The History of Jamaican Music in the 20th Century and its Influence on 20th Century Music in the West - Essay Example

? The History of Jamaican Music in the 20th Century and its Influence on 20th Century Music in the West Table of Contents Introduction Jamaican Music Development 2 History of the Jamaican Sound 2 Sound System Dances 4 The Music of Jamaica 6 Mento 6 Prince Buster 7 Rocksteady and Reggae 8 Bob Marley and the Modern Jamaican Influence 10 Conclusion 11 Bibliography 12 Introduction Jamaican music is defined by the emergence of a nation that was under a political construction during the 20th century where folk songs and historic influences from both English and African heritages. The emergence of sound system dances allowed for the spread of Jamaican music throughout the Western world. Jamaican music evolved through commercialization, starting from a point of trying to appeal through human emotional issues, but eventually taking on the role as a central part of the political evolution of Jamaica during the latter 20th Century. As Bob Marley took on an international presence, he and others who followed brought reggae to the United States where it influenced the evolution of politically volatile rap music. The influences of Jamaican music on the Western world evolved from an island that was undergoing social and political change. Jamaican Music Development History of the Jamaican Sound The history of Jamaica is mixed between the African heritage and the colonialism of Europe. The main language of Jamaica of the island is English, but the traditional history of the region is that evolved from small villages on the island from the roots of an African heritage which was untouched by European influence. From the evidence of the primarily European influences on daily life, it can be concluded that Jamaica is primarily a European influenced culture but has retained the flavor of Africa in its arts. According to Chang and Chen, “the performance style of authentic folk music in Jamaica is African, no matter what the origins of the music”.1 The proof of this is seen in Rastafarian renditions of European Bible hymns in which complicated percussive expressions and the insertion of syncopations not in the original music are decidedly African influenced. Additionally, the use of relaxed vocal timbre which obtains the sound from the face rather than from the head expresses an African style as opposed to a European influence.2 One of the more prevalent techniques that can be seen in Jamaica that is directly influenced from Africa is the call and answer group vocal technique. Most music in both the African and Jamaican format is conceived vocally. This is so important that there exists a ‘sing-talk’ format that can be considered the precursor to rap. The call and answer form, which is fairly self-explanatory, is a core of African and Jamaican musical performance. Rural Jamaican music is rife with this format and it has been translated as an influential factor into ska, rocksteady, and reggae.3 The belief is that most of the African influences are from the period of time of colonial slavery, but this may not be the case. The theory that African influence is based solely on this time of slavery can be refuted when taken into consideration with the addition of indentured servants who came outside of slavery during the period between 1841 and 1865. The Rastafarians are defined by Ethiopian origins, by the Bongo Nation are influenced from ancestry in the Congo-Angola region of West Africa. What is now known by Rastafarians as Nyabinghi can be shown to be a direct result of the combination of theses traditions.4 According to Chang and Chen “Jamaican popular music has always mixed the rhythm of Africa and the melody of Europe”5 During the early 20th century Jamaica was beginning to create a post-colonialism world with a distinct national identity. In the 1930s music that was specific to Jamaica began to emerge as a defining element of the culture. As development workers began to work towards improving conditions of villages and towns, organizing a network in order to gain control over distribution of resources and to help improve conditions of poverty, music provided a balance between peoples social and political identities. The use of social identities was a key element in creating a political autonomy, the specificity of the social context made solid through identifiable music and traditions. Music was a key to creating the political conception of Jamaica.6 Sound System Dances When the music of Jamaica is being played there is a sensation of being transported to a tropical location, the scent of the ocean on the fringes of one’s perception and the sound of crashing waves in the background. It is likely that one will hear the chatter of others as the music is reminiscent of a resort poolside or bar, the feeling of tranquility intermingled with excitement as the idea of being on vacation stirs in the memories. If a person has never experienced this personally, they have seen it on television and more than likely picks up on the social cues that reggae creates. The idea of Jamaica is exotic, energetic, and playful, and the music creates that type of imagery in the mind. The