Reggae music: From ghetto protest to United Nations

After earning a rare recognition from the United Nations, we look at this genre whose fluid, lilting grooves and pulsating rhythms thrived on the fringes of global showbiz trends for five decades. [AFP]

In some quarters, folks regarded the rootsy, rub-a-dub tunes of reggae as protest music, only acceptable among the downtrodden – its stinging, uplifting lyrics firing up embers of hopefulness for scores of ghetto dwellers.

Locally, reggae was formally banned in the late 1970s on the Voice of Kenya (VOK) radio stations, then sole national broadcaster owned and controlled by the State.