Dub and DancehallMore Rhythm less Music

www.stefanwalcott.com

Caribbean Composers’ Handbook – Amazon.com

Decline in the Ghetto

• Dancehalls in JA had grown tired of reggae which had now entered the popular mainstream.

• Producers ventured little outside standardised norms as popularity dictated they remain true to reggae’s form.

Social Climate

• Late 70s saw a Dejay explosion at the end of decade.

• Many small local systems had sprung up due to technological advancements leading to reduced cost.

• At these Dancehall parties an activity known as ‘toasting’ occurred.

• Toasting was done over instrumental sections or over Dub tunes which were themselves largely instrumental.

Dub

• Largely instrumental music.

• Studio effects.

• Highly experimental.

• Lee “Scratch” Perry.

Toasting

• Toasting is a low investment high entertainment activity performed in heavy ‘dialect’.

• Lyrics are frequently bawdy and explicit and full of bravado.

• It is pure aggrandizement intended to ‘big-up’ oneself and the DJ.

Into a Genre

• This toasting was put down on record in essence removing it from its original context and creating new genre called Dancehall.

• General Echo ‘The Slackest’ LP.

• Toasting can be melodic as singers became involved and these singers added new lyrics and melodies over these instrumentals known as ‘plates’. E.g. Cocoa Tea, Barrington Levy and Half Pint.

Early and Present Dancehall sensibilities

• The rhythm is key.

• Tonal adherence is not essential.

• Lyrics and message for most part are secondary.

• Associated with dances.

• Harmony derives from original plate.

• If plate is original harmony is very limited.

• Good DJ’s are those who are rhythmically sound and capable of instantaneous rhymes.

Technology

• The advent of Dancehall also saw the mass production and price drop of synthesizers.

• Drum machines and other synthesized sounds are prevalent in Dancehall music.

Dancehall Artists

• Beenie Man, Sean Paul, Elephant Man, Bounty Killer, Tiger, Patra, Shabba Ranks.

Sources

Bradley, Lloyd. Bass culture: when reggae was king. London: Viking 2000. Print.