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The sounds of the island — grouped by how they sound

931 playable recordings, interviews, documentaries and sound tapes from the archive, sorted into nine sonic groupings. Each grouping tells you what to listen for, so the difference between a ska chop and a one drop is something you can hear rather than something you have to take on trust.

SONIC GROUPINGS

Nine ways the island sounds.

Most groupings follow a period of sound — the tempo drop into rocksteady, the machine arriving in 1985. Clash and dubplate is the exception: it is a practice rather than a decade, so a record lands there for what it shows, not for when its artist worked. A recording can sit in more than one.

Deep background

Drum roots

Three Nyabinghi drums in conversation — the bass drum on the downbeat, the funde holding a steady heartbeat pulse, the repeater improvising across the top. Kumina and revival singing work the same way: a fixed pulse with a voice moving freely over it.

35 recordings

1940s–50s

Mento

An acoustic band with no drum kit: banjo, guitar, hand drum and a rhumba box — a big thumb piano the player sits on — plucking the bassline. The lilt leans on the last beat of the bar, which is why mento swings where calypso struts.

27 recordings

1950s–early 60s

Sound-system foundation

American R&B and shuffle boogie played through valve amplifiers and home-built bass bins. The thing to hear is not the song but the system: bass weight the record was never mastered for, and a selector talking over it.

17 recordings

1962–66

Ska

The chop on the offbeat — guitar and piano stabbing the up-strokes between the drums — at a pace close to a run. Horns carry the melody, jazz-schooled and loud, and the bass walks rather than repeats.

43 recordings

1966–79

Rocksteady, reggae and dub

The tempo drops and the bass steps forward as the lead instrument. Count to four: in a one drop there is nothing on beat one, and kick and snare land together on three. Then dub takes the same tape and removes most of it, leaving reverb where the singing was.

218 recordings

1979–90

Dancehall and the digital turn

One riddim under many different voices. After Sleng Teng in 1985 the backing is a machine rather than a band, so the timing is exact and the same instrumental can carry a love song, a boast and a warning in the same session.

187 recordings

1990s

Clash and dubplate

A familiar tune with the words changed — an artist singing a rival sound into the ground and calling your sound by name. These are specials, cut one at a time for one system, and the crowd noise is the scoring.

201 recordings

2000s

Street dance

Records built for a specific move, with the instruction in the lyric. The tempo and the gaps in the beat are shaped around what a body has to do on the floor.

108 recordings

2010s onward

Global and the living archive

Old riddims resurfacing — a Studio One bassline under a new voice, a revival singer reaching back past dancehall to roots. Listen for what is being quoted.

263 recordings

LISTENING — DANCEHALL AND THE DIGITAL TURN

Dancehall and the digital turn

One riddim under many different voices. After Sleng Teng in 1985 the backing is a machine rather than a band, so the timing is exact and the same instrumental can carry a love song, a boast and a warning in the same session.

187 recordings Clear filters

Black Kat vs King Addies — World Clash 2000

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only

Community World Clash archive featuring Black Kat and King Addies.

Source link ↗

Irish & Chin World Clash 2000 — Killamanjaro vs Mighty Crown

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only

Community World Clash archive; do not infer a result solely from the upload title.

Source link ↗

Killamanjaro Live at Reggae Sumfest 1998

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only

Community live-set archive; uploader and venue metadata require review.

Source link ↗

Killamanjaro vs King Addies — “Greatest Clash”

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only

Community archive of the historic Jamaica–New York clash; exact event metadata remains under review.

Source link ↗

Stone Love — Weddy Wednesday Live

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only

Live Stone Love session supplied as a discovery reference.

Source link ↗

Stone Love Movement Live — 2014 Global Tour

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only

Stone Love promotional/live-tour reference supplied by the editor.

Source link ↗

Stone Love Presents — Fully Loaded Mix 2011

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only

Community mix associated with the Fully Loaded event archive.

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Stone Love vs Killamanjaro — 1989 Sound Clash

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only

Community clash archive; exact date and venue require review.

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Waggy Tee — Caribbean Unity Festival 2022 Dubplate Mix

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only

Editor-supplied live Waggy Tee dubplate reference.

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Killamanjaro vs Soul Supreme — Amazura, New York Sound Clash

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only

Second-round clash video supplied in the research summary; discovery-only embed pending rights review.

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Killamanjaro vs Soul Supreme — The Sound Clash Gets Serious

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only

First-round community clash video; uploading channel was not identified in the supplied research.

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Soul Supreme Replaces Jakes! — Will It Work?

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only

Discussion video about Soul Supreme replacing Jakes in a Killamanjaro clash context; discovery-only reference.

Source link ↗

Soul Supreme vs Killamanjaro — Total Annihilation Sound Clash, 18 May 2024

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only

New York clash video supplied in the research summary; discovery-only embed pending rights review.

Source link ↗

Busy Signal — Jamaica Love (official music video)

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · releases

Discovery-only embed pending editorial rights review.

Source link ↗

Tami Chynn feat. Akon — Frozen

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · releases

Universal Records / SRC Records, 2008; directed by Gil Green. Lead single from the shelved album Prima Donna. Link supplied by the editor. Discovery-only embed pending editorial rights review.

Source link ↗

Tami Chynn — Hyperventilating (official video)

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · releases

Universal Records, 2005; directed by Tim Naylor, shot at Shadow Studios, New York. Her best-known single. Link supplied by the editor. Discovery-only embed pending editorial rights review.

Source link ↗

Ras Kimono — Rhumba Stylee (music video)

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · releases

The biggest single from Under Pressure. Discovery-only embed pending editorial rights review.

Source link ↗

Ras Kimono — Under Pressure (official audio)

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · releases

Title track of the 1989 debut, one of the records that established reggae as a Nigerian form rather than an import. Discovery-only embed pending editorial rights review.

Source link ↗

Buju Banton — Untold Stories (official video)

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · releases

From 'Til Shiloh (1995), the album on which he turned from slackness to Rastafari-shaped writing. Published by the Island Def Jam group. Official/label upload; discovery-only embed pending editorial rights review.

Source link ↗

Christopher Martin — Guaranteed (official music video)

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · releases

Official/label upload; discovery-only embed pending editorial rights review.

Source link ↗

Christopher Martin — I'm A Big Deal (official music video)

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · releases

Official/label upload; discovery-only embed pending editorial rights review.

Source link ↗

Vybz Kartel and Mavado — Sting 2008 (HD upload)

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · live

A higher-quality transfer. The upload's title declares Kartel the winner; other uploads of the same night declare Mavado, and contemporary reports generally record a draw. The claim is noted as evidence of the dispute, not carried as fact. Identified via web search; not verified from the seeding environment.

Source link ↗

Vybz Kartel and Mavado — Sting 2008, full clash

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · tapes

Uploaded as "the greatest dancehall clash". Identified via web search; not verified from the seeding environment.

Source link ↗

Vybz Kartel and Mavado — the clash, Sting 2008, Jamworld

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · tapes

Stage footage of the 2008 clash. Identified via web search; not verified from the seeding environment. Discovery-only external reference pending editorial rights review.

Source link ↗