Dancehall Culture and Ties To African Culture/Heritage



There are so many topics that appear in the Preamble and Introduction sections of Henriques' book that can be and has been analyzed in the world of academia. As a former cultural dancer with a minor in Cultural Studies, I'm choosing to share my thoughts with you all on the influence and elements of slavery and African culture found in Dancehall culture. Even though there are elements of African culture found within the religions of Jamaica namely Rastafari, Obeah, and especially Pocomania, because of my background, I'd like to look into music and dance specifically. Henriques mentions our African heritage multiple times in his Preamble while not actually getting into the meat of the matter (which is fine, that is not what the book is about). Growing up I did a lot of folk and contemporary dance in our annual islandwide cultural competitions, widely known as JCDC. We did folk dances that involved the Kumina dance move as well as Bruk Ins. Now that I am older, it amazes me how no one had to teach us how to do these moves. It came so naturally to all of us and when we were dancing, it felt like second nature and it brought a certain joy over all of us that most times, there was no set routine to our performances. Even though we would dance to soundtracks, most times, we were dancing to drums being played by 2 or 3 guys at that side of the stage. Even as an onlooker, watching a folk dance was a totally different experience from any other type of performance, especially when there are drums instead of a soundtrack. Bare in mind slavery ended in Jamaican in the early 1800s and none of us have direct ties to Africa. Here is an example of this sonic and visual experience I am talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TARAYsPFBTc (0.53 to 1.30). And here is an example of the folk segment at our JCDC competitions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuxsT6KSebg (1.20 the brukins dance). 

This specific sonic experience can also be found in the use of African rhythms in dancehall songs. Here are some examples (warning: very raw lyrics): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLuk4vjzimU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp_0p6Hc3_I

The sexually explicit lyrics are pretty obvious and are a part of Dancehall culture but how exactly is that tied into our African heritage? Male slaves were used as breeders (yes the word describing animals such as cows reproducing) in Caribbean slavery and that male hypersexuality never left our culture. This is also has a huge impact on the use of bass in creating dancehall music as the music and the creation of it which is male-gendered. As mentioned in class today, these heavy bass riddims most times are sexual music (which is one of the main pillars of dancehall music). This then raises the question, does the music promote hypersexuality or is the music a product of already existing hypersexuality? This question is tricky because while male hypersexuality has been in our society since slavery, most people of each young generation that emerges, learn about sex through dancehall music. 

Another tie dancehall music has to Africa is the Afrobeats genre. There are currently questions in the music industry about which came first - did Dancehall influence Afrobeats or did Afrobeats influence dancehall? Which aspects of the music (the use of bass, the riddim, the association with dance, etc.) is indigenous to which? And what can people in the music industry do to ensure both genres are celebrated and financially supported internationally, instead of being put under one umbrella? 

Dancehall and African culture can have me going on and on but I will leave it there, for now.

Enjoy di vibes!

Comments

  1. Jonathan LewisDecember 1, 2021 at 11:55 AM

    Hi Hannah. Great inquiry. Thanks so much for sharing. Such an interesting question you raised with regarding the predominant influence being either music promoting a male hyper-sexuality or vice versa, like a "which came first, chicken or the egg" question. I think that there are two central components to potentially answering this question that I would like to suggest in a comparison with another example as well. Let's consider the importance of the historical context surrounding the development of music, and the role of performance in a comparison with drag shows.

    Paris is Burning, 1990 (link here https://watchdocumentaries.com/paris-is-burning/) is a documentary style film that investigates the ball culture of New York and the African-American, Latino, gay, and transgender communities that often participated in it. At these events (called balls), individuals gather, dress-up in differently themed outfits, perform various dances (often voguing, posing style). The event is in the style of drag competition, judged primarily on the "realness" of the outfit according to the category (e.g. business man, school boy, etc.). The premise of these balls is to facilitate the sense of comfort in one's own skin with likeminded individuals via crossing lines of sexuality, race, body figure through appropriation. In this way, participants perform as a way of taking back or resisting dominant oppressive norms regarding gender, race, and the underprivileged socioeconomic class.

