Day 10 — History of Jamaica

The first European explorer to reach Jamaica was Christopher Columbus, who claimed the island for the Spanish crown in 1494. After the English took over in 1655, Jamaica was rapidly turned into a major plantation colony. Over the next century and a half, hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans were brought to the colony to work the land. By the early 1700s, the island had become a giant agricultural factory, dedicated to the production of sugar for European markets. In this system, Africans had virtually no rights, being treated as pieces of a machine designed to produce massive profits at the cost of human lives. To maintain their hold over the slave population, the European colonial rulers tried to strip the Africans of their ancestral cultures along with their sense of self-worth. In response, thousands of the Africans rebelled, many of them escaping into the forests and mountains in the interior of the island. Those who escaped became known as Maroons. Maroon communities have been present in Jamaica throughout its colonial and post-colonial history, serving as an example of the survival of African culture against all odds. African-based musical traditions were historically important in all the Jamaican Maroon communities, and they remain so today. This African-derived Maroon cultural and musical heritage has come to symbolize the African roots of Jamaican culture more generally. In the 20th century, for example, the Maroon story helped to inspire the anti-colonial, Afrocentric Rastafari movement, which over time became closely associated with reggae music and its most prominent exponent, Bob Marley. Pockets of fundamentally African cultural and musical traditions survived not just in Maroon communities, but in several other parts of the country, and today certain non-Maroon African-based music and dance traditions, such as Kumina, remain strong. Most of Jamaica, however, lacks the neo-African musical traditions that are stronger in Caribbean countries such as Haiti, Cuba, and Suriname. More common here are the kinds of creolized genres typical of much of the Caribbean, which blend European and African musical features. One influential mixed Jamaican genre is mento. Mento emerged in the 19th century, when Jamaicans blended harmonic and melodic influences from British folk music and popular European ballroom dances with African rhythmic concepts. Instrumentation was mixed too, ranging from guitar and banjo to drums and assorted percussion. Violins, bamboo fifes, and saxophones were sometimes used as lead melodic instruments. Vocals were also important, and a whole tradition of topical song developed within the mento genre. Early on, mento was also influenced by the Cuban son, incorporating the African-derived plucked bass known as rumba box in Jamaica (and as marímbula in Cuba). Later, it was strongly influenced by Trinidadian calypso as well. In the 1940s and 50s, mento was brought to the capital of Kingston by rural migrants, where it became the island’s first urbanizing popular music. From the 1950s on, it contributed to the development of every new trend in Jamaican music, including ska, rocksteady, reggae, and dancehall. Today, the influence of mento continues in the globalized versions of reggae and dancehall music that are played around the world, as well as reggaeton, now one of the most popular styles among youth in Latin American and the Spanish-speaking world. Day 10 — History of Jamaica

KEY TAKEAWAY POINTS

• Spain was the first colonial power to take claim to Jamaica (1594), and after the British took over in 1655 the island was converted into a plantation colony fueled by slave labor. • The thousands of the Africans who rebelled against colonial rule and escaped into the forests and mountains in the interior of the island became known as Maroons. • African-based musical traditions were historically important in Jamaican Maroon communities, and remain so today. • There are other pockets of African cultural and musical traditions that survive in parts of Jamaica where music and dance traditions, such as Kumina, remain strong. • Most of Jamaica, however, has the kinds of creolized genres common throughout the Caribbean, blending European and African musical features. One particularly influential mixed Jamaican genre is mento. • In the 1940s and 50s, mento was brought to the capital of Kingston where it became the island’s first urbanizing popular music. • From the 1950s on, it contributed to the development of every new trend in Jamaican music, including ska, rocksteady, reggae, and dance hall. • Today, the influence of mento continues in the globalized versions of reggae and dance hall music that are played around the world, as well as reggaeton.