Jamaican music

Jamaican music is music from Jamaica , a Third World nation whose music has achieved international popularity. The immensepopularity of reggae and dub inparticular has made this tiny Caribbean island one of the musical centers of theworld.

Early history

Originally inhabited by the Arawaks , Jamaica was colonized first by the Spanish and then after the Treaty of Madrid in 1670 , by the British . Many of the slaves that had been brought to the island by the Spaniards were ordered toresist the conquering troops of Great Britain while their masters fled. These people formed their own, mostly autonomouscommunities in the rural interior of Jamaica and became known as the Maroons . Thesepoor villages became isolated from the rest of the island, and were eventually the birthplace of Rastafarianism , a religion which soon spread to the rest of the island and abroad.

British plantations soon covered the island until 1838 , when slavery was abolished. Thepractice continued, however, in the guise of indenturedservitude . The modern BongoNation , for example, has its roots in Angolans imported as indentured servantsinstead of slaves, a very minor distinction. The Bongo Nation remains a culturally distinct part of Jamaican society, and isknown for Kumina , which refers to both a religion and a form of music .

The modern intertwining of Jamaican religion and music can be traced back to the 1860s , when the Pocomania and Revival Zion churches drew on African and Christian traditions andincorporated music into almost every facet of worship . Later, this trend spread into Hinduism among the numerous Indians ( coolies ), resulting in baccra music, and, most famously, Rastafarianism transforming the Jamaican music scene in the 1960s , incorporating religious nyabhingi drumming from grounation worship ceremonies into popularmusic.

Early 20th century

Junkanoo (a type of folk music now more closely associated with The Bahamas ), the quadrille (a European dance) and work songs were the primary forms of Jamaican music at the beginning of the 20th century . These were synthesized into mento music, which spreadacross the island. Mento was the first style of Jamaican music to be recorded.

1950s: Mento and sound systems

Mento was recorded in the 1950s due to theefforts of Stanley Motta , whonoted the similiarities between Jamaican folk and Trinidadian calypso , which was currently finding international audiences. While mento neverfound a large international audience as calypso had, some of these recordings, such as by Count Lasher , Lord Composer and George Moxey , are now widely-respectedlegends of Jamaican music. Though it has largely been supplanted by successors like reggae and dub, mento is still performed,recorded, and released internationally by traditionalist performers like the Jolly Boys .

By the mid- 1950s , Jamaica had transitioned from a rural society to an urban one. Thenew city dwellers in Kingston and Richmond , for example, were exposed to American R&B , doo wop and rock and roll . Parties gathered around mobile soundsystems , which played American hits. Some of the major figures of the Jamaican music scene came to the fore in associationwith sound systems during this period, including Duke Reid and Sir Coxsone . In 1958 , the first local R&B bands (most influentially Joe Higgs and Roy Wilson ) began recording for domestic audiences.

1960s: The ska era, DJs, and Island Records

By 1964, a distinctive Jamaican music had sprung up based around the sound systems called ska . Ska was fast, danceable and influenced by American rock androll and soul . Perhaps the best-known of the original wave of ska were The Skatalites , whose career spanned decades and numerous styles ofpopular Jamaican music. At first primarily instrumental, ska's rhythms generally didn't lend well to vocal stylings, though somepopular artists such as The Maytals and The Wailers got their start by singing in this style.

Some of ska's fans were " rude boys ",the local name for gangsters and petty thieves. Rude boys were anything from fashionable posuers to hard-edged, violent andmisogynist thugs with nothing to lose in Jamaica's post-independence economic depression. Rude boys brought controversy to theska scene and scorn from the island's almost entirely white middle- and upper-classes. The rude boys also garnered attention frompoliticians, who promised protection, gifts of weapons or other incentives to harness their political support or to employ themas thugs.

Along with the meteoric rise of ska came the popularity of DJs like Sir Lord Comic , King Stitt and pioneer Count Matchuki , who began talkingstylistically over the rhythms of popular songs at sound systems. In Jamaican music, the DJ is the one who talks (known elsewhereas the MC ) and the selecter is the person who chooses the records. The popularity of DJs as an essential component of the soundsystem created a need for instrumental songs, as well as instrumental versions of popular vocal songs. From this arose the dub , originally an instrumental version of a vocal song, with the vocal versionon the A-side and the dub on the B-side of a single. This trend began the development of dub music as a distinct genre, popularin its own right.

