Back in Florida, so it must be time for more reggae, and today was certainly an interesting choice. With the #6 album on the reggae Top Ten list, as rated by rateyourmusic.com, we have the artist Dadawah, with the album “Peace and Love”. It’s hard to describe this album in the context of typical reggae music, as I tend to associate my narrow view of reggae as mostly happy, occasionally political, but primarily upbeat sounds. This album in general, is very dark, both in sound and message, with understandably a lot of pushback and anger with regards to the oppression of slavery and discrimination.
There are only four songs on the album, and each runs approximately eight to ten minutes in length. It is certainly not the radio or beach party friendly vibes I have come to expect from other reggae pioneers like Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, or Toots and the Maytals. The album is obscure enough that I couldn’t even find it on my normal music streaming service, and had to track it down on youtube. The sound is very rhythmic, almost as if it is built off a single drum chant, and my favorite song is probably “Seventy Two Nations”. I don’t know that I will come back to this album often, but like always, I appreciate the exposure to something new and definitely respect the heart, soul, passion and musical gift associated with this record.
A Lifetime-Plus of Music 