CITR-101.9 FM Presents

The 25th Annual Bob Marley’s Birthday bash

Wednesday Feb 8, 2012. 9pm

The Grandview Legion Hall

2205 Commercial Drive

Featuring George (Reggae) Barrett

WADADA Hi-Fi the Reggae Rub-A-Dub Sound

REDEMPTION SOUND (Selecta Bradley & Short Man)

Plus: Melissa A also Radio DJ Louie Sutherland

Advance Tickets $10 at Riddim & Spice 1945 Commercial Drive 604-215-9252 

The first Jamaican recording studio opened in The first Jamaican recording studio opened in1951 and recorded "Mento" music, a fusion of European and African folk dance music. The island was awash in rhythm'n'blues records imported by the so called "Sound Systems", eccentric traveling dance-halls run by no less eccentric disc-jockeys such as Clement Dodd (the "Downbeat") and Duke Reid (the "Trojan"). The poor people of the Jamaican ghettos who could not afford to hire a band for their parties had to content themselves with these "Sound Systems". The "Selectors", the Jamaican disc-jockeys who operated these sound systems became the real entertainers. The selector would spin the records and would "Toast" over them. The art of "Toasting" usually consisted in rhyming vocal patterns and soon evolved into social commentary became as important as the music that was being played. In 1954 Ken Khouri started Jamaica's first record label "Federal Records". He inspired Reid and Dodd who began to record local artists for their sound system. Towards the end of the 1950s amateurs began to form bands that played Caribbean music and New Orleans' rhythm'n'blues besides the local mento. This led to the "Bluebeat" groups which basically were Jamaica's version of the New Orleans sound. They usually featured saxophone, trumpet, trombone, piano, drum and bass. Soon the bass became the dominant instrument and the sound evolved into "Ska". The "Ska" beat had actually been invented by Roscoe Gordon, a Memphis pianist, with No More Doggin (1951). Ska songs boasted an upbeat tempo, a horn section, Afro-American vocal harmonies, jazzy riffs and staccato guitar notes.