By the 1960s , Chris Blackwell 's Island Records became the biggest label promoting Jamaican music to the international market. Due to afilliation with the record industry in theUK and First world funding, Island had the distribution to vastlyincrease exposure of reggae to the global pop market, especially in the UK where a significant population of Jamaican immigrantshad relocated for economic opportunities not available at home. Blackwell's stable of artists included Millie Small , singer of the first majorJamaican music UK radio hit, 1964 's "My Boy Lollipop."

Rastafarianism, rocksteady and foundations of dub

Ska's popularity grew steadily in Jamaica, alongside Rastafarianism, which spread rapidly in impoverished urban areas andamong the often politically radical music scene. The lyrics of ska songs began to focus on Rastafarian themes; slower beats andchants entered the music from religious Rastafarian music, and ska soon evolved into rocksteady .

Rocksteady was the music of Jamaica's rude boys by the mid- 1960s , when The Wailers and The Clarendonians dominated the charts, taking over from pioneers like Alton Ellis (who is often said to have invented rocksteady. Desmond Dekker 's "007" brought international attention to the new urban beat.The mix put heavy emphasis on the bass line, as opposed to ska's strong horn section, and the rhythm guitar began playing on the up-beat. Session musicians like Supersonics , Soul Vendors , Jets and, most influentially, Jackie Mittoo (of the Skatalites)became legends during this period.

In the late 1960s , producers like KingTubby and Lee Perry began stripping the vocals away from tracks recorded forsound system parties. With the bare beats and bass playing and the lead instruments dropping in and out of the mix, DJs began toasting , or delivering humorous and often obscene jabs at fellow DJs and localcelebrities. Over time, toasting became an increasingly complex activity, and became as big a draw as the dance beats playedbehind it. In the early 1970s , DJs such as DJ Kool Herc took the practice of toasting to New York , where it inspired the beginnings of rapmusic .

1970s: Dub and reggae

By the early 1970s , rocksteady had evolved into reggae music. The style of music at the time is retroactively termed roots reggae and comibines the influence of American soulmusic and the traditional shuffle and one-drop of Jamaican mento . Reggae quickly became one of the most popularforms of music in the world, due in large part to the immense international success of Bob Marley & the Wailers . Marley himself was viewed by some as a Rastafarianmessianic figure, particularly throughout the Caribbean , Africa , and among Native Americans and Australian Aborigines . His lyrics on love, redemption and naturalbeauty captivated audiences, and he gained headlines for negotiating truces between rival gangs and, later, two violently warringJamaican political parties. Reggae music was intricately tied to the expansion of Rastafarian religion with its principles of pacifism , Zionism , and pan-Africanism . Musicians like Gregory Isaacs , the Congos and Burning Spear and producers like Lee 'Scratch' Perry solidified the early sound of reggae.

By 1973 , dub music had emerged as adistinct reggae sub-genre and heralded the dawn of the remix . Most influentially inventedby record producers Lee Perry and King Tubby , dub featured previously recorded songs remixed with prominence on the bass. Often the leadinstruments and vocals would drop in and out of the mix, sometimes processed heavily with studio effects. King Tubby's advantagecame from his intimate knowledge with audio gear, and his ability to build his own sound systems and recording studios that weresuperior to the competition. He became famous for his remixes of recordings made by others as well as those he recorded in hisown studio.

Popularity of DJs was still on the increase. U-Roy was one of the most popular. Hissuccessor as DJ king of Jamaica, BigYouth , invented a new style of DJ music by adding Rasta chants to songs. Big Youth and similarly styled performers dominatedJamaican pop music until the end of the decade, when dancehall stars like Ranking Joe , Lone Ranger and General Echo brought a return to U-Roy's style.

