KINGSTON, Jamaica - With his shaved head, pale skin and velvet-soft voice, Tilmann Otto looks anything but a reggae artist.
By Stevenson JacobsHunched over a mixing board in a cramped recording studio, the 29-year-old German, better known as "Gentleman," is putting a new spin on the music made famous by Bob Marley.
Germany's best-selling reggae artist, Otto is among a growing number of European musicians embracing Jamaica's best-known cultural export and exposing it to new fans on the other side of the Atlantic.
"When we first started playing this music like 10 years ago, people (in Germany) would come up and request Bon Jovi," Gentleman said during a recent trip to Kingston to record his third album. "The people just didn't know about the music. Now they've really got the vibes going."
And going strong, by all accounts. From Spain to Belgium to the Netherlands, dozens of reggae-themed magazines, radio programs and Internet sites have sprung up.
Throbbing "dancehall" beats - the modern, hip-hop version of reggae - pulse from packed discotheques in Paris and London. Some of the world's biggest reggae concerts no longer are held in Jamaica or the United States, but in Cologne, Germany, and Lyon, France.
"Reggae is international now," said Benoit Collin, manager of the Internet site Reggaefrance.com, which has seen its traffic triple to more than 90,000 visitors a month since its debut in 1999.
In Belgium, reggae has become an alternative for younger listeners tired of the repetitive, mechanized beats of the 1990s techno music craze. At least 20 reggae bands can be heard on any given night, up from only a couple a few years ago.
"It's definitely growing," said Tommy B., frontman for the Brussels-based group Jaman!, which draws crowds of up to 15,000. "People are getting conscience that there's something else besides techno music."
A mixture of Afro-Caribbean folk music and American R&B, reggae was first introduced to Europe in the 1960s by Jamaican migrants settling in Britain. Its popularity exploded a decade later with the rise of Marley, who used the beat to promote messages for social justice and universal unity and love. His music influenced future artists like the British reggae group UB40, Sting and Eric Clapton.
More recently, reggae has spread with the help of newer artists like Jamaican dancehall singer Sean Paul, judged best new act at the 2003 MTV Europe Awards.
Many European reggae artists perform songs in English, though a few like French singer Pierpoljak sing in their native tongues. Paul Zasky, bass player for the Austrian dub-reggae band Dubblestandart, said his group mixes English with German to reach a wider audience.
"This brings the music much closer to the people," Zasky said. "We are not from Jamaica. We can only play the music the way we see it and feel it."
As a kid, Gentleman got turned on by reggae after stumbling upon his older brother's dusty record collection, which included classics by Marley and fellow reggae legend Dennis Brown.
"I didn't understand the lyrics at first," said Gentleman, the son of a Lutheran preacher who speaks in fluent Jamaican patois. "It just gave me a good feeling when I heard the music. It's timeless and universal."
His discovery led to a yearlong sojourn in Jamaica, where he began developing his own sound with some of the island's best producers.
Many foreign artists come to Jamaica for inspiration or studio work. Gentleman is one of the few who performs regularly on the island, having made his debut in 1999 at the famed Reggae Sunsplash concert before a cheering crowd of 20,000.
"These guys are just as good as Bob Marley," said Clive Hunt, a Jamaican producer who has worked with dozens of international artists, including Pierpoljak and Alfa Blondie of the Ivory Coast.
Hunt credits foreign artists with sparking a renewed interest in reggae after a steady decline in popularity after Marley's death in 1982.
"The overseas artists are the ones that actually brought reggae back," he said.
Not all Jamaicans are enthusiastic.
In a 2002 review of Gentleman's sophomore album, "Journey to Jah," the Web site reggae-reviews.com praised his lyrics but called his voice too "flat" and "Caucasian."
"He puts on a credible Jamaican patois when he chants, but you can't fight genetics," the review said.
Such criticism comes with the territory, said Tommy B. of Jaman!, all of whose members are white. That's why he says it's important for European artists to use reggae to highlight their own culture, not Jamaica's.
"There's a lot of groups preaching about Jamaica and they've never even been there," he said. "We sing about our country, our problems. We don't claim to be Jamaicans."
