Reggae is a UNESCO heritage site

From today reggae is part of the United Nations global cultural treasures. Its merit? Contributing to international awareness "on issues of injustice, resistance, love and humanity". Its powerful upbeat rhythm and the One Love philosophy of respect, tolerance, peace and love have profoundly marked millions of people all over the world and still remain incredibly current today, but its roots are more ancient. They sink into the music of African slaves brought to Jamaica by the Europeans, in the Arawak Indians who previously inhabited the island, in the calypso of Trinidad, African American music that came from the United States, in the spiritual and rebel elements linked to the Rastafari religion.

The reggae, brought to success by Bob Marley (first great international star coming from the Third World) and Peter Tosh, has many facets: religious singing, pop phenomenon, prayer, symbol of commitment and struggle. Paraphrasing the writer Franco Bolelli, in it they simultaneously inhabit the possibility of liberation and banal leisure, the tension towards divinity and the most immediate carnality. He represented life, social redemption, peace and anger together, with an appeal and an emotionality impossible to ignore, but at the same time direct, simple and, for this reason, immensely powerful.