Barbados Culture Minister Calls For Ban On Dancehall Music

There is another call for a clampdown on dancehall music. The latest comes from Barbados Culture Minister Stephen Lashley who says it should be banned from the airwaves.

He cites a connection with growing crime and violence in that country with the genre. Lashley is quoted in Barbados’s Nation newspaper calling for a stance to be taken against “reckless behaviour” He cites a connection with growing crime and violence in that country with the genre.

"I am indeed very concerned about the escalation of gun violence, and in particular the escalation of violent acts that have claimed the lives of so many persons already this year,” he said.

“So I take this opportunity this evening to call on each and every one of us to take a stand on this reckless behaviour. I am equally concerned about the impact of certain types of dancehall music and videos, the impact that this is having on the minds of our citizens, especially our young people,” Lashley told his audience at the launch of the 2016 Community Independence Celebrations at Gall Hill, St John parish, last Saturday.

Meanwhile, individualss have taken to the Nation’s website to comment on Lashley’s correlation between violence and dancehall music.

One user, Elsie Jaime, noted: “Now persons must be told what music is acceptable. I guess the minister going ban Rihanna songs.”

In March, dancehall music made headlines in the United Kingdom when Roy Seda, owner of the Dice Bar in Croydon, England, claimed he had been told that Jamaican music is “unacceptable” by the Metropolitan Police.

Seda further claimed he was under so much pressure that he now makes his selectors sign an agreement not to play the genre as it is claimed to be associated with crime and disorder.