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In the year of George
Orwell's famous book on the Police
State, Jamaica was completely captured
by Rub a Dub or early Dance Hall
Music.
Channel One Studio's
was creating hit after hit with the
Roots Radics as their Studio Band,
while DJ's and Singers chanted over
the drum and basslines of what was
then a brand new thing.
It was the time in
which digital technologies entered the
(Jamaican) Studio's big time. Jammy's
produced the now famed sleng Teng
Riddim that set the tone for yet
another thing: Ragga, or simply
Dancehall.
This is where, and
when, the video captures the sights
and sounds in the Dance during a very
exciting time in Jamaica, both
musically and politically.
Uncensored, that is.
So if you can't stand the sights of
marihuana or a reasonable amount of
sensual dancing, in other words if you
can't stand to be in a Reggae
Dancehall anyway, read on what you're
going to miss out on.
In one hour, a whole
host of vocalists enter stage: singers
and DJ's. Tippa Lee, Nicodemus, Yami
Bolo, Philip Frazer: just four names
out of many great performers.
Especially Yami Bolo
(around 32 minutes into the video) is
kind of special as he really is still
a pickney when in that time but
already a great performer.
Towards the end of the
video, certain vocalists express the
fact that they have taken just a
little bit too much beer, which has
it's charm. Just like the few minutes
wherein there is no music, but another
vocalist just plays around with the
echo on his voice...
An uncensored look in
what was a Jamaican Dancehall in
Orwell's year. 1984, a year wherein
certainly nuff things were going on!
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