Dancehall

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This article is about the style of music. For all other meanings of the term, see Dance Hall.
Dancehall
Stylistic origins
Cultural origins
Late 1970s Jamaica, especially Kingston
Typical instruments
Mainstream popularity Since early 1980s in Jamaica, worldwide beginning in early 1990s.
Subgenres
Ragga - Reggaeton
Fusion genres
Hip hop - Spanish dancehall - Drum and bass - Bhangragga - Ragga jungle
Regional scenes
Caribbean - Latin America - North America - Japan - Europe
Other topics
Jamaica - Rastafari movement - Murder music - Slackness

Dancehall is a type of Jamaican popular music which developed in the late 1970s, with exponents such as Yellowman and Shabba Ranks. It is also known as bashment.

The style 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, usually with drum machines replacing acoustic sets. In the early years of dancehall, some found its lyrics crude or "slack", particularly because of its sexual tones, popular among youths in Jamaica. Like its reggae predecessor, dancehall eventually made inroads onto the world music scene. It is the predecessor of hip hop music.

This deejay-led, largely synthesized chanting with musical accompaniment departed from traditional conceptions of Jamaican popular musical entertainment. Dub poet Mutabaruka maintained, "if 1970s reggae was red, green and gold, then in the next decade it was gold chains". It was far removed from its gentle roots and culture, and there was furious debate among purists as to whether it should be considered some sort of extension of reggae music.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Origins

Music of Jamaica

Kumina - Niyabinghi - Mento - Ska - Rocksteady - Reggae - Sound systems - Lovers rock - Dub - Dancehall - Dub poetry - Toasting - Raggamuffin - Roots reggae
Anglophone Caribbean music
Anguilla - Antigua and Barbuda - Bahamas - Barbados - Bermuda - Caymans - Grenada - Jamaica - Montserrat - St. Kitts and Nevis - St. Vincent and the Grenadines - Trinidad and Tobago - Turks and Caicos - Virgin Islands
Sound samples
Other Caribbean music
Aruba and the Dutch Antilles - Cuba - Dominica - Dominican Republic - Haiti - Hawaii - Martinique and Guadeloupe - Puerto Rico - St. Lucia - United States - United Kingdom

Dancehall owes its moniker to the spaces in which popular Jamaican recordings were aired by local sound systems and readily consumed by its "set-to-party" patronage; commonly referred to as "dance halls". Dancehall, the musical genre, is long considered to be the creation of Henry "Junjo" Lawes in 1979. The production of dancehall music was further refined by King Jammy in the early 80s, during the transition from dub to dancehall, and original attempts to digitize "hooks" to "toast" over by Jamaican deejays.

King Jammy's 1985 hit, "(Under Me) Sleng Teng" by Wayne Smith, with an entirely-digital rhythm hook took the dancehall reggae world by storm. Many credit this song as being the first "digital rhythm" in reggae, leading to the modern dancehall era.[2] [3] However this is not entirely correct since there are earlier examples of digital productions; Horace Ferguson's single "Sensi Addict" (Ujama) produced by Prince Jazzbo in 1984 is one.

[edit] Major artists and milestones

Dancehall emerged in the early 1980s, and most of the creative output can be credited to studio musicians Steely & Clevie, along with the handful of producers they collaborated with. They created the music for many of the riddims that the genre was based on. The decade saw the arrival of a new generation of deejays, most distinct were the harder edged, such as Ninjaman, Flourgon, General Trees, Tiger, Admiral Bailey, Super Cat, Yellowman, Tenor Saw, Shelly Thunder, Reggie Stepper, Shabba Ranks, Johnny P, Peter Metro, Charlie Chaplin, Cutty Ranks, and Papa San to name a few. To complement their sound, a "sweet sing" vocal style evolved out of roots reggae and R&B, marked by its falsetto and almost feminine intonation, with proponents like Pinchers, Cocoa Tea, Sanchez, Admiral Tibet, Frankie Paul, Half Pint, Conroy Smith, Courtney Melody, Carl Meeks, and Barrington Levy. It is important to note that a lot of established reggae singers like Gregory Isaacs, Militant Barry, Beres Hammond, Johnny Osbourne and U-Roy transitioned into dancehall.

