Reggae has been added to a list of international cultural treasures which the United Nations has deemed worthy of protecting and promoting.
The music, which grew out of Jamaica in the 1960s thanks to artists like Toots and the Maytals, Peter Tosh and Bob Marley, was added to the collection due to its “intangible cultural heritage”.
Reggae is “cerebral, socio-political, sensual and spiritual,” said Unesco.
It has “penetrated all corners of the world,” added a Jamaican spokesperson.
Millie Small’s 1964 ska cover of My Boy Lollipop also helped introduce reggae’s laid back groove to the world.
Reggae became popular in the United States but particularly flourished in the UK, which had become home to many Jamaican immigrants since the end of World War Two.
The British reggae label Trojan, which celebrates its 50th birthday this year, introduced the world to artists like Desmond Dekker, Jimmy Cliff and Bob and Marcia.
“Reggae is uniquely Jamaican,” said Olivia Grange, Jamaica’s culture minister. “It is a music that we have created that has penetrated all corners of the world.”
Announcing the decision, Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) said the music’s “contribution to international discourse on issues of injustice, resistance, love and humanity underscores the dynamics of the element as being at once cerebral, socio-political, sensual and spiritual”.
