Jamaican Canadian Music in Toronto in the 1970S and 1980S
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Jamaican Canadian Music in Toronto in the 1970s and 1980s: A Preliminary History by Keith McCuaig A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Music and Culture Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario May 18th, 2012 ©2012 Keith McCuaig Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-91556-1 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-91556-1 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada ABSTRACT Starting in the early 1960s, Jamaican musicians migrated to Toronto in large numbers, and for almost fifty years, Toronto has had a vibrant Jamaican musical community. There was a surge in musical activity in the 1970s and 1980s, including the establishment of several Jamaican-owned nightclubs, record stores and recording studios, some of which still exist today. A large community of musicians created a wide range of music, from Jamaican style roots reggae to reggae fusion. Despite the racial, social and cultural obstacles that these musicians faced, Jamaican Canadian music was and is unique, varied and distinct. Jamaican Canadian music is a largely overlooked and under-researched area of Canadian music history, even though there are currently at least 231,000 Jamaicans in Canada, with Toronto being one of the most populous Jamaican diasporic communities in the world. To date there has been very little written on Jamaican Canadian music. In this study, I examine the history of Jamaican Canadian music, including biases against the music and black musicians in general. I also look at the many distinctive aspects of Jamaican Canadian music and the pioneering musicians whose years of hard work helped create this rich and multifaceted music scene. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to so many people who helped me write this thesis. I would like to thank my thesis advisor, Dr. Anna Hoefnagels for her support and encouragement through the whole process. Thanks to Barbara Sibbald who read several drafts of this thesis and provided excellent feedback. Thank you also to Dr. Jesse Stewart and to everyone else in the Music Department at Carleton University for providing a stimulating learning environment over the past few years. Thank you to all the wonderful musicians that spoke with me while writing this thesis, including Ras Lee, Leroy Sibbles, Rupert Harvey, Willi Williams, Lloyd Delpratt, Jason Wilson, Jo Jo Bennett and Fergus Hambleton. Without your valuable stories and insight, this project would not have been possible. Thanks also to Jim Dooley for sharing some of his unpublished interviews with Jamaican Canadian musicians. Thanks to Christine Taylor and everyone at the Carleton University Library Interlibrary Loans for tracking down hundreds of obscure articles. Thank you to my family and friends for sharing in my love of Jamaican Canadian music. Finally, thank you to my partner Sheena McLeish for her encouragement and patience while writing this thesis. Without her love and support I wouldn't be where I am today. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 1.MY BACKGROUND 1 2. PRELIMINARY BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON JAMAICAN MUSIC 2 3. LITERATURE REVIEW 7 4. METHODOLOGY 11 5. OUTLINE AND THESIS STATEMENT 15 CHAPTER 1. CULTURAL THEORIES 18 1. MUSICAL ETHNICITIES 19 2. DIASPORA STUDIES 21 3. TRANSNATIONALISM 26 4. RACISM AND THE 'OTHER' IN CANADA 28 CHAPTER 2. SETTING THE STAGE: INFRASTRUCTURE 33 1. IMMIGRATION TRENDS 34 2. CARIBANA AND OTHER JAMAICAN-INSPIRED FESTIVALS IN TORONTO 39 3. THE FIRST INFLUX OF MUSICIANS AND THE EARLY JAMAICAN MUSIC SCENE IN TORONTO 42 4. NIGHTCLUBS 44 5. RECORD LABELS 46 6. RECORDING STUDIOS 48 7. RADIO STATIONS 52 8. TELEVISION AND MUSIC VIDEOS 59 9. SOUND SYSTEMS 60 10. RECORD STORES 63 11. AWARDS 65 CHAPTER 3. THE STATE OF THE ART: THE CRITICAL RECEPTION OF JAMAICAN CANADIAN MUSIC 69 1. DISTINCTIVENESS IN JAMAICAN CANADIAN MUSIC 70 2. ANOTHER DISTINCTION IN JAMAICAN CANADIAN MUSIC: DUB POETRY 77 3. AN 'AUTHENTIC' SOUND AND BIASES AGAINST JAMAICAN CANADIAN REGGAE 80 4. RACE ISSUES 88 CHAPTER 4: BIOGRAPHIES 95 1.JACKIE MITTOO 97 2. JOHNNY OSBOURNE 104 3. WILLI WILLIAMS 107 4. LEROY SIBBLES ILL iv 5. MESSENJAH 119 6. THE SATTALITES 127 7. LILLIAN ALLEN .. 