seen as the gift from Jah
to humans which help them to see truth and increase understanding of Jah.63 Bob
Marley was very aware of the illegal status of marijuana in Jamaica. Thus
avoiding detection was an everyday activity for him and many Rastas. In his
songs he would employ euphemism to address the issue. In these two songs he
replaced the word "ganja" or "marijuana" with "spliff" and "kaya."
"Pimper's Paradise" is speculated by some, like Dawes and Moskowitz to
be ambiguous. As the writer can see, basically "Pimper's Paradise" is a song about
the selling of self or prostituting of self that points to the failure of integrity. It
refers to either a generic woman or specific woman, either a prostitute or Jamaica
in a larger sense. In the context of euphemism as sweet talking, "Pimper's
Paradise" is a more subtle way of calling the prostitute a whore or bitch. The
pimper is the pimp, and the prostitute constitutes a paradise for the pimp.64 It is
speculated that the song is specifically addressed to one of Bob Marley's
girlfriends since he involved in several love affairs in the peak of his career. It
depicts the life of a woman who has cultivated a drug habit, who models for a
62 Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Bob Marley, p. 88.63 Worth, D.S. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, p. 23.64 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 295.
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living and was a part of the jet set, and whose ego is causing her undoing.65
In a larger metaphorical context through a close reading, "Pimper's
Paradise" may refer to Jamaica as well. The IMF deals which had been made
during that time period causing Jamaica heading down a path of prostitution.66
Self-reliance on foreign countries had allowed Jamaica to sell itself. Its natural
resources are being exploited for the advantage of others.
Similarly, The Black Brothers clearly employs euphemism as sweet
talking in their songs about "Pramuria" (prostitute) like "Kisah Seorang
Pramuria" (The story of a prostitute), "Cinta dan Pramuria," (Love and a
prostitute), "Doa Pramuria" (The prostitute's prayer), "Untukmu Pramuria" (To
you O prostitute), "Balada Pramuria" (Ballads of prostitute), "Pramuria Tapi
Biarawati" (Prostitute but nun), "Juwita Malam" (Night Angel) and "Melati
Plastik" (Plastic Jasmine). They refer to either a generic woman and/or a specific
woman. It is speculated that those songs except the last two are based on a true
love story between Hengky, The Black Brothers' lead vocal and his girlfriend who
used to be a prostitute. In the context of euphemism as sweet talking, "Pramuria"
(prostitute) "Juwita Malam" (Night Angle), "Kupu-kupu malam" (Night Butterfly),
and "Melati Plastik" (Plastic Jasmine) are a more subtle way to call a prostitute
than a whore or bitch. Those songs describe about how the two lovers were being
excluded and alienated by the society because of their love affairs. Hengky, as the
singer positioned himself as a pro-feminist who would treat the prostitute in a
right way by taking her as his lover. He against the society who have
dehumanized her being as a mere object of man's satisfaction and a sinner.
65 Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Bob Marley, p. 107.66 Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 297.
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In a larger metaphorical sense like Bob Marley's "Pimper's Paradise,"
those songs about prostitute generates another layer of meaning. Through a close
reading, it can be concluded that they actually refer to Indonesia in general and
Papua in specific. Just like Jamaica, Indonesia as one of the third world countries
would economically depend on foreign countries through the loans from IMF and
the World Bank. This self-reliance had caused Indonesia to sell its natural
resources to be controlled and exploited by foreign countries. Indonesia may be
heading down a path of prostitution in this sense as well. The signing contract
between Indonesia and American Mining Corporation, Freeport in 196767 might
lead to a massive exploitation which makes Papua as a mere "pimper's paradise."
Papua only became an object of satisfaction. Hence, the mellow mood song of
The Black Brothers about “Pramuria” in a certain sense is a lamentation and a
plea to be treated rightfully. It is a voice and a cry to humanize Papuans' mother
nature from being exploited and abandoned.
Both Bob Marley and The Black Brothers would use euphemism as sweet
talking to soothe the specific issue which is regarded as taboo, impolite, forbidden
and offended. Specifically Bob Marley used it to sing about bodily effluvia, sex,
and forbidden object like ganja or marijuana. While The Black Brothers used it to
sooth the language to become less offended. Under the issue of prostitute both of
their songs have similarities in regard to the aim of euphemism which is to make
it less offended and its another layer of meaning in relation to socio-economic
condition.
