Sonjah Stanley Niaah - Dancehall: A Reader on Jamaican Music and Culture

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DANCEHALL:
FROM SLAVE SHIP
TO GHETTO

DANCEHALL:
FROM SLAVE SHIP
TO GHETTO

SONJAH STANLEY NIAAH

University of Ottawa Press
Ottawa

University of Ottawa Press, 2010

All rights reserved.

The University of Ottawa Press acknowledges with gratitude the support extended to its publishing list by Heritage Canada through its Book Publishing Industry Development Program, by the Canada Council for the Arts, by the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences through its Aid to Scholarly Publications Program, by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and by the University of Ottawa.

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Stanley Niaah, Sonjah, 1970
Dancehall : from slave ship to ghetto / Sonjah Stanley Niaah.

(African and diasporic studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7766-3041-0 (bound).ISBN 978-0-7766-0736-8 (pbk.)

1. Dancehall (Music)Social aspectsJamaicaKingston. 2. Dancehall (Music)JamaicaKingston. 3. Popular cultureJamaicaKingston. 4. Kingston (Jamaica)Social conditions. 5. Inner citiesJamaica Kingston. i. Title. ii. Series: African and diasporic studies

F1874.S72 2010 306.484246097292 C2010-903490-2

PRINTED AND BOUND IN CANADA

LIVICATION

In subverting the hegemony of English as used in the academies of the West, I wish to title my dedication a livication, in the spirit of the Rastafari luminaries who have continually shown us the need to question our history and to write our own. In transforming the ded (dead) in dedication to its opposite, (a)live, I invoke Rastafari cosmology and linguistic protocol in my few words of praise:

Every tree wants to bear fruit
Every flowering plant wants to bloom
Every human be beautiful and be seen to be beautiful
Every created thing wants to know its beauty.

This book is livicated to all those who have ever known beauty, to those who want to know beauty and to the revolutionaries who will not stop until every hu(e)man being knows his or her beauty. It is also:

For my father hero, Levi George Stanley,
who taught me to strive for heights beyond the sky,
and
Pearline Codner (ne James), Naomi Blackhall, John Blackhall
(father and son),
and
Rebecca Blackhall (dancer, Revival bands member),
who was present when I entered the world.
This book lives because of You.
Ashe!

CONTENTS

1.1 Photographs showing scenes from Teenage Dance Party (c.1963)
Source: The Jamaica Gleaner Company

1.2 French Set Girls & Jonkonnu Dancers (Jamaica) by Isaac Mendes Belisario
Source: The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas Collection, University of Virginia

2.1 Advertising the latest event Champions in Action and Gal Farm
Source: Roy Sweetland

2.2 Advertising the latest dance event
Source: Sonjah Stanley Niaah

2.3 Poverty Maps of Kingston Metropolitan Area (2008)
Source: Planning Institute of Jamaica

3.1 Plans of slave ship decks (Vessel Name: Brookes c. 1789)
Source: Courtesy of the National Library of Jamaica

3.2 A Typical Gully Bank along which many livelihoods are constructed
Source: Roy Sweetland

3.3 Four Grand Finalists (including The Blues Busters from St James & Hoola Hoop Dancers) in the All Jamaica Opportunity Hour Contest, Palace Theatre c. 27 August, 1959.
Source: Jamaica Gleaner Company

3.4 Performers in a Ska Contest held at Ritz Cinema, Maxfield Avenue, Kingston c. 29 July, 1964
Source: Jamaica Gleaner Company

3.5 A Typical Dance Scene at the Dutty Fridaze event
Source: Sonjah Stanley Niaah

5.1 Colo Colo and the crew displaying their moves
Source: Roy Sweetland

5.2 Dancer Chi Ching Ching at Passa Passa
Source: Sonjah Stanley Niaah

5.3 Members of the Group Voicemail at Dutty Fridaze
Source: Sonjah Stanley Niaah

5.4 Dancer Doctor Bird performs at a video shoot in Kingston
Source: Roy Sweetland

5.5 Illustration of Fat Women in Dancehall
Source: The Jamaica Gleaner Company

6.1 Swedish Dancehall fans at Passa Passa
Source: Sonjah Stanley Niaah

6.2 Japanese Dancehall fans at Passa Passa
Source: Sonjah Stanley Niaah

In 1999, when Bibi Bakare Yusuf, my first friend from the African continent, asked me the question, Who is looking at the ecology of dancehall? it reverberated with something familiar to the core of my being, such that the obvious answerNo one was immediately confirmed. Then, when Aggrey Brown introduced me to Blues People by Amiri Baraka (1968), and I saw the connection between blues and dancehall spaces, not only was I sold on the project of pursuing an ecological investigation of dancehall, but my interest was thrown further afield, to performance practices across the Black Atlantic world. I am thankful to them both for the impulses they sparked. I can only hope that they find as much satisfaction in reading the work as I have enjoyed in producing it.

I would also like to big up all massive and crews, especially the dancehall massive that continues to make its confidence and identity compellingly visible. Most of all, I would like to thank the interviewees who consented to have their stories told in this document.

Such projects as this one are not undertaken without significant sacrifice, help and inspiration from many. To my husband and my two sons: you have endured much and this document is a testament of our collective strength! To Karene Stanley, Lisa Campbell, Fernando and Pearla Neufville, Teraze and Levi Stanley (my hero father who slipped away on October 12, 2007): thanks for the life, love and patience. To Grace Livingston, my best friend, Delroy Stanley, my dear brother who gave me the equipment on which I wrote much of this book, and students of Cultural Studies at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies, especially those in the first cohort in 1999: thank you for your invaluable support, from the very beginning. You were all there in spirit and in truth at the crucial times, and for that I give thanks. To those who stayed in touch, gave encouragement, helped me with self-editing, or gave their comments or a listening ear to my ramblings: you all have assisted in some way with the birthing of this book.

I want to specifically thank the following who have made invaluable contributions to the research process or the manuscript: Moji Anderson, Michael Bucknor, Hannah Appel, Eldon Birthwright, Candy, Bop Campbell, Winston Campbell, Christopher Charles, Barry Chevannes, Pauletta Chevannes, John Connell, Cindy, Desmond Campbell, Carolyn Cooper, Denise Stacey Cumberland, Seor Daley, Pa-trice Eriata, Herbert Gayle, Donovan Germain, Colby Graham, Cecil Gutzmore, Jerome Hamilton, Matthew Knife Harvey, Dennis Howard, Dwayne Cowrie Shell Little, Herbie Miller, Arthur Newland, Anthony Harriott, Marcia Hemmings, Deborah Hickling, Clinton Hutton, the late Mortimo Planno, Winston Powell, Cheryl Ryman, Verene Shepherd, Tracey Skelton, Maria Smith, Carlene Smith, Lorna Smith, Mr. Smith, Sugar, Kingsley Stewart, LAntoinette Stines, Roy Sweet-land, Imani Tafari Ama, Helen Thomas and Norma Wright, as well as Clement Branche, Kamau Brathwaite, Diane Austin-Broos, Aggrey Brown, Maureen Warner-Lewis and Rex Nettleford.

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