tourism of the 1950s combined with the growth of a national identity allowed for music to be the defining adhesive that brought all the other elements of the Jamaican cultural nature together.7 The sound system dances began in the late 1950s with great dances being held on the streets of Jamaica where the youth could gather, dance, and hear music that was possibly their only access to professionally created sound.8 Drinking, dancing, and wearing their best clothes, the people of the ghettos of Jamaica would gather together to celebrate life. The dances served an even more important purpose other than a cultural event. The dances attracted a great deal of money to local businesses. People from all over the island would gather at these events, spending money for drinks and buying other goods. People who were visiting the islands would find these events to be culturally exciting and they would immerse them inside the vibrant energy of the Jamaican social world.9 These events were had a defining quality to them. According to Bradley “Critically, while these communal and fiscal advantages meant that sound systems were there to stay, the defining aspect of them was that they were cultural, as opposed to merely being culture”.10 Harriott, one of the more successful sound system artists and in existence virtually from its beginnings, has suggested that the sound system events were involved with a great deal of self worth for a section of people for whom self worth was difficult. These events had power and gave that power to the dispossessed. It was the sound system dances, however, that changed the influential power of the Jamaican sound to an international level. Through the experiences of tourists at these cultural events, the music began to filter into the United States and Europe, creating a Jamaican presence on a national stage.11 The Music of Jamaica Mento Mento has a sound that is similar to calypso music that comes from islands in the Caribbean. Mento has a different sound than calypso music, however, in that the Spanish influences in calypso is absent from the Mento sound. Mento is a music of the people, the vocals and lyrics meant to have commentary powers about the living situations of the people of the Island of Jamaica. Mento could be considered a form of protest without aggression and violence, performing a service as a lubricant between society and authority. Mento also has sensuality within its creation, the music providing context for most social conventions. According to Thompson “A cacophony of disparate instruments ranging from penny whistles to pots and pans, from guitars and banjos to hand drums and thumb pianos, bamboo saxophones, and home-made banjos, mento was local folk music at its purest.12 Mento was a powerful public form of music in the 1930s as Jamaica was finding its identity. The sad truth, however, is that most of the music of that period was lost as Jamaica had no recording industry. Many artists would have their lyrics printed and sell them for pennies and this is primarily what still in existence.13 The similarities between mento and calypso meant that some crossover occurred. The difference in the reception of the two, however, was socio-economically determined. Where calypso was accepted across the world as the sound of that vacationers of the elite populations of Europe and the United States took the sounds and ideas home, mento was perceived as music of the lower classes. Stars such as Count Fly and Lord Flea advertised their music as calypso, but they were playing mento and most people had no idea there was a difference.14 In 1957 Emil Shallit opened up Kalypso Records, a subsidiary of his Melodisc label.15 The first record to be released by a Jamaican artist in Britain was Worried over You by Keith and Enid. The licensing was originally done to Shallit’s Blue Beat, which eventually was primarily dedicated to Prince Buster’s work which was primarily ska and rocksteady, which influenced a great deal of what would develop the evolution of reggae.16 Prince Buster Prince Buster entered into the music business through a side door. He was approached by Clement Seymour "Sir Coxsone" Dodd who asked the nineteen year old to help him with personal security. Prince Buster was given the name Cecil Bustemente Campbell, but while he was boxing in his youth he became known as ‘the Prince’. He also worked for Coxsone as an informant as he would go to sound system dances where he would try to find out what records the producers of the events were spinning. The goal was to find out which entertainers were being recorded and what the competition was to Coxsone’s own sound system. The record labels were often taken off in order to prevent this kind of information getting out. Prince Buster created his own sound system because he felt that Coxsone was not playing him enough. Unlike most artists, Prince Buster was driven from the start into the music business in order to be compensated financially rather than express something musically.17 The music of ska has many who claim to have been its originator. Prince Buster makes this claim, stating that he turned to the local artists and merged them American blues and jazz in order to universalize