In 2008, a new style in Jamaican dancehall music and dance culture known as "Daggering" emerged. Daggering music and dancing, which included lyrics that graphically referred to sexual activities and a dance which has been described as "dry sex" on the dance floor, took Jamaica by storm. The Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica was forced to crack down on broadcasting and cable stations preventing them from playing any Daggering content. This article focuses on the subsequent clash between the government and the dancehall, and seeks to identify an appropriate method for monitoring and enforcing these new standards.
193 p., Kwame Dawes coined the term "reggae aesthetic" to explain the paradigm shift in 1960s-70s Caribbean literature that also dovetailed the rise of reggae music in Jamaica. By exploring the impact of popular music on the social developments in late 1960s and early 1970s Jamaica, Dawes offered a new method of Caribbean literary analysis reminiscent of the extant blues tradition in African American literature--similar to the way that reggae music borrows from the blues--and in so doing, highlighted the artistic and cultural influences that link people of color across the "Black Atlantic." This dissertation builds on Dawes's theory by exploring the history and function of music as an aesthetic form and narrative trope in literature of the Black Atlantic. Blues and reggae in contemporary fiction manifest the oral tradition in African storytelling.
The concert was held in order to raise funds for Howard 'Goddy Goddy' Reynolds' surgery to remove a painful tumour behind his ears. The 'night to remember' began with five-year-old Oshine Levy, the daughter of 2004 Gospel Song winner Lubert Levy. Oshine gave a splendid rendition of My Redeemer Lives. Her pint-sized body belied her voice control. She lifted the place to a spiritual high which found hundreds of mostly young attendees dancing, waving flags and singing along. The command of her performance was highlighted by MC Garfield, who reminded the audience that 'a child shall lead them'.
Chicago, IL: Columbia College Chicago, Center for Black Music Research
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
Many of the song texts are in creole or ritual languages., 214 sound discs (digital) + 2 v. of log sheets, Field recordings, primarily of music, made as part of Bilby's ethnographic and ethnomusicological fieldwork. Jamaica and French Guiana are particularly well represented, but the collection also includes recordings from Antigua, Bahamas, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Guadeloupe, St. Vincent, Suriname, Tobago, Trinidad, and the U. S. Virgin Islands, as well as Cuban music recorded in New York.
282 p., Contributes to assessing the effects of neoliberal reforms, and to identifying alternative strategies for better living through globalization, by exploring aspects of the creative destruction wrought upon the population of Jamaica, where government and multinational agencies have pursued a consistent and decades-long policy trajectory following the logic of liberation through market expansion. Focusing on conceptions of ethical behavior as expressed by residents of one central-island farmtown, the dissertation charts a corresponding pattern in locally prevalent guidelines for reconciling individual and collective interests through the practice of freedom.
113 p., Jamaican folk songs have become a definitive characteristic of Jamaican culture. They are exemplars of a culture whose music reflects the lifestyle of most of its citizens. In modern times, their beauty has been show cased in local and foreign performances which exposes an element of the country to the world. Additionally, the arrangements of songs by Jamaican composers like Noel Dexter and Peter Ashbourne have aided in their renaissance in modern times. This research analyzes the arrangements by Noel Dexter and Peter Ashbourne. It explores the transition of Jamaican folk songs from the slave fields to the art music stage.
Rise Up channels the spirit of the elders with cameos by Fred Locks, Sly Dunbar. Robbie Shakespeare, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Toots Hibberts and Brushy One String among others. Industry stalwarts like producers Mikey Bennett and Carlo Less are among those narrating the story which highlights the unique musical quality of Jamaicans.