Cocoa Tea, Mighty Sparrow and Others Endorse Barack Obama With Reggae Songs

Reggae musician Cocoa Tea is the latest in a string of musicians who has recorded songs endorsing Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama. Mighty Sparrow, a calypso star, has also released a popular song about Obama. As far as I know, neither of these artists are American citizens, and therefore cannot vote in our election, but it's interesting to see international artists coming out so strongly in support of a political candidate. Edited: The Mighty Sparrow is a naturalized US citizen. Thanks, Pierre!

Part of the reason behind this might have to do with Obama's arts platform. He's the first candidate in recent history to lay out a detailed plan for supporting performing and visual arts and artists, and it's making a major difference for him in the performing arts community. He wants to make a new visa classification for international artists (which might help prevent things like Balkan Beat Box getting turned away at the US border), as well as create an "Artist Corps" (comparable to the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps, using artists and musicians to foster cultural exchange and promote peace), and, perhaps most significantly, increase funding of the National Endowment for the Arts, which is distressingly underfunded at the moment.

Cocoa Tea's song, titled "Barack Obama", will be released this week on VP records. You can see a video of Mighty Sparrow's song "Barack the Magnificent" on YouTube.