Negation, Affirmation
While driving through Oakland last night listening to my recent tape acquisition (Sleeping Bag's Reggae Dancehall II) I wondered why Dancehall is so weird. I'm passingly acquainted with the history of djing/toasting in Reggae, but that said, the difference btw early US Hip-Hop and Dancehall vocal styles is so huge that it's hard to reconcile the closeness btw US Soul and early Rocksteady & Ska. Most often it seems to be a string of nonsense syllables tied together and then repeated, with a little rude talk thrown in and then repeated. And any narrative or themes or threads seem only happenstance and LOOSE. But maybe I just don't understand it enough to follow. With Rocksteady & most Reggae at least I can understand the vocals which have repetitive verse/chorus/verse parts and are not heavy Jamaican patois.
But besides all that, why is it that Jamaica has such an interesting pop music history from Ska up until now? It's a pretty small place and all and you don't hear as much about Puerto Rico, the DR, Haiti or even really Cuba. Granted Cuba has a STRONG musical history, but nothing that piques US ears as strongly as Jamaica. My passing theory was that because Jamaica it has to do with Jamaica being Anglophone & close to the US that it is so tied into US Black Music and pushed out such a crazy hybrid Soul/R&B/Mento stew. Compared to the probably strong ties to South American music of the other islands (although I don't know what the story is with Haiti, being francophone and war torn). At least something to think think think about.
Baseball Aside:
The A's trade Swisher after trading Haren. All the prognosticators are pointing to this equaling bad baseball in Oakland for the next couple of years. Well, if they weren't watching, except for Haren and Blanton (and Bradley, why'd they trade him again, 'cause Beane's a megalomaniac?), that's what they've been getting. True, the A's probably won't compete for the AL West next year, False, this is a big change from last year and False, this will mean they'll be unwatchable this year. Most importantly, False, that Swisher is sure to be a superstar. I'm sorry 20 hr/80 rbi last year looked more like the norm for Swish than his 30/100 year before that AND he batted under .270!!! Beane could see that Swisher was not a offensive leader, but a crucial support part, which the A's last year was all they had. There was no-one last year who opposing pitchers were scared of every time they came up to bat. What the A's got back from the White Sox was a gold mine too. Three of their top 10 prospects for someone who is projectable AT MOST 30/90/.270 for a couple of years, but probably a decline after that. On top the Haren trade, the A's farm is now packed. Carlos Gonzalez! Brian Anderson! Gio Gonzalez! Learn these names A's fans because in '09 they're winning the AL WEST!
This year they'll finish about the middle of the pack again, with some moments of brilliance interspersed. I guess this is the result of some bad bets (Crosby, Chavez, Harden, Kotsay, Piazza), but count me IN for A's baseball this spring and especially a year from now.
But besides all that, why is it that Jamaica has such an interesting pop music history from Ska up until now? It's a pretty small place and all and you don't hear as much about Puerto Rico, the DR, Haiti or even really Cuba. Granted Cuba has a STRONG musical history, but nothing that piques US ears as strongly as Jamaica. My passing theory was that because Jamaica it has to do with Jamaica being Anglophone & close to the US that it is so tied into US Black Music and pushed out such a crazy hybrid Soul/R&B/Mento stew. Compared to the probably strong ties to South American music of the other islands (although I don't know what the story is with Haiti, being francophone and war torn). At least something to think think think about.
Baseball Aside:
The A's trade Swisher after trading Haren. All the prognosticators are pointing to this equaling bad baseball in Oakland for the next couple of years. Well, if they weren't watching, except for Haren and Blanton (and Bradley, why'd they trade him again, 'cause Beane's a megalomaniac?), that's what they've been getting. True, the A's probably won't compete for the AL West next year, False, this is a big change from last year and False, this will mean they'll be unwatchable this year. Most importantly, False, that Swisher is sure to be a superstar. I'm sorry 20 hr/80 rbi last year looked more like the norm for Swish than his 30/100 year before that AND he batted under .270!!! Beane could see that Swisher was not a offensive leader, but a crucial support part, which the A's last year was all they had. There was no-one last year who opposing pitchers were scared of every time they came up to bat. What the A's got back from the White Sox was a gold mine too. Three of their top 10 prospects for someone who is projectable AT MOST 30/90/.270 for a couple of years, but probably a decline after that. On top the Haren trade, the A's farm is now packed. Carlos Gonzalez! Brian Anderson! Gio Gonzalez! Learn these names A's fans because in '09 they're winning the AL WEST!
This year they'll finish about the middle of the pack again, with some moments of brilliance interspersed. I guess this is the result of some bad bets (Crosby, Chavez, Harden, Kotsay, Piazza), but count me IN for A's baseball this spring and especially a year from now.
posted by furtanic at 9:34 AM
1 Comments:
Jamaican music never charted in the US, or never a regularly, no? but it did chart in the UK, where there is a large Jamaican population. I don't think there's a large Dominican or Puerto Rican population in the UK, and I don't think the US radio industry has ever really embraced a non native style. So I would venture to guess that it filters into the US more through the UK than actually through Jamaica.
Plus it's a style of music that mixes in, quite heavily, American influences. Does the modern music of the other carribean islands do that? Maybe you could say something about the Afro-Cuban-Latin mixture, but that's not something that could have a very broad appeal to the US (plus the whole Communist embargo thing probably prevents a lot of music export).
And it was a music style dominated by youth---which makes it already more intune with fashion, youth-culture, etc. And it's party music, meaning it was prime for use in all 80s movies' partay scenes.
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