Page 155 - Aesthetic Formations Media, religion, and the Sense

140 Francio Guadeloupe

Its panoptic presence notwithstanding, all over and everywhere, the
most widely disseminated articulation of this public Christianity is to be
found in Caribbean popular music (Guadeloupe 2006b; Cooper 2004;
1
Mahabir 2002). Born of the creolizing of the Judeo-Christian Word with
African and Asian religious and rhythmic motifs, Caribbean popular
music at its best legitimates pleas for social and economic equality and
above all human dignity. From the late Bob Marley and Celia Cruz, to
contemporary artists, such as Juan Luis Guerra and Richie Spice, an all-
inclusive Christian-based politics of human belonging is promoted. Every
bounded community must seek to be open to the community of all men
and women.
However, in its most circulated form this radical West Indian politics
sui generis cannot be divorced from the market—from the capitalist logic.
More concretely how the message of these Caribbean artists and organic
intellectuals is heard, after the music executives have had their say, is
largely determined by radio disc jockeys. These make the public aware of
new releases, how one should judge these releases, and what the main
message of the artist is. Caribbean music and the everyday metalanguage
of Christianity are enlisted by DJ Shadow and DJ Clarke who as sonic
architects entice SXMers to create and maintain a tower of Babel that
works. This chapter treats the way these two popular disc jockeys create
all-inclusive architectures of Babel within the teeth of Capitalism and
with the willing consent of the slaves of capital.

A Diatribe against Politicians
Who Forget Conscience

And the anthem goes:
Promises is only promises: when they get in office, they going fix we busi-
ness/Promises is only promises: once they get in power they say we could go
for the future/But when I take a stock of the truth what I really see it both-
ering me/One race controlling the currency [white Western capitalists]/The
next corrupting democracy [dark skinned political elites]/They fool we
again, They fool we again, They fool we again: waving up the banner, one
Love joint together/They fool we again, they fool we again: things looking
so bad who will guard the guard. (DJ Shadow)
DJ Shadow summons the band to play slower and softer. His background
singers antiphonally whisper, “stop fooling, stop fooling,” as the Shadow