Stanley Motta's studio

Stanley Motta's Kingston recording room, where Jamaica's commercial record industry effectively starts: from the early 1950s Motta cut mento sides for local sale and the tourist trade, often marketed abroad as calypso, on equipment he had upgraded to electric at the start of the decade. Access was restricted by a door policy, and the finished acetates were shipped to London for pressing before returning to Jamaica as records.

Modest equipment, enormous consequence: the first Jamaican records were made here. (Also dated to 1951 by Vendryes 2015, citing Hitchins's Vibe Merchants.).