New Chune Friday

[Jangle]

Historian, these were selected with you in mind. The theme - The Influence of Dancehall Music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC5GcTLb0b0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zCoCa6b6cU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz-LhRmIJno

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U58kneHbhXA

[Jangle]

somebaddy bawl forwaad!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_m783XAQjo

[Historian]

Reminds Me of the Reggae Boyz

The Jamaican culture is, without question, a dynamic, very infectious and certainly influential phenomenon! This is shown probably most strongly here in the Stylo G featuring Sis Nancy effort. There is, of course, also nothing new here, and the strongest features of this effort are the excitement (hype), the revival of Toots Hibbert’s decades-old song, and random shots of Caribbean culture all placed over a typical dancehall rhythm.

The single most significant musical part of this Stylo G effort, in my opinion, is the update of a very old product, Toots and the Maytals’ 1966 hit, “Bam Bam.” That’s almost fifty years ago! Ironically, this outstanding fifty-year-old composition is the most impressive aspect of ANY of the videos you posted.

In Major Lazer’s case, his video is replete with recycled elements of 1970s New York breakdance movements and old dancehall visuals (for instance, the video for “Murder She Wrote” by Chaka Demus and Pliers comes immediately to mind) and really little that is new. Of course, the creative introduction to this video foreshadows everything I’ve said in this paragraph.

Like I’ve repeated here endlessly (it seems), dancehall today is LESS about music and more about excitement and computerized sounds driven by a producer’s imagination.

Today’s dancehall, in general, reminds me of the Reggae Boyz soccer team: over-hyped, third-rate and to some extent lacking in creativity and imagination.

[Historian]

Excellent Stuff!!!

somebaddy bawl forwaad!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_m783XAQjo

Jangle, I just checked out this second post of yours.

Now this is why I will ALWAYS love Jamaican music!! It’s the first I’m seeing this production by Sly and Robbie, but this is the good quality stuff I’ve been talking about on this forum for years! This is what happens when you combine two of reggae’s all-time greatest and classiest performers (Shaggy and Beres Hammond) with first-class musicians and one of the greatest production teams in the world!

This is pure quality in every respect! Everything is there: lyrics with sense, great singing and wonderful, understandable deejaying, first-class musicians, tasteful stage presence by the performers, excitement!! Trust me, I will be watching this video very often! It certainly deserves multiple viewing and listening.

(By the way, I’m aware of the less than impressive sales figures so far for this recording, and this is depressing for me.)