67 Saltford, John. The anatomy of betrayal: The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua,1962-1969, p. xxii.
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4.3.2. Euphemism as Deception
As a lyrical genius Bob Marley applied many ways in uttering his
concerns about the socio-and political conditions around him. They are his
rhetoric. Thus it is no surprise that he paid a careful attention to what he was
going to sing. Words are carefully chosen to meet his aims. He would usually
spread the spirit of positivity, hope and optimism among his people. By using
euphemism he made the bad seem good, the negative appear positive, and the
unpleasant appear attractive or tolerable. As examples we can see in "I Shot The
Sherif," "Talkin' Blues," and "Crazy Baldhead."
"I shot the sheriff/But I didn't shoot no deputy" (I Shot The Sheriff)
"...who's gonna stay at home/When the freedom fighters are fighting?"(Talkin' Blues)
"Build your penitentiary/We build your school/Brainwash education tomake us the fool" (Crazy Baldhead)
In "I Shot The Sheriff" Bob Marley laid a contrasting sensibilities of the
word "sheriff." He admitted that actually he wanted to sing "I shot the police," but
the government would get very upset so he sang "I shot the sheriff" instead.68 It
was intended to be put in that way so it will less offensive and function as a means
to deceive. Police has a bad connotation to most Jamaicans, especially the Rastas.
For them police is the symbol of brutality and wickedness. Thus, Bob Marley
intentionally made it like a fictional tale by using the term "sheriff. Despite it
sounds so American but it is accessible to a wider audience. And in doing so the
government would not put any suspicious attempt upon the song.
In some of his songs Bob Marley directly declared himself to be a militant
68 Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Bob Marley, p. 43.
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soul rebel like in his songs "Rebel Music," "Babylon System," and "Soul Rebel."
However in "Talkin' Blues" he would use the term freedom fighter instead of
rebellion. Here Bob Marley clearly wants the negative to appear positive. There is
a shift from something sounding bad (rebellion) to something sounding good
(freedom fighter). The change in term is depending on political interpretation.
"Crazy Baldhead" is a sarcastic song about the hypocrisy of the non-Rastas.
The term "baldhead" refers to one who lacked dreadlocks which also symbolizes
one who works for Babylon. The use of the term penitentiary instead of jail in the
second verse of the song aims at making it sounds positive yet it is sarcastic.
School is the penitentiary that will entrap people's mind through brainwashing.
These two humanity institutions have shifted their function to be a means of
propaganda.
Unlike Bob Marley, The Black Brothers used euphemism as deception
mostly to avoid direct retaliation with the authority. During the New Order regime
of Soeharto the censorship was very tight. In reading Indonesia history, the
political situations including social and cultural life were controlled by policies
issued by the government. These policies became the tool of repression to the
society. The rise of military power, strict censorship, and corrupt government had
limited the movement of resistance and people's freedom.69 The Black Brothers
were very aware of it. Thus in facing those particular circumstances, The Black
Brothers somehow would enter into the universe of dishonest euphemism by
avoiding offensive lyrics. As examples we can find in their songs about their land
69 Duka Kuda. "The Untold Story of Indonesian Underground Music in the 70s," ruang rupa, p. 3. Web Juli 2.2014.<https://www.qagoma.qdl.gov.au/_data/assets/pdf_file/0009/141498/booklet_ruanrupa_APT_ok_print_rev2_0312.pdf>.
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like "Irian Jaya 1," "Irian Jaya 2," and "Keroncong Irian Jaya."
"Irian Jaya kau kupuja/Irian Jaya tercinta/Irian Jaya kau kukenang/...Tanah subur menggiurkan/Kaya akan pertambangan" -IrianJaya
[Irian Jaya I praise you/my beloved Irian Jaya/Irian Jaya you're in mymind/luscious and mesmerizing land/filled with prescious minerals - IrianJaya].
"Suburnya tanahku/Asalku Irian Jaya/Kau kupuja slalu/Asalku IrianJaya/Banyak kekayaan/Yang masih terpendam di sana" - Irian Jaya 2
[I come from luscious land/I come from Irian Jaya/the land I alwayspraise/I come from Irian Jaya/Plenty of richness/are hidden there - IrianJaya 2].