In the early 90s, songs like Dawn Penn's "No, No, No", Shabba Ranks's "Mr. Loverman", Patra's "Worker Man" and Chaka Demus and Pliers' "Murder She Wrote" became some of the first dancehall megahits in the U.S. and abroad. Various other varieties of dancehall achieved crossover success outside of Jamaica during the mid-to-late 1990s. Tanya Stephens gave a unique female voice to the genre during the 1990s.

The years 1990-1994 saw the entry of artists like Buju Banton, Bounty Killer, Lady Saw, Shaggy, Diana King, Spragga Benz, Capleton, Beenie Man and a major shift in the sound of dancehall, brought on by the introduction of a new generation of producers and for better or for worse, the end of Steely & Clevie's stranglehold on riddim production.

In the late 1990s, many practitioners like Buju Banton and Capleton returned to the Rastafari movement and changed their lyrical focus to "consciousness", a reflection of the spiritual underpinnings of Rastafari.

The early 2000s saw the success of newer charting acts such as Elephant Man and Sean Paul.

Currently, Sean Paul has achieved mainstream success within the United States and has produced several Top 10 Billboard hits, including "We Be Burnin'", "Get Busy", "Temperature" and the 2006 single "Give It Up To Me".

VP Records dominates the dancehall music market with Sean Paul, Elephant Man, and Buju Banton.[4] VP often has partnered with major record labels like Atlantic and Island in an attempt to further expand their distribution potential particularly in the U.S. market.

[edit] The culture of dancehall

Dancehall music originated in the late 70s in Jamaica, as a result of varying political and socio-economic factors.[citation needed] Its antecedent; reggae music, was influenced heavily by the ideologies of the Rastafarian culture and was further goaded by the socialist movements of the era. Many became embittered by the movements and the harsh economic realities they brought the island to bear. It was during this time that neo-liberal axioms and avariciousness began factoring into the lives of many Jamaicans, which subsequently spawned this ostentatious new form of entertainment.

Typically, dance halls are found in more urbanized areas of Jamaica, i.e., Kingston, but can also be seen in more rural locations. Furthermore, the term 'dancehall' alludes not only to a musical genre or venue, but on a grander scheme, it suggests the institution of an entire culture in which music, dance, community and politics collide.

As an evolution of first reggae, then rocksteady, dancehall draws upon its roots with regard to its stylistic rudiments. However, that, some say, is where the similarities end. The subject matters of dancehall music tend towards profanity, misogyny, violence and homophobia – a stark contrast from the songs of acceptance and social progression sung by reggae spearheads. Its caustic libretti, which are referred to in the region as "slack lyrics", have been rigorously criticized - most notably by artists and followers of archetypal reggae music, and by members of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered community (GLBT).

Such a drastic change in the popular music of the region generated an equally radical transformation in fashion trends, specifically those of its female faction. In lieu of traditional, modest "rootsy" styles, as dictated by Rastafari-inspired gender roles; women began donning flashy, revealing – sometimes x-rated outfits. This transformation is said to coincide with the influx of slack lyrics within dancehall, which objectified women as apparatuses of pleasure. These women would team up with others to form "modeling posses", or "dancehall model" groups, and informally compete with their rivals.

This newfound materialism and conspicuity was not, however, exclusive to women or manner of dress. Appearance at dance halls was exceedingly important to acceptance by peers and encompassed everything from clothing and jewelry, to the types of vehicles driven, to the sizes of each respective gang or "crew", and was equally important to both sexes.

One major theme behind dancehall is that of Space. Stanley Niaah in his article "Mapping Black Atlantic Performance Geographies" says "Dancehall occupies multiple spacial dimensions (urban, street, police, marginal, gendered, performance, liminal, memorializing, communal), which are revealed through the nature and type of events and venues, and their use and function. Most notable is the way in which dancehall occupies a liminal space between what is celebrated and at the same time denigrated in Jamaica and how it moves from private community to public and commercial enterprise."[5][6]

[edit] Homophobia in dancehall music

Main article: Murder music

Dancehall music has come under criticism from Jamaican and international organizations and Jamaican journalists, like Ian Boyne,[7] for homophobic lyrics. Such lyrics have been described by J-FLAG, a Jamaican gay rights organization, as one aspect of "widespread Jamaican cultural bias against homosexuals and bisexuals". A report by the human rights organization Human Rights Watch points to the widespread existence of homophobia in Jamaica.[8] Homosexual sex is illegal in Jamaica (see LGBT rights in Jamaica).

