Gwen, thanks for joining in this conversation.

I was very interested in your comments as it 'sounds' as though you live in South Africa. I hope that you will join Mudcat. We need to hear more from people who live in that part of the world.

For instance, I'm curious about reggae music in South Africa. Is it popular in South Africa? Actually, I guess that might be an unfair question sinc it depends on how you measure popularity...for instance, in the USA, depending on where you live, you'll not find much reggae music on the radio. In the 1980s there was a university run radio station in Pittsburgh, PA that had a 3 hour contemporary reggae show in the evenings at least once a week. But that's been gone for a while. Yet, in my opinion, dub reggae and dancehall reggae [if they're not the same] have had a powerful influence on contemporary R&B and hip-hop music. And if you listen to Black urban [R&B and hip-hop radio stations-which admittedly, I rarely do-you'll hear an occassional dancehall reggae song-especially from Sean Paul and a few other artists whose names escape me now.

In any event, I remember hearing a few songs from the South African reggae singer, Lucky Dube wahsome time ago. I'm curious if this write-up is still accurate:

"Lucky Dube is the son of a single mother who thought she could not have children. Her first child therefore was given the name "Lucky". Dube (pronounced "Dobe") is a town area in Johannesburg.
Lucky Dube had a tough upbringing and lived in turn, with his mother, grandmother, and an uncle. He began to sing in bars in his home town and in church. He and his comrades began drumming around and started a band, but they couldn't afford to buy instruments. They tried to persuade moneyed people to sponsor them but, when they were unsuccessful, Lucky Dube wrote a play that the guys performed. This brought in just enough to purchase a guitar, and they started the Skyway band. They began by playing mbaqanga. They were together for 2 years before Lucky Dube joined the Love Brothers, a mbaqanga band led by Richard Siluma, who later became Lucky's manager.

After a few years as a mbaqanga singer Lucky decided, in the early 1980s, to switch to reggae. The influence came from artists like Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. He had his baptism of fire as a reggae artist when he played at the Sunsplash Festival in Jamaica, before the world's most critical reggae audiences, and was a success.
Lucky Dube makes a type of melodious, African reggae that slowly but surely has turned him into a superstar. He sings powerfully in English about social problems, the blacks' struggle, and God's greatness. With the song, "Together As One", he became the first black artist in South Africa to be played on a white radio station. He has had no formal musical education, but nevertheless plays several instruments and arranges his own songs. His first two albums, "Slave" (about alcoholism) and "Prisoner", both sold over 500,000 copies and are the best selling disks ever in South Africa. Today Lucky Dube is one of Africa's most sought after artists and tours the world over."

Source: Lucky Dube

Also, for those who may not be familiar with African reggae, here's the URL for an online article on that subject: http://www.rootsworld.com/reggae/reggaeafrica.html