    Where I think this comparison has its merit is in the importance of performance within a collective experience as a form of resisting hegemonic ideologies. It’s not like these oppressive narratives came to fruition overnight, but rather were fears born out of moral panics stemming from religious and colonial narratives (i.e. the historical context being resisted through performance). Similarly, your post did an excellent job of considering the historical context of dancehall session musics that link them to their diasporic roots. I think that this context is essential to considering what is being re-performed, why it’s being performed that way, and how it is done.

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  2. Lucas_GiulekasDecember 1, 2021 at 12:03 PM

    Hey Hannah,

    This is a great post as a whole, but the part about the hypersexuality of African culture being represented in the lyrics of dancehall is very intriguing to me. It connects to the idea of gendered sound we previously read about and how masculine voices tend to have stereotypes associated with them such as the connection between bass and aggressiveness/hypersexuality. The harm of something such as bass being associated with stereotypes surrounding aggressiveness is dangerous as it limits our ways of expressing ourselves through certain sounds.

    Lucas

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  3. Alanna MacDonaldDecember 1, 2021 at 8:27 PM

    Hey Hannah!

    I really enjoyed your presentation and blog post about dancehall and it's sociocultural and historical connections within Jamaica. You raise such pertinent questions (that honestly I do not have a succinct answer to) but would like to explore further.

    You asked the question: "Does the music promote hyper-sexuality or is the music a product of already existing hyper-sexuality?" I think that that very fact that you can toggle between this "chicken and egg" scenario suggests that this may not be a linear causal relationship, but rather a symbiotic relationship (meaning both simultaneously influence each other). As we have discussed, the sonic experience is filled with cultural roots, hegemonic influences, 'pre-personal' frequencies, collective and universal experiences, and so much more. Each of these elements, matched with contemporary (and historical) Jamaican culture creates a holistic and influential experience in defining and redefining Jamaican masculinity. Additionally in return, Jamaican male artists who create new dancehall music may further define or redefine this gender binary through their sonic and identity performances. Building off of Jonathan's comment, I wonder if there is a space or market for reimagining the hegemonic binaries of Jamaican masculinity and sexuality in the Dancehall scene - or if this is far too off base and would be rejected by the masses? Typically in order to understand the confines of our social structures in pop culture, we must introduce a disruptor that causes audiences to challenge what we deem as "normal and acceptable." Examples that come to mind are artists like David Bowie, Prince, Elton John, and Freddie Mercury, who routinely challenged the male gender binary through their clothing style, lyrics, melodies, dances, concerts, sexuality, and more. They were heavily criticized at the beginning of their careers for being artists that did not fit into the rigid boxes that Western society has placed male artists in.

    A question I have for you is, are there any Jamaican male dancehall artists that are doing something similar to the examples of artists I just gave? Do any of them challenge the stereotypical hyper-sexuality through their music and performance and is this well-received?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HannahDecember 12, 2021 at 8:34 PM

      Jamaica is such a homophobic country that the idea you have mentioned, will not be possible for now. The box that male dancehall artistes (and any artistes from Jamaica really) have to fit in, is extremely rigid and anyone who steps out of that box, is looked down upon, shunned and gets little to no support. Presently, I do not know of any male artiste challenging the stereotypical hyper-sexuality. However, there was a female dancehall artiste by the name of Ishawna who created quite the stir in dancehall when she remixed Ed Sheran's 'Shape Of You' to sing about oral sex being performed on a female by a male. I went to one of our island's biggest parties, Dream Weekend Wet N Wild, where she performed and was booed by the entire crowd, and this was a massive crowd. She got little to no support from the Dancehall community and she still has not fully recovered from the blow it took to her career. No other female artiste attempted to do it and it did not challenge any existing ideologies in our society, so she doing that may have been for nothing, except Ed Sheran did acknowledge the remix.

      Just a side note (and this of course a whole other topic) homosexual is the worst thing you can be in Jamaica. There is no group more looked down upon than homosexuals and there is no Jamaican in the middle and lower class that would dare to be portrayed as anything except extremely masculine and straight. Homosexuality for females on the other hand is not judged or shunned or anything like that and the powerful and popular men of the ghettoes of Jamaica (especially dancehall artistes) encourage lesbian activity.

      Here's the link to Ishawna's song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x--oBoLliIA

      Delete

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