NOW VIEWINGRecord
HomeJourneyCollectionsStoriesPathsMusic RoomGamesExploreMapDebateNews
Explore

ENTITY · CULTURAL PRACTICE

Sound-tape culture

Well supported

Sound-tape culture is the practice of recording live sound-system sessions and clashes onto cassette or reel tape for circulation among fans, collectors and the diaspora, the analogue precursor to today's video uploads of vintage dances and the main way early clashes such as 1980s Killamanjaro sessions survive as evidence.

No photograph yet — add one you hold the rights toOpenly licensed or your own work. We publish the credit and the licence beside it.

At a glance

Confidence
Well supported
Sources
Norman Stolzoff, Wake the Town and Tell the People; Sound Clash: Jamaican Dancehall Culture at Large.

Coverage areas

Technology, recording & industryEvidence, memory & meta layers

Tap a tag to explore related records across the atlas.

Share a memoryWrite it, say it, or send a photo.Correct this recordA date, a name, a spelling we got wrong.Add a source leadA flyer, tape, article or photograph.

Connections

In stories

Story · ProbableJuggling and the tape that remembers

Most nights a sound system isn't clashing anyone — it's juggling a riddim for a dancing crowd, and someone is taping it.

Share this record

WhatsAppXFacebookEmail

Compiled and researched by The Jamaica Music Atlas music desk. The sources that informed it are credited above.

Share it freely. Quote it, teach from it, print it, put it on your own site — all we ask is that you credit The Jamaica Music Atlas music desk and link back where a link is possible, so the next reader can follow the trail to the sources. If you publish something built on this, tell us and we will link to you in return.