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ENTITY · GROUP / CREW / BAND

Chin's Calypso Sextet

Well supported

One of the mento groups recording in Kingston in the middle 1950s, in the first real wave of Jamaican commercial recording. The sides were made by Ivan Chin and sold largely through his own Chin's Radio shop, and the singer on many of them is Alerth Bedasse. The records were sold partly to tourists as calypso, which is why so much early mento is labelled that way, but the playing is mento, and this is roughly where the Jamaican record industry starts.

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At a glance

Confidence
Well supported
Sources
Michael Garnice, The Ultimate Guide to Great Reggae, on Ivan Chin recording the group for sale through Chin's Radio; Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean, citing "Quadrille, first and second figures", Chin's Calypso Sextet (Jamaica, 1957), produced by Ivan Chin; Obeah and Other Powers, citing Alerth Bedasse and Chin's Calypso Sextet, "Guzoo Doctor" (Kingston: Chin's, 1956); Mark Brill, Music of Latin America and the Caribbean; Peter Manuel, Caribbean Currents.

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Recordings

Alerth Bedasse - Night Food (Chin's Calypso)

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · archive source

Community-archived early-1950s mento recording; discovery-only embed.

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

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