The world’s awash with so many mixed messages about Jamaica but what makes the intrigue endure is this incessant stream of positivity, upfulness and the calibre of music that the country puts out.
One of Jamaica's reigning reggae icons Protoje performed at The Bowl stage at this year's WOMAD Aotearoa and Kadambari Raghukumar got to chat with him, pre-show. The conversation goes from chatting about his parents, politics, patties of course, to the idea of why most people nowadays may associate Jamaican music just dancehall.
"People here today they're gonna see me a reggae music artist from Jamaica, their perception of what Jamaican music is going to be also that and other stuff. I think it's just visibility. It's about doing the work, being on the ground, playing the shows, being active and spreading that energy globally. It's action, you know? I can do it by going out there and playing music and letting people see the type of songs we have to offer, which we do on a global scale."
Protoje along with other artists like Kabaka Pyramid, Lila Ike, Jessie Royal and several others are all part of a group of artists emerging out of Jamaica responsible for spearheading what's been a roots reggae revival of sorts, focussed on conscious music.
"I think we all have some message and if we listen to each other, I'm sure we can decipher the message that all of us have. I just feel that I've been fortunate to have a platform and to share the thoughts that come up in my head on lonely nights and people get to hear it."
Born Oje Ken Ollivierre and raised in St Elizabath, Jamaica, both of Protoje’s parents were reggae and calypso singers - Lorna Bennett and Mike Ollivierre - but there's no sense of compulsion when it comes to him carrying forward a legacy, he said.
"I don't look at it like that. It's all a good cycle. I'm My parents live within me, I just do the music that I do. I'm privileged to work with my mum. She's my manager. So she gets a second time to live through music and she's excited."
Protoje's even keel attitude is hard to ignore, unaffected and unperturbed by the high energies of a festival like WOMAD.
"Your emotions up and down. For me, especially if I have a show. I'm chill, I'm easy. I save my energy for stage because it's real energy. You're giving your energy to people. So I try to just keep it balanced, as low key as possible."
