Peleja Brings Reggae To The Poconos

On Saturday, the local band Peleja will host a dance concert, Reggae on the Mountain, at the Delaware Water Gap Hotel, Route 611, just north of the traffic light.
"There's lots of West Indians in the Poconos, and a lot of people who love reggae here as well," said Mike Watts, who is producing and managing the event.

Watts cites the number of West Indian restaurants in East Stroudsburg alone, such as Island Delights on Crystal Street and West Indian groceries like Bobby's on Courtland Street, as evidence that the audience for the music is definitely here. The local trend mirrors the growth of the music nationally, according to Watts.

"There is a 100-page festival book that lists all the reggae festivals, and they have festivals listed in London, New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, all over. It's really getting popular in the Southeast," Watts said.

The musical form was developed out of ska music, a music form that has walking bass lines, accentuated back-beats called "the skank," and horns for the instrumental breaks. An intermediate form was originally called "rocksteady" after a single by the same name, but eventually the faster style of rocksteady was slowed down for dancing, although the accentuation on off-beats remained.

The term "reggae" was first used in the early 1960s, and accounts of its meaning vary. Bob Marley, one of the pioneers of the music, wrote that it was derived from a Latin term that meant "of the king," but there is more evidence to support the idea that the word is a derivation of "screggey," Island patois meaning ragged or ill-clothed. Reggae, in turn, was the basis for hip-hop and rap, both of which flavor Peleja's music as well.

"If you listen to a track like 'Father Figure' from our first album, it has more elements of rock. A track like 'We Just Don't Know' has a hip-hop flavor. 'When Can I Go' is reggae, and 'Sun Won't Stop' combines all three in one track. That's why we call our music 'hip-rock reggae'," said Noel Peleja. He added that the distinction between hip-hop and reggae is that reggae is more "laid back and more relaxed."
Peleja is composed of local musicians as well as a couple who reside in New York, and has been playing together for two years. Peleja, the leader of the band, lives in Blakeslee, and his musical roots date back to the '60s and his home island of Antigua, where he first heard Bob Marley on the jukebox of his mother's tavern.

The music has become intergenerational, according to Watts, as Marley's sons are now performing worldwide.

And the stereotype of reggae as music solely for Rastifarians is no longer the case. Watts cites the fact that many of the reggae festivals in the southwestern United States are dominated by white festival-goers, although many do sport the dreadlocks that are a hallmark of the music form.

Living first in New York and more recently in the Poconos, Peleja has pursued his love of music, especially the reggae music that he considers a spiritual journey. He said that one of the goals in performing is to get the audience involved with the fun that the musicians have in performing.

The group's CD is available through its Web site, or it can be purchased at Main Street Jukebox in Stroudsburg.

Also appearing at the event is DJ Lady Ninja, who will spin discs that run the gamut from hip-hop and reggae to "reggaetone," yet another musical spin-off of reggae that combines traditional reggae beats with Latino styles such as meringue.


The Reggae News Agency

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