"Irian Jaya yang kupuja/Itulah tanah tumpah darahku" - 'Keroncong IrianJaya"
[Irian Jaya that I praise/that's my mother's land - Keroncong Irian Jaya].
As what has been explained previously, Papua has changed its name
several times, "New Guinea," "West New Guinea," "West Papua," "Irian Barat,"
"Irian Jaya," and "Papua." From aforementioned names, "Papua" is the most
strictly forbidden. It was feared by the government that the name will rise
solidarity and nationalism among Papuans. In 1973 under the New Order regime
of Soeharto, the name was changed to "Irian Jaya." Things were even getting
worse in this period. Mentioning the name "Papua" would be seen as a capital
offence or a serious problem which can cause one's life. It is no wonder in many
of their songs, The Black Brothers would refer to the land with the term "Irian
Jaya instead of "Papua." For the writer, the use of the term in their lyrics has a
nuance of resistance if we take a closer look. In this way it can be seen as a form
of euphemism as deception.
"Irian Jaya 1," "Irian Jaya 2" and "Keroncong Irian Jaya" are not only a
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mere tribute to the land but also a sarcasm to the government. They exist as one
entity yet they have layer of meanings. At a glance the songs are about praising
and boasting of the land. However behind this glorification lies a sarcastic lines,
"Tanah subur menggiurkan/Kaya akan pertambangan" and "Banyak kekayaan
yang masih terpendam di sana" ("luscious and mesmerizing land/filled with
prescious minerals"). These two lines can bee seen as cynical and sarcasm form of
expression to mock the government or they who usually only tempted with Papua
natural richness. They see Papua as a mere commodity and not as a community.
This treatment has caused Papuans to feel excluded and alienated. At least it can
be seen in "Keroncong Irian Jaya" when they sing "Irian Jaya yang ku
puja/Itulah tanah tumpah darahku" (Irian Jaya that I praise/that's my mother's
land). In the context of euphemism as deception the term "tanah tumpah darah"
(mother's land) has a strong sense of exclusivism, nationalism and belonging.
Therefore, basically the phrase "tanah tumpah darah" (mother land) might refer
specifically to Papua as distinctive land apart from Indonesia. It is more than just
a land, it is a nation. Furthermore, this expression also wants to show the sense of
pride and that they are unique. The distinctive characters also including physical
appearances which shall become their strength to be forward in the society where
they are usually marginalized.
Both Bob Marley and The Black Brothers used euphemism as deception to
avoid vulgar verbal attack to the authority that would possibly cause direct
retaliation in turn. However, for Bob Marley it used not only as deception but also
as his rhetoric for art's sake. It is to show Bob Marley's artistic and poetic capacity
to play with words. In many songs Bob Marley would clearly position himself
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against the corrupt government, although he did it in a more respective way by
using these elements of hidden transcripts. While for The Black Brothers,
euphemism as deception might be the only solution since it would have been
impossible to lodge a direct open criticism at all cost. Euphemism as deception is
merely used for the safety's sake as well as for their survival in the popular music
industry. This might because of the tight censorship and policies enacted both by
the government and recording company that financially support their respective
existence.
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CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
Bob Marley and The Black Brothers are two different artists who are
separated by language, musical genres, socio-political background, and geography.
However, parallels can still be drawn from their artistic works as this thesis has
shown. Both of them represent the Black power movement which emerged from a
racially, culturally, and economically marginalized context. They are the symbol
of resistance who stand on the behalf of their respective social groups. Other than
being a milestone for the development of popular music in their respective place
of origin, their music is also the vehicle to carry their criticism and protests
against the hegemonic power domination.
The analysis on the lyrics in their commercial studio albums reveals that
their songs consist of elements of or posses several elements of hidden transcript
such as metaphor, anonymity, and euphemism. It can be seen also that they
employ linguistic tricks in their songs. The elements of hidden transcript are used
to disguise their protests against the socio-political condition of the day, and an
in-depth analysis of their songs reveals those hidden transcripts.
There are some differences in applying these elements into their songs. An
early investigation reveals that Bob Marley's songs tend to focus and emphasize
on socio-politic and religious matters, while The Black Brothers tend to focus
more on the romance of love song and dance tunes. Therefore, Bob Marley's
works seem to be more straight-forward in giving protest against the hegemonic
power domination while The Black Brothers seemed to neglect the issue.
