Jamaican music

Jamaican music
• 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 international fame of Bob

Marley. Jamaican music's influence on music styles in other countries
includes the practice of toasting, which was brought to New York City
and evolved into rapping. British genres such as Lovers rock, jungle
music and grime are also influenced by Jamaican music.
Mento
• Mento is a style of Jamaican music that predates and has greatly
influenced ska and reggae music. Mento typically features acoustic
instruments, such as acoustic guitar, banjo, hand drums, and the rhumba
box—a large mbira in the shape of a box that can be sat on while played.
The rhumba box carries the bass part of the 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, a musical form from Trinidad and
Tobago.
Calypso
• As in many Anglo-Caribbean Caribbean islands, the calypso music of Trinidad and Tobago has
become part of the culture of Jamaica. Jamaica's own local music mento is often confused
with calypso music. Although the two share many similarities, they are separate and distinct
musical forms. During the mid-20th century, mento was conflated with calypso, and mento
was frequently referred to as calypso, kalypso and mento calypso; mento singers frequently
used calypso songs and techniques. As in calypso, mento uses topical lyrics with a humorous
slant, commenting on poverty and other social issues. Sexual innuendos are also common.

• 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 Alpha Boys School in Kingston, which provided training and encouragement in music
education for its pupils, was very influential. Also significant was the brass band tradition of the island,
strengthened by opportunities for musical work and training in military contexts. However, limited scope for
making a career playing jazz in Jamaica resulted in many local jazz musicians leaving the island to settle in
London or in the United States.

• Among the most notable Jamaican jazz instrumentalists who made successful careers abroad was alto
saxophonist Joe Harriott, now regarded internationally as one of the most original and innovative of jazz
composers. Also internationally successful were trumpeters Dizzy Reece, Leslie 'Jiver' Hutchinson and Leslie
Thompson, bassist Coleridge Goode, guitarist Ernest Ranglin and pianist Monty Alexander.

• Harriott, Goode, Hutchinson and Thompson built their careers in London, along with many other
instrumentalists, such as pianist Yorke de Souza and the outstanding saxophonist Bertie King, who later
returned to Jamaica and formed a mento-style band. Reece and Alexander worked in the US. Saxophonist
Wilton 'Bogey' Gaynair settled in Germany working mainly with Kurt Edelhagen's orchestra.
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. Later it became
popular with many skinheads.

• 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 deejays such as Sir Lord Comic, King Stitt and pioneer Count Matchuki, who began
talking stylistically over the rhythms of popular songs at sound systems. In Jamaican music, the Deejay is the one who talks (known
elsewhere as the MC) and the selector is the person who chooses the records. The popularity of Deejays as an essential component of
the sound system, and created a need for instrumental songs, as well as instrumental versions of popular vocal songs.

• 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 King Tubby and Lee Perry began stripping the vocals away from tracks recorded for sound system
parties. With the bare beats and bass playing and the lead instruments dropping in and out of the mix, Deejays began toasting, or
delivering humorous and often provoking jabs at fellow deejays and local celebrities. Over time, toasting became an increasingly
complex activity, and became as big a draw as the dance beats played behind it.

• The basic elements of hip-hop—boasting raps, rival posses, uptown throwdowns, and political commentary—were all present in
Trinidadian music referred to as Extempo Wars as long ago as the 1800s, though they did not reach the form of commercial recordings
until the 1920s and 30s. Calypso like other forms of music continued to evolve through the 50s and 60s. When rocksteady and reggae
bands looked to make their music a form of national and even international black resistance, they took calypso's example.[2] Calypso
itself, like Jamaican music, moved back and forth between the predominance of boasting and toasting songs packed with 'slackness' and
sexual innuendo and a more topical, political, 'conscious' style.
Rocksteady
• Rocksteady was the music of Jamaica's rude boys by the mid-1960s,
when The Wailers and The Clarendonians dominated the charts.
Desmond Dekker's "007" brought international attention to the new
genre. 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
upbeat. Session musicians like Supersonics, Soul Vendors, Jets and
Jackie Mittoo (of the Skatalites) became popular during this period.
Reggae
• Reggae is one of the music genres first created in Jamaica. In the late 1960s, around the same
time of toasting, reggae began to expand and infiltrate the ears and bodies of countless
Jamaicans. The genre stems from early Ska and Rocksteady, but also has its own style of
Jamaican authenticity, speaking about life ups and downs. Bob Marley is the most renowned
reggae entrepreneur and still considers to have hits today.

• In the late 1960s reggae emerged as a reinterpretation of American rhythm and blues. Reggae
became popular around the world, due in large part to the international success of artists like
Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. Marley was viewed as a Rastafarian messianic
figure by some fans, particularly throughout the Caribbean, Africa, and among Native
Americans and Australian Aborigines. His lyrics about love, redemption and natural beauty
captivated audiences, and he gained headlines for negotiating truces between the two
opposing Jamaican political parties (at the One Love Concert), led by Michael Manley (PNP)
and Edward Seaga.
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 tracks.

• Ragga is usually said to have been invented with the song "Under Mi Sleng Teng" by Wayne Smith. Ragga barely edged out dancehall as the dominant
form of Jamaican music in the 1980s. DJ Shabba Ranks and vocalist team Chaka Demus and Pliers proved more enduring than the competition, and
helped inspire an updated version of the rude boy culture called raggamuffin.

• 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, 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).