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An essay about jamaica
A essay about jamaica
An essay about jamaica
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First let’s start off by giving some back history on Jamaica. People saythat the history of Jamaica is a rich and vibrant which inspires them to move forward asa nation. Jamaica’s history speaks to experiences of hardships and prosperity, thegrowth and determination of a people. Like many another of the West Indian IslandsJamaica is like a woman with a history. She has had her experiences and has lived herlife rapidly. She has suffered earthquake, fires and death. Unlike other countriesJamaica has taken centuries to grow from their primitive life through the flower and fruitof prosperity into the seedtime of picturesque decrepitude. Jamaica has lived through itall in a few years. That’s a little snippet of their history so here some facts about …show more content…
This started in the 1980s when the state reduced itsrole as a major player in the economy, The music of Jamaica includes the Jamaican folkmusic and many popular genres. Jamaican music culture is a fusion of elements fromneighboring Caribbean islands such as Trinidad and Tobago. Bob Marley was the firstto make reggae music into an international phenomenon. In the wake of his success inthe 1970s came along some other names, and it wasn't long before reggae became anestablished genre of music. But reggae was simply the growth, the development, ofwhat had been happening in Jamaican music. Ska (an island in Jamaica) was theloudest island in the world had declared its real musical independence and had alreadymade an imprint on the world. Reggae music originally came from jazz music, one ofAmerica's great contributions to musical culture that swept around the world. Throughradio broadcasts and records, Jamaica, then still and British colony, got the fever in the1940s. Bands sprang up to entertain tourists, like Eric Dean's Orchestra and futuregiants like trombonist Don Drummond and sax man Tommy McCook learned the licksand honed their chops on the
In this paper I covered the geography, lifestyle history, people, and the society. Many different people transformed the history and the culture they have today. The people in Jamaica live in small communities without very much to live off of. Their climate does not range very much and their seasons depend on rain. Although, there society is poor, the people still find ways to live their lives to the fullest.
After visiting the country of Jamaica this past summer, I realized how dissimilar some countries can be from the United States. Jamaica was not unlike the United States in a terrible way, but the disparities made me additionally interested in researching about the beautiful and culture-rich country of Jamaica. Even though the majority of facts about the history and culture of the United States and Jamaica are dissimilar, I was surprised to come across some similarities among these two countries.
Although there is a variety of music that could be examined to trace its evolution through time, there is one genre in particular that is quite interesting to examine. Though it differs from other types of music, it will be looked at in conjunction with Reggae music as they have similar ties. Reggae music is quite prominent today in the United States, parts of Africa, and of course Jamaica. Reggae is notoriously known for its most influential artist Bob Marley, and it is not unusual for one to have heard a few, if not many of his songs. Reggae’s popularity is steadily increasing and is doing so through both expansions of the music as well as increasing knowledge on the genre.
Since its founding in the 1930s, the Rastafarian movement has grown to the point where it has become a major cultural and political force in Jamaica. During its existence, the movement has challenged Jamaica's neo-colonialist society's attempts to keep whites at the top and blacks at the bottom of the socio-economic structure.
Even before the party in the Bronx rap music made a mark. Some say it originated in Jamaican under th...
When Jamaica gained its independence on August 5th 1962 Ska began to gain worldwide recognition. The sound of Ska music’s Skippy rhythms and jazz-influenced bass lines were heard all over the world transmitted via news coverage and documentation of the significant event of Great Britain granting this small island independence.
The Caribbean is comprised of a group of island. Jamaica is one of the greatest Antilles. It has a tropical climate. Each country has its own culture, Jamaicans is not an exemption, and they have an assorted and distinctive one. “Their culture is a complex mixture of African, Arabic, European, East Indian, and Chinese roots combining together to create a rich, dynamic heritage” (Gall, 2009).
Jamaican cuisine can be a mixture of everything according to my research. When slaves were brought to Jamaica they mixed their ways of cooking with the Jamaican ways of cooking. According to Cultures of the World: Jamaica “Jamaican Cuisine is a history lesson in itself.” That's is true because so many many cultures mix together to make Jamaican cuisine.