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As proven in this thesis, the socio-political circumstances play an
important role in deciding what shall or shall not be put into song. Jamaica
obtained its political independence from the British rule in 1962. It created a wave
of post-colonial spirit that wanted to break with the colonial past. An intention to
discover a new identity as a new nation resulted in the birth of a distinctive
popular music style of Jamaica which are ska, rock steady and reggae. This new
styles of music coincidentally happened with the revival of social and spiritual
movement of Rastafarianism. This was even strengthened the post-colonial spirit
embodied in such music that began to function as a media to voice socio-political
and religious concerns than purely leisure and pleasure activity. Later in the
journey of the new independent Jamaica, it functions as a social control to watch
the act of the government.
A long time disputes between Jamaican political parties (JLP and PNP)
had divided the nation into two halves based on political allegiance. In standing
on the behalf of the people, Marley tried hard to keep his neutrality. What seemed
to be risky in Jamaica was to expose one's political allegiance. Therefore to avoid
arise conflict among his fellow Jamaicans, Bob Marley utilizes his music to unite
them besides also uses it as his safe weapon to fight the government or "Babylon."
Unlike Jamaica, Indonesia is the largest archipelagic nation in the world
with many diversities in language, religion and ethnic groups. Hence the primary
concern of the government is to keep the thousand islands to be in tact under the
nation's motto in Sanskrit (Javanese) "Bhineka Tunggal Ika" (Oneness In
Diversities) just like Jamaican slogan "Out of Many,One People." In
accomplishing it, the government will defend it at all cost. Papua became part of
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Indonesia in 1969 under the referendum (Pepera) which is for most Papuans to be
the biggest scam in all of their history. It was a form of annexation to them. Ever
since that time, the disputes upon Papua political status became the main issue for
most Papuans. Apparently, Papua is stand out for its rich natural resources. The
signing contract between Indonesia and America to open world's largest gold mine
corporation in 1967 even worsen the condition. The land is being exploited while
its people are abandoned. The concern to voice all kind of injustice had always
been politicized to be the act of separatism and against the government. Under
New Order regime of Soeharto, the land was infiltrated from all suspected acts
against the government. The paranoia of the disintegration made the violence
seemed to be the only solution and policy. Thousands of people being killed while
some others crossed the border for survival. This long time oppression has caused
a traumatic pain.
This present study has also shown that out of their respective
socio-political unrest, both Bob Marley and The Black Brothers found a solution,
i.e. their guitar. Under the oppression by the hegemonic power domination, the
subordinate groups tend to mock the ruling power through artistic product like
poem, dance, and song. Their vulnerability has rarely allowed them to conduct
direct confrontation with the ruling power. Therefore, an effort to do the criticism
while avoiding retaliation through a veiled discourse within the public sphere
seems to be an option.
This study has applied the concept of hidden transcript by James Scott to
analyze Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' lyrics that somehow they can be
considered to be a voice under domination. This ideological guerrilla war occurs
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mostly within political space and hegemonic public sphere through veiled and
disguised forms. For the safety's sake one would enter the world of rumor, gossip,
disguises, linguistic tricks, metaphors, euphemisms, folktales, ritual gestures, and
anonymity. The writer found some of these elements within the lyrics of Bob
Marley and The Black Brothers. By relating it to the socio-political condition
from where they emerged, the writer assumed that these elements are consciously
infused as their peotical and rhetorical method in resisting the hegemonic and
oppressive power. However not all the interpretation would match perfectly as
what both Bob Marley and The Black Brothers intended. Cognitive poetic
analysis which encompasses text-reader-author and the four level of context in the
metaphoric process by Osborne and Ehninger can be used as a stepping stone in
understanding their work. One is contextual qualifier which refers to the context
of a discourse in terms of its actual text and the situation in which it used. Second
is communal qualifier which is culturally bound, or relying on culturally-based
social knowledge. The third is archetypal qualifier which supplies meaning based
on experiences common to men of many races and ages. It is a generally
acknowledged or accepted by most people. The forth is private qualifier which
affects the meaning based on personal or subjective associations.
