Jamaican Dance Hall

Dance hall is a genre of Jamaican popular music forms. It has influenced almost every music forms locally and now internationally. But is the dance hall being influence by other music forms and cultures now? I set out to find out what makes dance hall and the music so uniquely Jamaican.
"Ole Gal yu nah come a di dance?" One woman shouted to her friend as she pass my gate. Night was approaching and almost all the young people I saw was heading to the direction of the lawn. They seem enthused and excited about this event that everyone has been talking about for weeks. I had never been to a dance before and my curiosity was pushed to a  peeked because of an assignment I had to complete.


Music accompanied by the selector over the microphone could be heard from approximately 800 metres away. The selector was clearly in the mood for fun and his number one objective was to the get people to be  engaged and enjoy them self to the max. He spoke in no uncertain terms to "come enjoy di dance man, come out in yu swagga and come mad yu matie, mad dem, raaaay, laaaard, wooooooie." He coaxed the ladies to "dress till yu drop and come bun out yu matieeee!"While he was saying this ladies walked back and forth stepping high and modeling. I could see that this was going to be very interesting experience hence I stood and observed in much finnier details.


The salute
As I stood and watch the phenomenon event I braced myself for the "what next" part of the night. I had always heard about dance hall and I intended to find out what puts this event in a league by itself and made it uniquely Jamaican.
Ladies dressed in clothe of different styles stemming from very tightly fitted pants to almost non at all. These women behaved in ways I think would be suitable for the bedroom only. When the selector played a song that was highly rated by the patron they made very loud gun shot sounds while holding up their hand in gun saluting positions. The selector who seemed to be under the influence of alcohol and music ever so often burst out with a bad word and "pull up" the tune again. Ladies dance among themselves while most of the men have "dance off". They appeared to be on one mission and that is to out beat their opponent and hold his title of "the big dancer".  The men dressed in "spangy" pants and some were even in jacket and tie, the ganja  being smoked (by the patrons both males and females) rum and red bull, Guinness, vodka Hennessey which were just a few of the strong alcohol being consumed. 
This phenomenal  experience was so eye opening.


European influence 
Jamaica has a diverse and rich culture we are a multiracial society. Observing the dress code of the patrons, one realized that the style of dress that the patrons wore were obviously not mainly Jamaican, their dress code carries a distinct European influence. Many of the European styles of dress are being copied by us Jamaicans and are being accepted as the norm. Like our motto says "Out of Many One People". 


Though dances have grown from Ska, rocksteady, (just to name a few),  the dances found in the dance hall  have evolved 
From my observation our motto stands true in my heart and more so in my mind. Now, every where I go I look for elements that make me proud to be UNIQUELY JAMAICAN. 


Jamaican Identity
without doubt the dance hall has had and will continue to have a significant influence on the Jamaican identity, through dress code, behaviour, language and values and attitudes. the ever changing code that exists in our current dance hall spills over into all categories of the society and can be seen even amongst students in schools. this strong phenomena also affects the way how people in the society behaves as dance hall and its music has often being viewed as one of the factors that proliferate violence in the society. The violence is also evident in the way we communicate with each other. The language used in all strata of the society is also influence by the dance hall slangs suce as "tek weh yu self", which has become popular in political speeches. The values and attitudes that now exist in our Jamaican society has been changing as the beats and dances in the dance hall evolve. Now "bare as you dare" now seems synonymous with dance hall as no pride goes into what is worn (which is not much). In addition derogative comments as now been accepted as "Gal and Dog", are words that are used to refer to the gender respectively. There is no doubt based  on my current experience that the dancehall will continue to shape our Jamaican society. 


The dance hall today continues to reflect the Jamaican identity which traditionally based on dancing as entertainment. Dancing is embedded in our culture which was predominantly influenced by our African decent. Though it as gone from Kummina to daggering, there are elements of these dance that cannot be mistaken anywhere in the world. The way we dance says JAMAICA without a word being spoken. 

Share Him?

Jamaican artiste are constantly  influenced by all kinds of suspect substances, some strive on melodies and lyrics of other artiste, some on heated call and response type of lyrics. And, usually influenced by excess of liquor, ganja smoking and peer pressure. Whatever it is that they strive on they need to understand that they have moral responsibilities to up hold (especially to the younger members of society). . . I was mulling over these thoughts some weeks ago as I sat in a karaoke bar and witnessed people committing a mini-murderation of their favourite songs. It was fun though.

The karaoke bar is situated in the middle of a well known Kingston "T" junction. The vibes in the bar was just right... talking and music could be heard from I stepped out of the car near the stairways. When I entered the room there was only one thing on my mind and that was to enjoy every bit of the night to the max. I love to sing so it was of no doubt that I would give a rendition of one of my favorite song... enjoying myself so much I was fully engulfed in the night, I guess I did not see this one coming... One lady sang oops I did it again in a way that made me say no please don't ever do it again. Another woman took Lady Gaga's Alejandro and rendered it not just off key, but off the island, I swear if Gaga heard her she would sue. 


The wonderment and weirdness climaxed for me though, when a pair of friends got up to sing a song called Share him  by Lukie D. That was the kicker! I'm not very familiar with the song and I couldn't discern even a vague sense of the melody until I used Ares to download the song to scrutinize its lyrics. And I found the lyrics interesting and troubling. I decided to pay keen attention to the lyrics of the song.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIUA6yusoJ0

A bit troubling

The lyrics  I heard were a bit troubling for me. I heard lyrics such as "share him if a good man yu want di wolla dem gone, yu better tek what yu get til yu get what yu want", "People might say yu recking good  homes, but if yu si a good man and him a give yu good talk, girl don't mess around". Something clicked. One side of my brain started to go into overdrive as I began to analyse and intellectualise. I was in the middle of interrogating the extent to which these  lyrics insidiously inscribe negative encouragement and help to trivialize and normalize bad influences on persons' relationships. 


