HONOURING THE GOODNESS AND THE BAWDNESS OF JAMAICAN MUSIC CULTURE
HONOURING THE GOODNESS AND THE BAWDNESS OF JAMAICAN MUSIC CULTURE
LINKS & TINGS
Rewind/Forward would not be possible without a supportive and inspiring network of academic researchers, taxi drivers, roasted peanut vendors and builders dedicated to unearthing Jamaican music culture's ongoing word, sound, and power. Here’s an annotated list.
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Jam One Soundsystem Yard
As one of Kingston's few remaining soundsystem workshops, Jam One has done much to expose locals and tourists to the literal nuts and bolts of soundsystems. It’s also the home for the Jam One Soundsystem Federation, a grassroots organization advocating for sound system owners, operators and selectors in the music industry, especially around copyright issues.
A five-year-long research project funded by the European Research Council intending to map the distribution and history of public sonic technologies (from hand drums to speakers) in the Global South. The project builds upon research led by the Sound System Outernational research group at Goldsmiths, University of London and UK soundsystems Unit 137 and Young Warrior. In 2022, their focus is on Jamaican soundsystems; over the next few years, it will expand to Brazilian aparelhagem, Mexican sonideros, and Colombian picos.
Originating from the University of Westminister, the Black Music Research Unit has been leading the first major academic study into the impact of Jamaican and Jamaican-influenced music on British culture. Spanning the 1960s to the present day, the Unit has produced 60+ oral history interviews and two conferences. Earlier this year, the Unit announced it will collaborate with the British Library on a landmark exhibition focusing on Black British musical innovation, cultures, and creativity in pop music that will open in 2024.
Organic, experimental, soulful, and leftfield. Touching Bass is a South London-based club night that has evolved into a curatorial platform, record label, and biweekly NTS radio show hosted by its co-founders Errol and Alex Rita. Celebrating Black music in all its forms, the community-oriented initiative will be releasing in October Onwards!, a vinyl EP from South Carolina-based multi-hyphenate, Contour.
This solo exhibition, featuring Rewind/Forward photographer Jorian Charlton, pairs her portraiture alongside found 35mm slides from her father’s archive of family photos spanning the 1970s and 1980s in Jamaica, New York, and Toronto. Amassed as a pseudo-family album, where Charlton’s portraits are paired with her father’s slides, Out of Many creates an intergenerational dialogue that bounces between personal and public histories to reconsider how we think of Jamaican-Canadian culture.
Hosted by Dr Isis Semaj-Hall, For Posterity is a podcast recorded live in Jamaica that “critically explores life, art, and culture.” Conversation-focused, past episodes have featured novelist Edwidge Danticat, Gavin “Gavsborg” Blair of forward-thinking dancehall collective, Equiknoxx, legendary crooner Ken Boothe, and New Reggae songstress, Sevana.