A thorough investigation found out that basically Bob Marley's hidden
transcripts are not merely to avoid retaliation but also for the sake of politeness
and respect. He even didn't hide what he was intended to criticize. He clearly
proclaimed himself as a militant "soul rebel." However, as spiritual devoted
person and a lyrical genius, he would do it in a more respective and artistic way.
Therefore those elements of hidden transcript would likely to be more as an
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euphemism and aesthetic in general sense rather then a harsh criticism. People in
Jamaica, especially the underprivileged would clearly understand what he meant.
Contrary to the early finding that views Bob Marley's songs being more
socio-political and religious inclined, while The Black Brothers' are mainly about
love and romance, this thesis has proven that The Black Brothers is more romantic
in a real sense. The Black Brothers has 18th German and English romanticism
spirit which was deeply connected with the politics of the time, echoing people's
fears, hopes, and aspiration. The Black Brothers' main concerns as shown or heard
through their songs are mainly about the people (Papuans), natural exoticism of
Papua, mysticism, and folksongs (Papuan traditional song). Hence, the writer
assumed that their songs may contain hidden transcript that carries the real spirit
of romanticism within their commercial love tunes. They are strongly connected
with politics of their time. It can be seen as a cunning deception to avoid
retaliation. Their songs are not merely as leisure and pleasure but also an act of
resistance. In this way we can assume that romantic can be political as well.
Despite possessing elements of hidden transcript, there are some more
significant differences between the two artists. The analysis in this thesis reveals
that explicitly Bob Marley's critique is focused on resistance against structures
that cause oppression and injustice, whereas The Black Brother's critique is
focused on descriptive accounts of social injustice which mostly about poverty.
However, implicitly The Black Brothers' song has a more political tendency than
Bob Marley's. Despite the fact that government and recording policies play an
important role in deciding what shall and shall not put into a song, The Black
Brothers kept on preserving their genuine spirit to sing of their folks and criticism
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while fulfilling the market demand of popular theme at the same time. The same is
true to Bob Marley that he would never compromise his ideology of reggae music
and the spirit that it carried.
This thesis also reveals that Bob Marley engages his social critique to an
overwhelmingly optimistic and hopeful way, while The Black Brothers songs are
characterized by hope and optimism only at a certain times but by hopeless and
pessimistic at most others. Due to the complexity of socio-political background, it
would be insufficient to suggest that the difference between the two artists could
be accounted to just one factor. However, what seems quite likely to be obvious is
Marley's affiliation with a particular religious and cultural movement. The
movement which he kept promoting in his lyrics and The Black Brothers is lack
of such affiliation as a partial explanation for the differences with respect to hope.
Perhaps Bob Marley's Rastafarian beliefs grounded him and helped him to cope
with the struggles, and his faith provided a source of hope and optimism. While,
The Black Brothers who stands on the behalf of Papuans would have undergone a
long time oppression that their mellow songs symbolize hopelessness and
pessimistic. Their protest unaffiliated with a specific movement, therefore it is
more isolated and alienated.
Despite of the differences in tone between the two artists, one common
thing is that their music and song can be conceptualized as the vehicle they would
use to offer their critiques. Although their message sometimes had to penetrate the
public sphere through hidden transcript and required an in-depth analysis and tend
to be accessed by insiders than outsiders, Bob Marley and The Black Brothers
may be unlikely to effectively reach and sway outsiders with their message. Music
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affords Bob Marley and The Black Brothers the opportunity to speak to the
members of their social context with words of encouragement and resistance.
Their music and song may play a role in the creation of group consciousness
necessary for counter-hegemonic power domination.
Understanding Bob Marley and The Black Brothers lyrics will make the
people are not only affected physically and emotionally but also cognitively. This
current research suggests that through cognitive poetic analysis, the hidden
transcript elements in Bob Marley and The Black Black Brothers songs can be
analyzed and interpreted. However, there are some points related to the concept of
hidden transcript that need to be made clear. Scott example of elements in hidden
transcript: rumor, gossip, disguises, linguistic tricks, metaphors, euphemisms,
folktales, ritual gestures, and anonymity are still cryptic and opaque. This
somehow makes they can be juxtaposed and mixed to each other. Further
explanation and clear division is needed. Therefore in this research, the writer
tried to elaborate more. However, since this is quite likely to be the first one that
apply it to analyze song's lyric, there are still more things to be considered.