132 CHAPTER 5. EXAMINING NINE JAMAICAN CANADIAN SONGS 136 1. ISHAN PEOPLE - 'TOUGH, TIGHT & DREAD" FROM ROOTS (1976, GRT) 139 2. STRANGER COLE - "NO MORE FUSSING AND FIGHTING" FROM THE PATRIOT (1982, STRANGER COLE RECORDS) 142 3. NOEL ELLIS - "MEMORIES" FROM NOEL ELLIS (1983, SUMMER RECORDS/2005, LIGHT IN THE ATTIC RECORDS) 143 4. JACKIE MITTOO- "SOMEDAY SOON" FROM REGGAE MAGIC (1972, CANADIAN TALENT LIBRARY) 146 5. TRUTHS AND RIGHTS-"METRO'S NO. 1 PROBLEM," 12" SINGLE (1981, RHYTHM DISCS) 149 6. LEROY SIBBLES - "LET MUSIC" FROM EVIDENCE (1982, A&M RECORDS) 151 7. MESSENJAH - "ARRESTED" FROM ROCK YOU HIGH {1982/3, INDEPENDENT/WEA) .153 8. THE SATTALITES-"SHE LOVES YOU" FROM SATTALITES (\9S5, AXE RECORDS/2002, SOLID GOLD RECORDS) 155 9. LILLIAN ALLEN - "I FIGHT BACK" FROM REVOLUTIONARY TEA PARTY (1986, VERSE TO VINYL) 157 CONCLUSION 161 APPENDIX: SONG LYRICS, STRUCTURES AND FORMS 164 BIBLIOGRAPHY 180 DISCOGRAPHY 197 FILMOGRAPHY AND VIDEOGRAPHY 200 v INTRODUCTION I.MY BACKGROUND My first encounter with Jamaican music was Millie Small's "My Boy Lollipop," a song I used to listen and dance to as a child, long before I knew anything about Jamaica. I became seriously interested in Jamaican music when I was about fourteen years old, through Bob Marley, the musician that initially attracts many white boys to reggae. Around this time my dad loaned me the four-disc box set The Story of Jamaican Music, a collection that has been (and continues to be) the soundtrack to countless parties at my house. Around this time I realized that most of my friends knew little about Jamaican music beyond Marley and I became something of a reggae aficionado, without even knowing it. Today reggae music is a huge part of my life and that of my family's. Jamaican music is as much a part of my sonic memory of our family's cottage in the Ottawa Valley as the sound of loons and laughter. When I started the Master of Arts program at Carleton University in September 2010,1 knew that I wanted to write about Jamaican music, but I didn't know what area to focus on. That year I discovered the 2006 Light in the Attic compilation Jamaica to Toronto: Soul, Funk and Reggae 1967-1974. As I read the liner notes I began to realize that there is a whole world of Jamaican music right here in Canada that I knew nothing about. As I searched, I found more and more great music, and I became hooked. I've always been proud to be Canadian and from the earliest days I listened to a lot of Canadian rock and pop music, so finding this music was serendipitous: I am a fan of Jamaican music and a fan of Canadian music, and finding that a combination of the two existed was elating. To top it off, many of my favourite Jamaican musicians lived in 1 Toronto for years! I already knew their work, but now I became interested in learning about it in a whole new way: within the context of their lives in Canada. The fact that there is very little written on this subject made it all the more attractive as I would be delving into relatively unknown territory. I can't explain succinctly what I find so compelling about Jamaican music, but there are aspects I can articulate. I enjoy the heavy bass, the grooves, the Jamaican patois and the percussion. I feel cool and relaxed listening to this music and it makes me want to smile and nod my head to the rhythms. I have visited Jamaica five times since 2008 so that in addition to the music, I have also come to love Jamaican people, culture and food. These days I still act as a reggae aficionado, although my mission now is to let people hear all the varieties of Jamaican Canadian music from the last fifty years.