One side of me said, Ker it just a song come on... but then the analysis side of me chipped in and scolded me saying there's a time and place for everything!  I did not start analyzing the song in depth  until the following day. I went on YouTube.com and found the song and these were the major lament of my mind...
 As our motto so speaks that "out of many one people", this helps me to express the fact that Karaoke was not originated in Jamaica but because of our rich and diverse cultural background and the diversity of people, we are influence in many ways and karaoke is one such way. 
Karaoke is a place where people go to sing songs (that is most times only suitable to be sang in one's bathroom), socialize and enjoy some stress free time. This allows one to reflect on our African ancestors in the 20th century who would go to clubs and  wrapped their rum soaked vocal chords around the notes of Jazz and blues music. Karaoke is an environment where individuals can go and show off their uniqueness and individual taste. 

Football In Jamaica

Watching a football game on television seemed like the easiest thing in the world before I experience my second game in three years, at the Effortville Football Club in Clarendon on September 29th, 2010. However, watching the game itself is far more complicated than it appears. Firstly the matter of supporters, whereas support comes for both playing team, this helps to heighten the vibes and atmosphere created in the stadium. There's nothing like a little rivalry to increase the enjoyment of the football game.

Expletives

The first half of the game was evenly contested, though thirsting for a goal the tension that existed could be cut with a knife. Before we knew it, the whistle sounded and it was half time. The mini stadium then erupted with chatter and loud music from the sound system. Almost every spectator had an expert opinion on what was to be done to break the dead lock and secured a win. The chatter got louder and its ambiance was enhanced by the expletives of some supporters, the air was murky from huge puffs of smoke coming from ganja spiffs. As the DJ started to play about his seventh popular dancehall track, the fifteen minutes of dancing (sometimes explicit) was halted by the high pitch sound of the whistle. Screams and shout of encouragement rang out as the players took their place on the opposite side of the field. The tempo of the second half picked up and the players become more physical and intense. The sweaty and now untidily prayers were now becoming more vocal and more desperate. This game was fitting up to become a cracker. Undoubtedly this game only needed one final component for it to explode. This came through when Oneke Ford from Sporting Central Academy opened the scoring in the sixty ninth minute of the match. This sent the crowded ballistic as the home team (Humble Lions) supporter boosted them to score an equalizer. 

Victory

The quality of play and the intensity of the game improved significantly as time seem to have stopped in the last twenty minutes of the football game, which seemed like eternity to come off the referee’s clock. Just when there was about two minutes left in the game and everyone was facing the fact that the home team was about to plunge to a defeat shared brilliance and skill by Jermaine Christian from Humble Lion ensured a share of the points when he left two defenders for dead and rocketed his shot into the back of the net from sixteen yards out. This goal breathed life into the game that was petering out to a draw one nil victory to the visitors. The next three minutes of the game (one minute of regular time and two minutes of time added on) was an exchange of superb football skills with individual players trying to strike up a winner for their respective teams.  

This was all in vein as the final whistle came with a roar from all supporters as they were

appreciative of a superb contest. Both player and spectators alike bounce off each other's fist as the tension and tempers deflated as the reality of the score line settled in. The music of the DJ tarted booming through the speakers. The dancing started again as spectators quickly filtered out of the stands. Undoubtedly this was a good day out for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.   

 landeker

Jamaican Art @ Its Best (My Childhood Sunday Morning)

Well renowned Jamaican artists have been showcasing many pieces of art works in Jamaica and aboard. Recently, I went into a bank in the co-opiate area and saw a "Giclee print" of this artist work, and I fell in love with it instantaneously. The print had Jamaica "Sunday morning" written all over it. This print broth back some far tucked away memories of when I was a little girl growing up. I recall my big sister would Well renowned Jamaican artists have been showcasing many pieces of art works in Jamaica and aboard. Recently, I went into a bank in the co-opiate area and saw a "Giclee print" of this artist work, and I fell in love with it instantaneously. The print had Jamaica "Sunday morning" written all over it. This print broth back some far tucked away memories of when I was a little girl growing up. I recall my big sister would comb my hair for church each Sunday morning. I would be ask to hold the brush, comb and bubbles in hand to give to her alternatively. I laughed to myself as I stood in the bank line and scrutinize the prints' every detail.

being slapped

Many Sunday mornings while standing or sitting under the sweet sop tree next to the outside zinc kitchen getting my hair combed. I would often get distracted by the natural in-habitat of the environment either by the common fowls, roosters, mongrel dogs, lizards, or sucking my big finger. When my sister was ready for one of the grooming tools or hair accessories and it was not handed to her on time as I was distracted in one way or another, I would be literally slapped back to the matter at hand. Looking at the little girl's face in the print led me to sense that something has captured her interest. I remember having to force my eyes to the extreme corner of my eye sockets (sometimes until they hurt), just to get a good look at whatever that had me distracted.

"Ohe it hurt"!

The hair on the little girl's head reminded me of my hair, my kinki afro hair. Lol I remember when big sis combing my hair and was just about to rap the bubbles around the "bumbo-brush" as she would often call my short thick textured hair. I would often turn my head right at that time and she would get pissed and with a sharp thrust my head would be flown back into position. I would yell to her "ohe it hurt eh nuh". Sometimes the pain would be caused from the thug and other times it would be because my moment was so rudely interrupted.

Well, what can I say but thanks to this artist who has rendered fine brush strokes and created such wonderful memory, and bring back memories that I just realize has more impacted on me than I know.