Other popular music forms that arose during the period include:

• Linton KwesiJohnon 's dub poetry
• Sly & Robbie 's rockers reggae , which drew on Augustus Pablo 's melodica playing became popular with a stable of artists including The Mighty Diamonds and The Gladiators .
• Joe Gibb 's mellower rockers reggae,including Culture and Dennis Brown
• Burning Spear 's distinctive style made him an enduring star. Some ofhis albums continue to rank as the most influential in history, such as Marcus Garvey and Man in the Hills .
• Harmonic, spiritually oriented Rastas like The Abyssinians , Black Uhuru and Third World

In the later part of the 1970s , Brit Louisa Marks had a hit with "Caught Youin a Lie" ( 1975 in music ), beginning a trend of British performers makingromantic, ballad-oriented reggae called lovers rock .

1980s: Dancehall and ragga

During the 1980s , the most popular musical styles in Jamaica were dancehall and ragga . 'Dancehall' is essentiallyreggae music with a basic rock drum beat (more often played on electric drums rather than acoustic) and pop lyrics rather thanthe former political and spiritual lyrics popular in the 1970s. Ragga is characterized by the use of computerized beatsand sequenced melodic tracks in reggae songs. Ragga is usually said to have been invented with "Under Mi Sleng Teng" by Wayne Smith ( 1985 in music ). Ragga barely edged out dancehall as the dominant form of Jamaican music in the 1980s.DJ and vocalist team Chaka Demus and Shabba Ranks proved moreenduring than the competition, and helped inspire an updated version of the rudeboy culture called raggamuffin . Dancehall was sometimes violent in lyrical content, and several rival performers madeheadlines with their feuds across Jamaica (most notably Beenie Man vs 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 backingband for dancehall style. Yellowman , Ini Kamoze , Charlie Chaplin and General Echo helpedpopularize the style along with producers like Sugar Minott .

The 1980s saw a rise in reggae music from outside of Jamaica. The UK has long been a hotbed of Jamaican culture in exile, dueto a large number of Jamaican immigrants seeking economic betterment. Reggae and ska influenced American and British punk bands of the 1970s and 1980s, such as TheClash , Elvis Costello and the Attractions , The Police and Nina Hagen . Bandsincluding The Specials and Madness became popular with the British ska revival called twotone . During this time, reggae particularly influenced African popular music,where Sonny Okusuns (Nigeria) John Chibadura (Zimbabwe), Lucky Dube (South Africa) and Alpha Blondy (Ivory Coast) becamestars.

The 1980s also saw the end of the dub era in Jamaica, though dub has remained a popular and influential style in the UK and toa lesser extent throughout Europe and the US. Dub in the 1980s and 1990s has merged with electronic music for a mingling of styles.

1990s into present

Variations of dancehall continued in popularity into the mid- 1990s . Some of the mostviolent performers of the previous decade converted to Rastafarianism or otherwise changed their lyrical contents. Artists like Buju Banton ( TillShiloh ) experienced significant crossover success in foreign markets, while Beenie Man, Bounty Killer and othersdeveloped a sizable American following due to their frequent guesting on albums by gangsta rappers like Wu-Tang Clan and Jay-Z . Some ragga musicians, including Beenie Man, Shabba Ranks and Capleton , publicly converted to a new style ofconscious music-making. Other trends included the minimalist digital tracks which began with Dave Kelly 's "Pepper Seed" in 1995 , alongside the return of love balladeers like Beres Hammond .

American punk ska bands like NoDoubt , Mighty, Mighty Bosstones and Sublime became popular in the mid-1990s influenced by 1980s pioneers like Operation Ivy . American, British, and European electronic musicians used reggae-orientedbeats to create further hybrid electronic music styles. Dub, world music , and electronic music continue to intertwine, influence each other, andcreate new sub-genres into the 2000s.

References

• Mthembu-Salter, Gregory and Peter Dalton. "The Loudest Island in the World". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Markwith McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia andPacific, pp 430-456. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
• Mthembu-Salter, Gregory and Peter Dalton. "Lovers and Poets -- Babylon Sounds". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Markwith McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia andPacific, pp 457-462. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0