In some rare cases, dancehall artists whose music features homophobic lyrics have had their concerts canceled. Various singers have had international travel restrictions placed on them, and have been investigated by international law enforcement agencies such as Scotland Yard on the grounds that the lyrics incite the audience to assault homosexuals. In 2003, the British LGBT rights group OutRage! called for the arrest of Elephant Man for allegedly inciting the killing of gay men in his song lyrics. He was not arrested. [9] Many of the affected singers believe that such legal or commercial sanctions are essentially an attack against freedom of speech.[10] Some artists eventually agreed not to use offensive lyrics during their concerts in Europe and the US. These kind of lyrics are virtually non-existent in female dancehall artists' output.

Critics of the LGBT-movement claim that attempts to suppress such lyrics in Afro-Caribbean music represents European cultural imperialism, and are disrespectful to the traditions and religion of the region. They argue that homosexuality is almost universally reviled except in a few relatively small but wealthy countries, and that Jamaica, a relatively poorer and smaller country, is an easy target in an attempt to spread pro-homosexual propaganda.[11]

[edit] Dancehall dances

The popularity of dancehall has spawned dance moves that help to make parties and stage performances more energetic. Many dance moves seen in hip-hop videos are actually variations of dancehall dances. Examples of such dances are: "The Myspace", "The Bogle", "Heel-Toe", "Blazay-Blazay", "Pon the River, Pon the Bank", "Spongebob", "Hot Fuk", "Tek Weh Yuhself", "Whine Up" (melange of R&B, dancehall and hip hop), "Boosie Bounce", "Drive By", "Shovel It", "To Di World" and the popular "Dutty Wine".

[edit] References

  1. ^ BBC - Reggae - The Story of Reggae
  2. ^ Sleng Teng
  3. ^ allmusic ((( Under Me Sleng Teng > Overview )))
  4. ^ Jamaica Gleaner - Follow the leaders - VP Records blaze the trail - Friday | May 18, 2001
  5. ^ Mapping Black Performance Geographies By Stanley Niaah
  6. ^ A Story of Space and Celebration, by Sonjah Stanley-Niaah.
  7. ^ Dancehall, Ian Boyne and violence - JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM
  8. ^ Jamaica: Hated to Death
  9. ^ Sorry
  10. ^ village voice > music > Jah Division by Elena Oumano
  11. ^ YardFlex.com: Beenie Man & Sizzla in alliance with Stop Murder Music Campaign
  • Manuel, Peter, with Kenneth Bilby and Michael Largey. Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae (2nd edition). Temple University Press, 2006. ISBN 1-59213-463-7. 
  • White, G. (1984). “The Development of Jamaican Popular Music, Part 2. Urbanization of the Folk, the merger of traditional and the popular in Jamaican Music, ACIJ Research Review, No. 1., The African-Caribbean Institute of Jamaica
  • Stanley Niaah, S. (2004). “Kingston's Dancehall: A Story of Space and Celebration”, in Space and Culture, 7:1, pp. 102-118
  • Stewart, K. (2002). “`So wha, mi nuh fi live to’: Interpreting violence in Jamaica through the Dancehall Culture” in Ideaz, 1 : 1, pp. 17-28
  • Stolzoff, Norman C.: Wake the Town and Tell the People: Dancehall Culture in Jamaica. Durham, London: Duke University Press 2000. ISBN 0823245144 (hardcover)
  • Sunday Observer: Vol. 10, No. 49: Sunday November 21, 2004. [1]
  • X-news: November
  • Realvibez.com Dancehall Music Videos
  • A popular resource that catalogs videos of all new and old Jamaican dance moves.

[edit] External links

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