As a radio format, the term "world music" brings to mind the concept of a radio station mixing together various forms of popular music from a multitude of ethnic groups. If I were in charge of a North American "rock" based world music program, I might try and find what was popular in Norway, Japan, India, maybe Sudan, and perhaps Peru, too.
And that's the sort of thing I thought the "world beat" format would be during graduate school. The station boasted its two-hour weekend program of world music, and I started checking out the music soon after assuming my role as station manger. It wasn't an impressive collection but then most weekend programs didn't have much in the way of programmable music. That's why it was a weekend show: "world beat" probably received scant airtime in an effort to give the community some sort of variety. That, or the station's faculty advisor, Grace Mittendorf, thought it made the station sound more adventurous.
Whatever the reason, it took little effort to realize that this station's definition of "world beat" was reggae music and not much else. I remember making the mistake of asking why we just didn't call the two hours on Saturday night "the Reggae show." Because, I was told, there was more than just reggae played. There was some mbaqanga music from Africa and someone found a Taiko/rap album in the giveaway closet and put it in rotation, too. I then made a second mistake by asking, since there was some non-reggae music, why we didn't make an effort of expanding the non-reggae selections, getting some more sounds from around the world. Because, I was told, that the reggae was what was most popular with listeners and it was the most familiar with the students programming the two hours of music – so what good was it to bring in other discs? I apparently had not learned from my mistakes and asked the first question a second time. It was a cycle, not necessarily vicious, but one I didn't want to pretend to be interested in anymore and so I quickly let the matter drop.
So my exciting exploration in new music focused mostly on reggae. That's hardly a bad thing because there is a lot of good reggae music out there in as many varied forms as there is R&B, folk, and rock forms of music in the United States. Some names are quite prominent and are considered icons of the genre (Bob Marley, for the example), while other bands bring a reggae hybrid to their pop sounds (UB40, maybe).
Jamaican based Freddie McGregor was someone I was not previously aware of but had one of the newer albums in rotation when I showed up. McGregor has been involved with music for decades, having joined his first band (the Clarendonians) at age seven and later scored a series of popular solo albums in the 1980s. McGregor continues to record and produce music; his latest album in 2005’s Comin' in Tough.
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I Wish There Was a Way
(Noel Browne/Freddie McGregor)
Freddie McGregor
From the album Masterpiece
1997
Oh, the sisters crying out for a brother’s help
Give a hand if you can, yeah
Oh, I wish, I wish there was a way that I could read your mind
And I know just the way to make that sacrifice
Oh, Lord, I wish, I wish there was a way that I could read your mind
And I know just the way to make that sacrifice, oh, Lord
I looked and I behold and saw her peeping through the window
I saw true lovin’ in her eyes, yeah
Right there and then I knew that something was gonna happen
But I couldn’t say what, and I keep thinkin’
Oh, I wish, I wish there was a way that I could read your mind
And I know just the way to make that sacrifice
Oh, Lord, I wish, I wish there was a way that I could read your mind
And I know just the way to make that sacrifice
Could not be an ordinary feelin’, no, no
It’s coming from deep within, yeah, yeah
Your eyes it shows me so much meanin’
It makes me wonder where it begins, and I keep thinkin’
Oh, I wish, I wish there was a way that I could read your mind
And I know just the way to make that sacrifice
Oh, Lord, I wish, I wish there was a way that I could read your mind
And I know just the way to make that sacrifice, oh, Lord
Nah-nah-nah-nah, yeah
Oh, the sisters calling out for a brother’s help
Oh, Lord
I looked and I behold and saw her peeping through the window
I saw true lovin’ in her eyes, yeah
Right there and then I knew that something was gonna happen
But I couldn’t say what, and I keep thinkin’
Oh, I wish, I wish there was a way that I could read your mind
And I know just the way to make that sacrifice
Oh, Lord, I wish, I wish there was a way that I could read your mind
And I know just the way to make that sacrifice, oh, Lord
I looked and I behold and saw her peeping through the window
I saw true loving in her eyes, yeah
Right there and then I knew that something was gonna happen
But I couldn’t say what, and I keep thinkin’
Oh, I wish, I wish there was a way that I could read your mind
And I know just the way to make that sacrifice
Oh, Lord, I wish, I wish there was a way that I could read your mind
And I know just the way to make that sacrifice, oh, Lord
Oh, I wish, I wish there was a way that I could read your mind
And I know just the way to make that sacrifice
Oh, Lord, I wish, I wish there was a way that I could read your mind
And I know, I know the way to make that sacrifice
Lord, I wish, I wish there was a way that I could read your mind, sister
And I know, I know the way to make that sacrifice
