Introduction
(Beres Hammond)
The importance of music as a cornerstone of cultural life in developing countries is well understood. The production of local popular music has grown from its roots in long-established local culture, and has emerged in many countries in the developing world to become a significant economic industry through the wider spread of live music practice, local and national broadcasting, the establishment of a domestic recording industry and eventually, for some participants, access to the international music market. This process originates with the fact that production of music for economic gain can provide a relatively accessible avenue for individuals and groups to move into the cash economy. Many of the performance skills will already have been acquired, and capital requirements and barriers to entry are relatively low. Typically individuals or groups begin with live performance for payment, and, if they are successful and motivated, they may move into broadcasting or recording for the local market. In many countries throughout the developing world, small-scale recording companies have sprung up over the years, serving local broadcasting networks and retail outlets.
Mento, Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae, Dancehall and all other Jamaican music forms have a very deep rooted history. Jamaicans can trace their musical roots to around the time of 1655 when the English had assumed control of Jamaica. After capturing the island from the Spanish, they continued to expand on the existing slave trade. Until the 19th century the English imported several thousand of enslaved Africans to the Jamaica and with the Africans came new languages, new religions, new music, different cultures, beliefs and ways of life.
The British realized very early that African traditions especially singing, dancing and drumming were vital in retaining their spirit of freedom. They were also fearful that these African rituals could be used as calls to rebellions and uprisings. As a measure of control, legislation was passed in 1696 which forbade large gatherings, prayers, singing, drumming or other forms of celebration. However, despite the oppression, the Africans held close to their traditions and learned how to secretly pass these traditions down through the generations.
The interaction between Europeans and Africans created a new language which evolved into Jamaican Creole or Patois. This language was used in most Jamaican folk songs.
Jamaica Folk Music
Jamaican folk music is probably the earliest form of Jamaican music and can be characterized into different groups. Ring games and nursery songs which carries a distinct European influence, and other forms like kumina and tambo, where the influence is clearly African. In between, are revival and mento and the performance style is always African. Before Jamaican independence, folk music was looked down upon in Jamaica and was not included in the education system. It was characterized as being lower class and was only performed by the working class. Post independence saw the acceptance of folk music and is today a common fixture at national events.
Mento in Jamaica
The early 1900’s saw the rise of Mento in Jamaica. Mento is a Jamaican folk music form that features acoustic instruments such as an acoustic guitar, banjo, hand drums and a rhumba box.
The 1950’s was the golden age of mento, which greatly influenced and led to the development Ska. Ska combines elements of Jamaican mento with American Jazz and rhythm and blues. After World War II, many Jamaicans obtained radios and frequently listened to American jazz and rhythm and blues that was brought to the island by American naval officers stationed there. In the 1950’s however, Americans began listening to rock’n roll instead of jazz and R and B, and Jamaicans yearned to hear the jazz and R and B which they had come to love. In an effort to recreate the music, producers such as Clement ‘Coxone’ Dodd, Prince Buster and Duke Reid which were at the time sound system operators, began producing recordings. One theory is that ska was created in a recording session by Prince Buster who instructed the guitarist to change the emphasis on various beats. The guitar began emphasizing the second and fourth beats in the bar, giving rise to the new sound. The drums were taken from traditional Jamaican drumming and marching styles. To create the ska beat, Prince Buster essentially flipped the R&B shuffle beat, stressing the offbeats with the help of the guitar.
Ska
At the time, Ska lyrics were largely influenced by the Jamaican rudeboy culture. Rudeboys was the name given to poor Jamaican youth who could not find employment, but would sometimes be hired by sound system operators and promoters to crash the parties of other promoters. They were also sometimes referred to as dancehall crashers.
When these rudeboys starting dancing a little slower to the music, the tempo of the music changed and became slower. This was the birth of rocksteady. Rocksteady is characterized as being slower than ska with a more prominent bassline. It is often said that, Alton Ellis was responsible for the music when he released the song ‘rocksteady’. The rudeboy culture was even more prominent during the rocksteady period and most of the lyrics revolved around love and the rudeboy lifestyle.
Rockready
Rocksteady only lasted 2 years and led to the advent of reggae. Reggae emerged around 1968 and is commonly used to refer to all popular Jamaican music. When the tempo of the music began to slow down the music form known as reggae was created. The word reggae with regards to music comes from the song ‘Do the Reggae’ by the Maytals. Other theories about the term reggae have caused a little confusion surrounding the origin of the word.
Reggae Music
During the seventies and eighties, reggae achieved international acclaim with the success of groups like “The Wailers” and movies like Jimmy Cliff’s “The Harder They Come”. In 1985 ‘The Best Reggae Album’ category was added to the Grammy Awards. During this period reggae began to take a new form that came to be known as dancehall.
The term dancehall comes from the spaces in which popular Jamaican recordings were played by local sound systems. The music is characterized by a deejay singing and toasting (or rapping) over raw and danceable music riddims. The rhythm in dancehall is much faster than in reggae, sometimes with drum machines replacing acoustic sets.
80’s Dance Hall
The importance of music as a cornerstone of cultural life in developing countries is well understood. The production of local popular music has grown from its roots in long-established local culture, and has emerged in many countries in the developing world to become a significant economic industry through the wider spread of live music practice, local and national broadcasting, the establishment of a domestic recording industry and eventually, for some participants, access to the international music market. This process originates with the fact that production of music for economic gain can provide a relatively accessible avenue for individuals and groups to move into the cash economy. Many of the performance skills will already have been acquired, and capital requirements and barriers to entry are relatively low. Typically individuals or groups begin with live performance for payment, and, if they are successful and motivated, they may move into broadcasting or recording for the local market. In many countries throughout the developing world, small-scale recording companies have sprung up over the years, serving local broadcasting networks and retail outlets.
Issues
Over the last fifty years the music industry has experienced some substantial technological changes in the ways in which music is produced, distributed and consumed. In particular the development of new formats such as the long playing record, the audio-cassette, the compact disc and so on, have led to significant structural changes throughout the industry’s value chain. But the effects of these developments have been relatively minor in comparison to the potentially far-reaching impacts on the music industry of the revolution in communications technologies which began a decade or so ago and which is still unfolding. The digital revolution in music – the capacity to store musical sounds as computer files, to copy and reproduce them on personal computers, and to transmit them over the internet – is having profound effects on all participants in the music business, from the songwriter and recording artist through to the ultimate consumer
Earnings
According to IFPI data, sales of recorded music in Jamaica in 2000 amounted to $US2.2 million, or approximately $US0.90 per head of population. This placed Jamaica as ranked 71st in world record sales in that year. Sales have declined sharply since 1998, when the overall value of record sales was $US9.9 million.
The music industry in Jamaica provides employment and income for somewhere between 6 and 12 thousand people, or about 1 per cent of the employed labour force. The industry has been a means for artists and workers with little or no formal education to enter the cash economy. Thus it has been a source of hope for many, though not surprisingly only a relative few will actually succeed. At the local level the music industry has provided an injection of funds into many poor communities, with consequent second and subsequent round spending effects. As Witter (2002) points out, the future earning power of the industry will depend not only on collections from already published work which is taken up on the international market, but also from developing new forms of music to command a share of the constantly changing market for popular music.
The Jamaican government has recognised the music industry as part of its development strategy as spelt out in the National Industry Policy. The future growth of the industry will be enhanced by strategic policy measures to assist Jamaican artists and producers, for example through targeted concessions in some indirect taxes.
Current Dancehall
Jamaica Creative Industries 