the Jamaican music.18 The creation of the music had a commercial value, the style having a commercial appeal that appealed to Prince Buster. Even though his drive was primarily financial, Prince Buster is considered the most influential Jamaican artist to have worked in ska and rocksteady.19 Rocksteady and Reggae Where ska was developed through the commercialization of the music of Jamaican, rocksteady came from a place of rebellion. Rocksteady is explained by Larson as ”more relaxed and looser rhythmically that its predecessor “ with a “simplified bass and drum syncopation” which allowed for the retention of offbeat accents.20 The other major difference is that while ska was designed for commercial purposes, the main demographic for the new style of rocksteady was the Rude Boys, a name given to the urban youths who practiced rebellion through civil disobedience. Where ska was most often about love and romance, rocksteady had a social agenda with topics of protest.21 Reggae was born in 1968 as a highbred of ska and rocksteady where the rhythm was faster than rocksteady, but with a higher level of complexity than ska.22 As reggae was born, so was the social influences of the Rastafarian religion and the interlacing of political themes in order to create a cultural commentary and incite change. Reggae created social changes as the Rastafarian look, hair that is neither cut nor combed, became both embraced for its social meaning and transformed into a social fashion. The language of reggae was Jamaican patois, which is a combination of English and African fusions. Above all, reggae was its own language of protest, asserting social, political, and personal ideas into the themes of the lyrics.23 Bob Marley and the Modern Jamaican Influence Bob Marley represents the commercialization of the Jamaican culture in relationship to the modern music context. Although he is sometimes accused of selling out for success, his influence on the nature of Western music allowed for the Jamaican message to be given to a broader audience. Wint quotes Mike Alleyne who writes that Marley “made reggae a musical force to be taken seriously despite the numerous ambiguities surrounding his textual representation, creating an enduring musical message successful in conveying artistic cultural and ideological meaning despite its extensive commercialization”.24 Marley has been called a sell-out to Western success, but if his lyrics are examined closely it can be observed that he has committed to the long term struggle to create change. Marley stated that life had to be changed, that in order to create change each individual needs to discontinue a life of “false pretenses every day”.25 One of the primary areas of United States music that had been influenced by Jamaican migration of musical aesthetics is in rap. The defining element of the African connection to Jamaican music is the call and answer format which supplied rap music with concepts from which to develop R&B in a sing-talk style. As Jamaicans immigrated in great numbers after the 1960s, the influence of the cultural music of Jamaica became important to the development of African American based music. The mass music appeal of reggae as it began to emerge in a commercial context allowed for the development of rap music as a consequence. Through the aftermath of the 1960s in the US as energetic protest turned to lamentation of the utopian world promised as civil rights had been addressed, only to find that the world was even more volatile, the emergence of protest music from Jamaica was transformed into a modern context mix of R&B and gang style confrontation. This was a part of the evolution of rap, a socially and politically charged form of music that is primarily created through the use of a rhythmic talking.26 Conclusion The evolution of music in Jamaica is based upon the development of a nation that had undergone a series of traumas to the culture through the influences of colonialism. Although the Jamaican culture has been transformed through the influences of Western occupation, the music can be identified for its roots in African forms of music. As the Jamaicans struggled for identity in the 20th century, the emergence of music as a resource for proclaiming their national identity provided a platform on which to discuss their social and cultural issues. The emergence of the sound system dances provided a venue from which the music of Jamaica was carried into the West. Mento became disguised as calypso music which became popular, opening the door for ska and rocksteady forms. When the 1960s opened the door for social protest in the West, reggae was a natural addition, influencing the emergence of rap as it became a racially powerful force within the United States. 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(Kendall/Hunt Pub, 2004) Thompson D Reggae & Caribbean Music: [great Musicians, Influential Groups : 2700 Recordings Reviewed & Rated] (Backbeat Books, 2002) Wint, E Bob Marley: The Man and His Music : a Selection of Papers Presented at the Conference Marley's Music, Reggae, Rastafari, and Jamaican Culture, (Held at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, 5-6 February 1995 Arawak Publ, 2003) Read More