Pon De Dancefloor: Jamaican Dancehall in the 21st Century
Date
2016-05
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The history of Jamaican music includes Roots, Mento, Ska, Rocksteady and
Reggae styles - setting the stage for the origination of the dancehall genre in the early
1980s. While a wide range of ethnographic literature has been published on these
musical foundations, few publications exist on the evolution of dancehall in Jamaica.
Dancehall has expanded in the past 10-15 years due to increasing effects of
collaboration between American and Jamaican artists and DJs along with the ease of
musical transmission through technology. In this ethnographic research, I studied the
evolution of dancehall to create a portrayal of musical trends leading to the
predominance of dancehall in Jamaica. I collected data over 10 days of fieldwork in
Portland, Jamaica in June of 2015. The music played by four club DJs was chosen as
the focus of study because of its influence on Portland’s musical culture. Data
consisted of observational field notes and 10 hours of audio recordings of local DJs in
club settings. Audio recordings were analyzed for traditional beats, song length,
production year, language choice, and added effects. Field notes were used as a
secondary source to confirm/disconfirm the emerging musical themes from across
these DJs. Findings have been compared to the existing literature to create an updated
trajectory of musical trends within dancehall. These results can be used in the field of
Ethnomusicology to continue the study of Jamaican music within Jamaica, and on a
broader global level.
Description
Keywords
jamaican dancehall, music, music education