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Mento beats get documented
Published: Friday | November 27, 2009
Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer
Members of the Joy Makers Mento Band perform at Walkerswood Pepper Farm in July 2006. - File
Mento music, the folk beat some musicologists consider Jamaica's first popular sound, is the subject of a documentary being produced by British film-maker Rick Elgood. Hot Pepper, the name of the project, is scheduled to be released in early 2010.
Elgood told The Gleaner last week that Hot Pepper is close to a wrap after almost one year of production.
"There has never been a documentary on mento, so when I got a chance to do it I jumped," said Elgood. "We've gone around the country interviewing mento bands and done research going back to people like Slim and Sam."
Hot Pepper is funded by Bill Monsted, an American real-estate developer from New Orleans, Louisiana, whose interest in mento goes back to his childhood visits to Jamaica.
"He came back (to Jamaica) as an adult and saw the same mento bands in the hotels he used to stay, and thought it would be really nice to do something about their music," Elgood explained. "That's when he contacted me."
To date, Elgood has interviewed several stalwart units such as the Blue Glaze Mento Band from Clarendon and the Lititz Mento Band out of St Elizabeth. He also discussed with young mento bands how they relate to a beat that is fast becoming obsolete.
Elgood also interviewed persons versed in Jamaican folk forms: former Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga, musician Marjorie Whylie and musicologist Garth White.
First mento stars
Music historians regard the travelling duo of Slim and Sam as the first mento stars. They took their act throughout Jamaica during the 1930s and 1940s and even had a hit song in Sly Mongoose.
Mento performers like Count Lasher, Lord Flea and Lord Fly were popular recording artistes during the late 1940s and early 1950s. But by the early 1960s, they gave way to a more hip beat called ska and were largely relegated to hotel porches.
In the 1970s, the mento got a lifeline through Stanley Beckford, a genial singer who once performed with the Blue Glaze Band. Most of Beckford's hit songs, including Brown Gal, Kisiloo and Shaving Cream, had a distinct mento feel.
"We do look at Stanley, but the thing about him was that he was really a reggae singer who had a fantastic mento voice," Elgood said.
Born in Yorkshire, north England, Elgood says he was drawn to Jamaican popular culture during the 1970s when roots-reggae struck a chord with British youth. He is best known as director of the 1995 low budget film Dancehall Queen.
Mento beats get documented
Published: Friday | November 27, 2009
Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer
Members of the Joy Makers Mento Band perform at Walkerswood Pepper Farm in July 2006. - File
Mento music, the folk beat some musicologists consider Jamaica's first popular sound, is the subject of a documentary being produced by British film-maker Rick Elgood. Hot Pepper, the name of the project, is scheduled to be released in early 2010.
Elgood told The Gleaner last week that Hot Pepper is close to a wrap after almost one year of production.
"There has never been a documentary on mento, so when I got a chance to do it I jumped," said Elgood. "We've gone around the country interviewing mento bands and done research going back to people like Slim and Sam."
Hot Pepper is funded by Bill Monsted, an American real-estate developer from New Orleans, Louisiana, whose interest in mento goes back to his childhood visits to Jamaica.
"He came back (to Jamaica) as an adult and saw the same mento bands in the hotels he used to stay, and thought it would be really nice to do something about their music," Elgood explained. "That's when he contacted me."
To date, Elgood has interviewed several stalwart units such as the Blue Glaze Mento Band from Clarendon and the Lititz Mento Band out of St Elizabeth. He also discussed with young mento bands how they relate to a beat that is fast becoming obsolete.
Elgood also interviewed persons versed in Jamaican folk forms: former Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga, musician Marjorie Whylie and musicologist Garth White.
First mento stars
Music historians regard the travelling duo of Slim and Sam as the first mento stars. They took their act throughout Jamaica during the 1930s and 1940s and even had a hit song in Sly Mongoose.
Mento performers like Count Lasher, Lord Flea and Lord Fly were popular recording artistes during the late 1940s and early 1950s. But by the early 1960s, they gave way to a more hip beat called ska and were largely relegated to hotel porches.
In the 1970s, the mento got a lifeline through Stanley Beckford, a genial singer who once performed with the Blue Glaze Band. Most of Beckford's hit songs, including Brown Gal, Kisiloo and Shaving Cream, had a distinct mento feel.
"We do look at Stanley, but the thing about him was that he was really a reggae singer who had a fantastic mento voice," Elgood said.
Born in Yorkshire, north England, Elgood says he was drawn to Jamaican popular culture during the 1970s when roots-reggae struck a chord with British youth. He is best known as director of the 1995 low budget film Dancehall Queen.
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