Music of Jamaica
The music of Jamaica includes Jamaican folk music and many popular genres, such as mento, ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub music, dancehall, reggae fusion and related styles.
Reggae is especially popular through the fame of
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Mento
Mento is a style of Jamaican music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. Lord Flea and Count Lasher are two of the more successful mento artists. Well-known mento songs include Day-O, Jamaica Farewell and Linstead Market. Mento is often confused with Calypso music, a musical form from Trinidad and Tobago.
Calypso and Soca
As in many
The Trinidadian calypso and soca music are popular in Jamaica. Popular calypso/soca artists from Jamaica include Byron Lee, Fab 5, and Lovindeer. Harry Belafonte (born in the U.S., raised in Jamaica from age 5 to 13) introduced American audiences to calypso music (which had originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the early 20th century), and Belafonte was dubbed the "King of Calypso".
Jazz
From early in the 20th century, Jamaica produced many notable jazz musicians. In this development the enlightened policy of the
Among the most notable Jamaican jazz instrumentalists who made successful careers abroad was alto saxophonist
Harriott, Goode, Hutchinson and Thompson built their careers in London, along with many other instrumentalists, such as pianist
Ska
Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. The first ever ska recording was made by Count Ossie, a Nyabinghi drummer from the rasta community.[1] It is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the upbeat. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods.
Music historians typically divide the history of ska into three periods: the original Jamaican scene of the 1960s (First Wave), the English 2 Tone ska revival of the late 1970s (Second Wave) and the third wave ska movement, which started in the 1980s (Third Wave) and rose to popularity in the US in the 1990s. The recent revival of Jamaican Jazz attempts to bring back the sound of early Jamaican music artists of the late 1950s.
DJs and toasting
Along with the rise of ska came the popularity of
Toasting is a type of lyrical chanting over the beat. While Dancehall music involves deejays, they are the ones chanting or humming over the rhythm or track. With the rise of many different genres, toasting became popular in Jamaica during the 1960s and 1970s.
In the late 1960s, producers such as
The basic elements of
Rocksteady
Reggae
Reggae is one of the music genres first created in Jamaica. In the late 1960s, around the same time of toasting, reggae grew out of early Ska and Rocksteady.
Reggae became popular around the world, due in large part to the international success of artists like
Dub
By 1973, dub music had emerged as a distinct reggae genre, and heralded the dawn of the remix. Developed by record producers such as Lee "Scratch" Perry and King Tubby, dub featured previously recorded songs remixed with prominence on the bass. Often the lead instruments and vocals would drop in and out of the mix, sometimes processed heavily with studio effects. King Tubby's advantage came from his intimate knowledge with audio gear, and his ability to build his own sound systems and recording studios that were superior to the competition. He became famous for his remixes of recordings made by others, as well as those he recorded in his own studio.
Other 1970s developments
Other popular music forms that arose during the 1970s include: Briton (
Reggae and ska had a massive influence on British
Dancehall and ragga
During the 1980s, the most popular music styles in Jamaica were dancehall and ragga. Dancehall is essentially speechifying with musical accompaniment, including a basic drum beat (most often played on electric drums). The lyrics moved away from the political and spiritual lyrics popular in the 1970s and concentrate more on less serious issues ragga is characterized by the use of computerized beats and sequenced melodic track.
Ragga is usually said to have been invented with the song "Under Mi
Dancehall was sometimes violent in lyrical content, and several rival performers made headlines with their feuds across Jamaica (most notably Beenie Man versus Bounty Killer). Dancehall emerged from pioneering recordings in the late 1970s by Barrington Levy, with Roots Radics backing and Junjo Lawes as producer. The Roots Radics were the pre-eminent backing band for the dancehall style. Yellowman, Ini Kamoze, Charlie Chaplin and General Echo helped popularize the style along with producers like Sugar Minott.
The 1980s saw a rise in reggae music from outside of Jamaica. During this time, reggae particularly influenced African popular music, where Sonny Okusuns, John Chibadura, Lucky Dube and Alpha Blondy became stars. The 1980s saw the end of the dub era in Jamaica, although dub has remained a popular and influential style in the UK, and to a lesser extent throughout Europe and the US. Dub in the 1980s and 1990s has merged with electronic music.
The late 2000s saw large local success for dancehall artists like Popcaan, Vybz Kartel, Shalkal,Konshens, Mr. Vegas and Mavado. In the next decade, others artists such as Tommy Lee Sparta, Alkaline, and Cashtro Troy, would also rise to the dancehall scene.[3][4][5][6][7] By the late 2010s, music in Western markets saw influences of dancehall in pop music, including Drake's "One Dance" and "Controlla" (2016) and Rihanna's "Work" (2016).