Perhaps there are more hidden transcript elements can be found in the lyrics of
Bob Marley and The Black Brothers. New finding would likely to help elaborate
and enrich Scott's concept. It would be interesting to look at numbers of Black
Brothers' traditional folk songs sung in tribal language and connect it to the
element of linguistic tricks.
There are some more interesting questions to be elaborated into further
research that can help to raise people's cognitive consciousness upon the message
in Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' song lyric. It would be interesting to
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specifically study each elements of hidden transcript in relation to each artist's
lyrics and a comparative study between the two artists. What is the metaphoric
explanation of prostitute in Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' songs and their
engagement to socio-political condition within their respective society? How to
decide and describe euphemism for sweet talking and deception in Bob Marley
and The Black Brothers' lyrics? How to elaborate and explain types of anonymity
and their relation to socio-political condition? Those are among other questions
that would likely lead to further research that will enrich people's understanding of
Scott's concept in relation to Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' songs.
As a final remark, the major difficulty in this study lies in the fact that it is
hard to cover all Bob Marley and The Black Brothers' songs deeply and equally.
This study has tried to do comparison and an in-dept analysis towards Bob Marley
and The Black Brothers' lyrics. However, there are still limitations and more
things to be considered. Hopefully, by seeing this study more researches will be
interested to explore deeper about hidden transcript in relation to lyric in Bob
Marley and The Black Brothers' songs. At last the writer hopes that he did justice
to Scott's theory of hidden transcript, and to Bob Marley and The Black Brothers'
work.
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APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1 List of Bob Marley's and the Black Brothers’ Albums andSongsTable 1.
No Song Album YearCatch a Fire 1973
1 Concrete Jungle2 Slave Driver3 400 years4 Stop That Train5 Rock It Baby6 Stir It Up7 Kinky Reggae8 No More Trouble9 Midnight Ravers
Burnin' 197310 Get Up Stand Up11 Hallelujah12 I shot The Sheriff13 Burnin' and Lootin'14 Put It On15 Small Axe16 Pass It On17 Duppy Conqueror18 One Foundation19 Rasta Man Chant
Natty Dread 197420 Lively Up Yourself21 No Woman Nuh Cry22 Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)23 Rebel Music (3 O'clock Roadblock)24 So Jah She25 Natty Dread26 Bend Down Low27 Talkin' Blues28 Revolution
RastamanVibration 1976
29 Positive Vibration30 Roots Rock Reggae31 Johnny Was
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32 Cry To Me33 Want More34 Crazy Baldheads35 Who The Cap Fit36 Night Shift37 War38 Rat Race
Exodus 197739 Natural Mystic40 So Much Things To Say41 Guiltiness42 The Heathen43 Exodus44 Jammin'45 Waiting In Vain46 Turn Your Light Down Low47 Three Little Birds48 One Love/ People Get Ready
Kaya 197849 Easy Skanking50 Kaya51 Is This Love52 Sun Is Shining53 Satisfy My Soul54 She's Gone55 Misty Morning56 Crisis57 Running Away58 Time Will Tell
Survival 197959 So Much Troubles In The World60 Zimbabwe61 Top Rankin'62 Babylon System63 Survival64 Africa Unite65 One Drop66 Ride Natty Ride67 Ambush In The Night68 Wake Up and Live
Uprising 198069 Coming From The Cold70 Real Situation
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71 Bad Card72 We and Them73 Work74 Zion Train75 Pimpers Paradise76 Could You Be Loved77 Forever Loving Jah78 Redemption Song
Table 2
AlbumNumber ofSongs
Socio-Politics/Religious
Love song/Dancetunes
Catch a Fire 9 7 2Burnin' 10 9 1Natty Dread 9 7 2Rastaman Vibration 10 9 1Exodus 10 6 4Kaya 10 2 8Survival 10 10 0Uprisising 10 9 1Total 78 59 19
Table 3.