Lastly, Rastafarianism is growing very rapidly between people of many different cultures. The Rastafari movement has spread all around the world because of Bob Marley's famous music. The lyrics to most of Marley's songs contained the Rasta doctrine and many of things about the religion/way of life. Bob Marley's style of music was Raggae, and it was very popular, and still is on a certain level. There are many Raggae artists today, like Shaggy & Barrington, Sizzla, and Gyptian. Today, there appears to be more than one million followers of Rastafarianism, and most live in communes. Although, Rastafarianism is spread through Africa, most Rastafarians are from Jamaica. They settle in other places around the world like the Caribbean, US, UK, and Canada.
In Jamaica during the 1970s and 1980s reggae developed out of the Ghetto’s of Trench town and expressed the social unrest of the poor and the need to overcome the oppressors. The 1980’s brought the newest development in social and political music, the emergence of hip-hop and rap. This urban musical art form that was developed in New York City has now taken over the mainstream, but originated as an empowering art form for urban youth and emerging working class. Musically, hip-hop spawned the age of DJ’s. With strong influences from Reggae, hip-hop has developed into an empowering form for the expression of ideas, power, revolution and change.
The political and economic history of Jamaica is based upon its foundation as a slave colony. From the beginning, the colony was under Spanish rule that relied upon native slave laboring in the sugar fields. The first law to be implemented upon the island under Spanish rule was the Repartimiento, introduced by Governor Esquivel, the first governor of Jamaica. The law enabled colonists to apply for and receive special permission to use the natives for a period of time; forcing them into labors such as planting and logging (Bennett 70). Francisco de Garay, who became governor in 1514, enacted an other set of regulations called the Requermiento (The Requirement) (Bennett 70). This system was implemented with the basis that the colonists had to convert the natives to Christianity; Garay was hopeful that in doing so, the natives would “be tractable, properly maintained and live and greatly multiply” (Sherlock 70).
Situated just south of Cuba in the Caribbean Sea, Jamaica is well known as a popular tourist spot and the birthplace of reggae music. Populated initially by native Arawak Indians, who gave the island its name, “land of wood and water (Jamaica).” However, this beautiful land’s almost pristine beauty was shattered by outbursts of violence surrounding the 1980 political elections. This fighting was sparked by the people’s mistrust of the ruling socialist party at the time. The reasons for this fighting and this mistrust are not simple, they are intrinsically tied to the island nation’s history from the beginning of its colonial period five hundred years before.
Jamaica has been a land exploited and oppressed by white nations for much of its history. First colonized by the Spanish and then the British, it seems hard to imagine a time when it was just the native people living in peace and harmony with the land. Many years after the white man first jammed himself onto the beaches of Jamaica, reggae music was born. A continuing tradition, this easy-to-groove-to music style originated as a voice against this oppression; it was the peaceful islanders way of finally communicating their plighted history to all who would listen, or all who could appreciate a good beat. Much of this oppression came in the time of slavery; a period of nearly two hundred years where those of a dark skin were considered property of the light skinned ones, inferior in all ways. Most of their labor was on sugar plantations, an export that Jamaica was supplying much of the world with. Later in their history, it would be bananas that the British would learn to exploit.
Music is “The art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre” ( Farlex, Inc 2013). Caribbean music has its own unique history, is very diverse with each island having its own unique genre of music. With so many different types of music out there and different performing artists these artists are looking for ways to make money by becoming popular.
Music has played a role in society since the dawn of man. Said to be the beginning of communication in early civilization, music and dance have influenced how we think, act and treat members of our own society. Song and dance is used in rites of passage ceremonies such as births, weddings and funerals throughout the world. Jamaican and Yoruba cultures have made many contributions to our society. The uses of this music as a vehicle for political issues, values, and beliefs have been used by many musicians from different cultures. I intend to discuss the Contribution of these two contemporary cultures music and their effect on society.