Reggae fusion
Reggae fusion emerged as a popular subgenre in the late 1990s. It is a mixture of reggae or
Non-Rastafarian Jamaican religious music
The Bongo Nation is a distinct group of Jamaicans possibly descended from
The spread of Rastafari into urban Jamaica in the 1960s transformed the Jamaican music scene, which incorporated drumming (played at grounation ceremonies) and which has led to today's popular music. Many of the above-mentioned music and dance have been studied by Rex Nettleford artistic director (retired professor and vice chancellor of The University of the West Indies) and Marjorie Whyle Musical Director (Caribbean Musicologist, pianist, drummer, arranger lecturer at the University of the West Indies). Since 1962, this volunteer company of dancers and musicians have had many of these dances in its core repertoire and have performed worldwide to large audiences, including The British Royal family.
Other developments
Other trends included minimalist digital tracks, which began with Dave Kelly's "Pepper Seed" in 1995, alongside the return of love balladeers like Beres Hammond. American, British, and European electronic musicians used reggae-oriented beats to create further hybrid electronic music styles. Dub, world music, and electronic music continue to influence music in the 2000s. One of the latest developments is a musical form called Linguay which was founded by record producer Lissant Folkes in 2013.
JaFolk Mix is a term coined by Jamaican musician Joy Fairclough, to mean the mix of Jamaican Folk Music with any foreign and local styles of music and the evolution of a new sound created by their fusion. This is the latest Jamaican Music stylistic development of the late 20th century and 21st century. Jamaican music continues to influence the world's music. Many efforts at studying and copying Jamaican music has introduced the world to this new form of music as the copied styles are performed with accents linguistically and musically slanted to that of the home nation in which it is being studied, copied and performed.
References
- ISBN 0879306556.
- ^ "ROOTS 'n' RAP". www.ric.edu. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- Allmusic. Netaktion LLC. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
- ^ Foster, Janelle (2020). "New Artist: Cashtro Troy". Backayard Magazine. Zion Seal Limited. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
- ^ "Controversial Artist Insideeus' Releases New Single 'Ecstacy'". Insideeus. Kingston, Jamaica: WAM International LLC. October 18, 2018. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
- ^ "I can see clearly now - deejay has blindness scare". The Star. The Gleaner Company Limited. April 10, 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: InsideeusVEVO (October 16, 2018). "Insideeus - Ecstasy (Official Video)". YouTube. YouTube, LLC. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
- ^ Big D (2008-05-08). "Reggae Fusion". Reggae-Reviews. Archived from the original on 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
Further reading
- Goode, Coleridge and Roger Cotterrell, Bass Lines: A Life in Jazz. London: ISBN 0-9537040-2-5
- Manuel, Peter, with Kenneth Bilby and Michael Largey (2006). Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae (2nd edition). Temple University Press, 2006. ISBN 1-59213-463-7.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - Mthembu-Salter, Gregory and Peter Dalton. "The Loudest Island in the World". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 430–456. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
- Kroubo Dagnini, Jérémie. Vibrations Jamaïcaine. L'Histoire des musiques populaires jamaïcaines au XXe siècle. Camion Blanc. Paris (French language).
- Mthembu-Salter, Gregory and Peter Dalton. "Lovers and Poets – Babylon Sounds". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 457–462. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
- O'Brien Chang, Kevin and Wayne Chen. Reggae Routes: The Story of Jamaican Music. Temple University Press. Philadelphia.
- Jahn, Brian and Tom Weber. Reggae Island: Jamaican Music in the Digital Age. Da Capo Press. Kingston. ISBN 0-306-80853-6
- Robertson, Alan, Joe Harriott: Fire in his Soul. London: ISBN 0-9537040-3-3
- Staple, Neville. ISBN 978-1-84513-480-8
- Thompson, Leslie with Jeffrey Green, Swing from a Small Island: The Story of Leslie Thompson. London: ISBN 978-0-9557888-2-6*
- Smith, Horane. Reggae Silver Bedside Books. 2004 https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/art-culture/bookends-feb-05-2012page-one-inside-checking-in-with-horane-smithpage-twobookshelfchecking-in-with-horane-smith/
External links
- Jamaican Song and Story (edited by Walter Jekyll)
- Historical Notes for Collection 1: African-American and Jamaican Melodies