Jamacan-American MusicBy: James Witherell

Location of Jamaica

Jamacia shown in red on the map below.

Jamaica is a small, island nation south of Florida in the Carribean. It has a tropical climate with hot and humid weather.

Jamaican ImmigrationThe Jamaican people who have Immigrated to

other countries have mainly gone to the US, the UK, and Canada. Some of the cities in the US that have had large amounts of Jamaican immigrants go there include Los Angeles, Miami, Buffalo, New York City, Washington D.C., and a few others.

Reasons for ImmigrationThe main reason for

Jamaican immigration was the economy and living conditions. In the capital of Kingston, there is a famous ghetto named “Trenchtown”, which has horrible living conditions still today.

Reggae Reggae is the main type of

Jamacain-American music that is popular today. It is a mainly rythmic genre, usually using many different types of precussion, horns, a rhythm gituar and bass gituar and sometimes piano. Vocals are also strongly used in reggae.

Precussion in reggae was very important, being that the reggae style usually has an odd beat compared to standard rock. Also, because reggae is very rhythm based, the drums are very important. Usually, reggae uses a high-tuned snare drum and different toms.

Famous Reggae ArtistsProbibly the most famous

reggae artist was Bob Marley, who was in the reggae band “The Wailers”, which he formed. He wrote many of the most popular reggae songs, including “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”, and “Three Little Birds” (wich is the song that is playing during this slideshow). He is know as the reggae artist who made the genre a worldwide phenomanon. Later on, Bob Marley’s oldest son, Ziggy Marley, would also become a famous reggae artist.

Famous Reggae Artists Cont. Another famous Reggae artist was

Peter Tosh, who was originally the gituarist for The Wailers. When he went solo, he begain to write songs about the opression in Jamaica and his wanting for marajuana to be legalised. This was shown by his solo debut titled “Legalize It”, wich became the anthem for marajuana legalization. This debut was followed by another release titled “Equal Rights”, wich contained reggae of a more aggressive nature, while still keeping the classic reggae beat and style. Tosh was murdered on September 11, 1987 when a gang of three people, led by Dennis Loban, came to Tosh’s house to collect money. Tosh was shot in the head, and he and two others that were there out of him and his six other friends died.

Reggae PredecessorsReggae influenced many other genres,

including the following:Rap/Hip-Hop

Many famous rap artists are also of Jamaican heritage, including 50 cent, Notorious B.I.G, and KRS-ONE

R&BDancehall

Dancehall musicThe Dancehall genre, which originated

from Reggae, is a less religon/politic based reggae that was introduced in the late 70’s. It, much like its predicessor, used a rhythmic style and use of vocals.

Dancehall InstrumentsUnlike reggae, dancehall

used much fewer instruments. Whereas a lot of reggae used horns, dancehall did not. Dancehall is mainly guitar/organ based with a similar drum setup as reggae. Later dancehall used a synthesizer instead of an organ, and would even sometimes use a drum machine instead of a real drum set.

Famous Dancehall ArtistsDuring the dancehall era,

one of the most famous deejays was Yellowman. Yelloman was born an albino and abandoned at a young age. Unlike most dancehall artists, he wrote humorous lyrics instead of violent ones. He was also the first Jamaican Deejay to sign under a famous American label.

Rocksteady MusicRocksteady music

was a genre that was popular in Jamaica before reggae. In fact, Rockstady is one of the many roots of mainstream reggae. It is know for its slow and relaxed tempo.

Famous Rocksteady ArtistsSome famous

rocksteady artists include:The GayladsThe MaytalsThe Paragons

Bibliographyhttp://

www.rollingstone.com/artists/petertosh/biography

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0ifexqegldje~T1

http://www.4shared.com/file/82140584/e2237176/Three_little_birds.html?cau2=403tNull

http://niceup.com/history/ja_music_59-73.html

http://www.vitalspot.com/yellowman/