Jamaican State Funeral for Reggae Singer Gregory Isaacs, the ‘Cool Ruler’
Jamaican State Funeral for Reggae Singer Gregory Isaacs, the ‘Cool Ruler’
Unless you’re a reggae devotee, you might have assumed that the heyday of Jamaica’s most famous music ended with the death of the legendary Bob Marley in 1981. After that, Marley’s elegance seemed to have been overtaken by the louder and often lewder strains of dancehall reggae. But the thousands gathering to bid farewell to Gregory Isaacs this weekend know better: thanks to Isaacs’ silky vocals and stage mastery — he was called the “Cool Ruler” — the reggae born at the time of the Beatles still pulses strong. Isaacs “kept the tradition of pure singing alive,” says Jamaican musicologist Vaughn “Bunny” Goodison. “He remained endeared to the people.”