BOB MARLEY'S ENTIRE SAMPLE (78)Album 1(9)
Album2 (10)
Album3(9)
Album4 (10)
Album5 (10)
Album6 (10)
Album7 (10)
Album8 (10)
Total
N % N % N % N % N % N % N % N % N %Babylon 4 4 4 6 2 1 4 1
26
Rastafarianism 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 6Pan-Africanism 0 0 1 0 1 0 3 0 5
Livity 3 3 3 2 5 7 3 733
Romance/Love 2 0 0 1 2 2 0 1 8
78
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Table 4
AlbumNumberof Songs
SocialCriticism
Cultural pride andIdentity
LoveSongs/DanceTunes
Irian Jaya 1 10 0 5 5Derita Tiada Akhir 8 1 2 5Lonceng Kematian 8 1 2 5KenanganNovember 8 0 1 7Kaum Benalu 9 2 2 5Misteri 7 0 2 5Volume Perdana 8 5 1 2Hening 8 0 1 7Total 66 9 16 41
Table 5.
No Song Album YearIrian Jaya 1 1976
1 Persipura2 Terjalin Kembali3 Oh Sonya4 Irian Jaya5 Balada Dua Remaja6 Putus di Tengah Kerinduan7 Apuse8 Jayapura di Waktu Malam9 Kisah Seorang Pramuria10 Kali Kemiri
Derita Tiada Akhir 197611 Derita Tiada Akhir12 Terima Kasih13 Hari Kiamat14 Huembello15 Hilang16 Keroncong Kenangan17 Cinta dan Pramuria18 Irian Jaya 2
Lonceng Kematian 197719 Doa Pramuria20 Black Brothers21 Lonceng Kematian22 Amapondo
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23 Melati di Tanah Gersang24 Kuburan Tua25 Sahabatku Anggie26 Tragedi Awal Agustus
KenanganNovember 1977
27 Gadis Lembah Sunyi28 Dewi Kribo29 Kenangan November30 Gadis Bilyard31 Tiada Senyum di Akhir Senja32 Musik Masa Kini33 Bertemu Takkan Terpisah34 Untukmu Pramuria
Kaum Benalu 197835 Tirai36 Layu DI Ujung Senja37 Saman Doye38 Balada Pramuria39 Gundik-gundik Latah40 Kaum Benalu41 Keroncong Gunung Syclop42 Jurang43 Lagu Yang Terpotong
Misteri 197844 Pramuria Tapi Biarawati45 Misteri46 Gerimis di Hati Gersang47 Mangge-mangge48 Pantai Pasir 249 Goyang Disco50 Keroncong Irian Jaya
Volume Perdana 197951 Juwita Malam52 Kuncup Putih53 Kurnia Ilahi54 Gigolo55 Tangan Hampa56 Ino Mote Ngori57 Tanah Dosa58 Rengsa
Hening 197959 Nafas
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60 Hening61 Melati Plastik62 Memori63 Beku64 Mega Masih Kelabu65 Gadis Kerudung Putih66 Yawonde
Table 6.
THE BLACK BROTHERS' ENTIRE SAMPLE (66)
Album1 (10)
Album2 (8)
Album3(8)
Album4 (8)
Album5 (9)
Album6 (7)
Album7 (8)
Album8 (8)
Total
N % N % N % N % N % N % N % N % N %IrianJaya/Papua 5 2 2 1 2 3 0 1
16
Romance/Love 4 2 1 4 4 2 0 4
21
SocialCriticism 0 1 1 0 2 0 4 0 7Pramuria 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 9OtherThemes 0 2 3 2 0 1 2 2
1366
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APPENDIX 2 Bob Marley's Songs Selected for Analysis
Ambush In The NightBad CardBurnin' and Lootin'Concrete JungleCrazy BaldheadCrisisDuppy ConquerorEasy Skankin'Get Up Stand UpI Shot The SheriffJohnny WasKayaNatty DreadOne DropPimpers ParadiseRedemption SongSlave DriverSo Much Troubles In The WorldStir It UpTalkin' BluesThem Belly FullWant MoreWarZion Train
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APPENDIX 3 The Black Brothers' Songs Selected for Analysis
Balada PramuriaCinta dan PramuriaDewi KriboDoa PramuriaHari KiamatHuembeloIrian Jaya 1Irian Jaya 2Juwita MalamKaum BenaluKeroncong Irian JayaKisah Seorang PramuriaLonceng KematianMelati Plastik.MisteriPersipuraPramuria Tapi BiarawatiUntukmu Pramuria
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