Reggae Lives

Photography by Jahvtz Avital Blanton

I am a freelance photographer interested in Rastafari themes, musical, social or cultural. The reggae tradition has always played a central role in my photography. My focus is to capture, reserve and maintain through photographs the dynamic rich tradition of reggae culture.

Reggae Photography is important in promoting knowledge and understanding in the global community.  It represents the profound and jarring disconnect between what is real and what is propaganda.

There is another way to view the world. I call it the “Tafari parallel universe”.  It is void of nationalistic arrogance and a superficial cult of personality. Reggae Lives, a pictorial glimpse at an alternative movement, the Rastafari movement, is not ambiguous in its intent.  Reggae Lives captures through photographs an ongoing history, not skewed in modern values, but of regular people shut out of any meaningful participation in world culture, methodically building their own.

Jahvtz

World Rhythms Musical Cruise

I offer thanks to You for You have answered me and You have been my deliverance. The stone which the builders scorned has become the chief cornerstone. This is the day which the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice on it. Psalm 118

In 1972, I saw the movie The Harder they Come in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass. In 1973 I was given a Bob Marley album; in 1974 I went to Jamaica to discover the roots of the rhythms that moved my soul.

This mission has culminated in producing World Rhythms Musical Cruise on commercial radio in the New York Capital District. This “musical cruise” features our illustrious reggae, calypso, and soca artists from around the globe. Attending the festivals and industry events is where I procure most of my interviews and where the power and the inspiration of the music seeps into my soul. Thus, I transmit my weekly creation to you. Let us dance with the music!

In Unity,

Ana Avital