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'.
The article discusses the importance of percussionists and drummers in Jamaican popular music, especially reggae, arguing that their contributions have often been under-estimated. It emphasizes the traditional African roots of characteristic Jamaican drumming styles. An overview of the history of Jamaican percussion and drumming is provided. Musicians discussed include Babu Bryan, known for his Kumina drumming, Watta King, a drummer in the Buru tradition, and Oswald "Count Ossie" Williams, who developed the Nyabinghi style of Rastafarian drumming.
[Carolyn Cooper] said there is a dissonance between "the brand" and the "representation of the brand" and that "until in Jamaica we come to acknowledge Jamaica is not an "out of many, one people" country but it is really a country of black people with small numbers of ethnic minorities, we're not going to get the brand right." 'At Independence, Emancipation Day just disappeared. Because if you have Emancipation Day, then you have to ask yourself what you were emancipated from. And then certain people would have to say, well, we were mixed up in it. Slavery, that is. So Emancipation Day was just erased,"she said. "But Garveyites and Rastafari kept the tradition of celebrating Emancipation Day. And it's now back on the national calendar. We even have an Emancipation Park!" "This book is a celebration of Brand Jamaica, the authentic Brand Jamaica and I hope that as you read it, you'll understand why I'm so passionate about the subject," said Cooper as she ended her remarks.
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.
The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, a group of Nyabinghi ceremonial drummers founded by the legendary Count Ossie in the 1950s, is not only making its New York debut but is raising the curtain on the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts' "Caribbean Roots: Caribbean Routes" festival. Chris Combette, who has been collaborating with Mungal Patasar on several tracks for his new album, opened the show with his beautiful fusion of Caribbean styles - samba, salsa, soca, bossa nova, reggae and zouk sweeping over the auditorium like warm waves. Based in French Guiana, bordering Brazil, Combette has soaked up the melodies of the region, while his lyrics address the nostalgia or alienation of the immigrant, and racist murder in the metropole. Beneath his sinuous, sometimes ethereal music lurked incisive Kwéyol irony and melancholy metaphors. It was left to Kali and his banjo to bring down the curtain on the festival with his brilliant reworking of Martiniquan traditional music, mazurk, biguine, chouval bwa, gwo ka (from Guadeloupe) with reggae, funk and jazz. It was good to hear St. Lucian Luther François, one of the Caribbean's foremost contemporary composers and sax players, adding punch to this excellent band and the finale of a significant festival for Caribbean music.
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.
