Table of Contents

List of Illustrations xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xxv
1 Dancehall Culture in Jamaica: An Introduction 1
2 "From Way Back When": The Dancehall from Slavery to World War II 20
3 "Talking Blues": The Rise of the Sound System 41
4 "Get Up, Stand Up": The Dancehall in Post-Independence Jamaica 65
5 The Dub Market: The Recording Studio and the Production of Dancehall Culture 115
6 "I'm Like a Gunshot Heading Toward a Target": The Career Trajectory of the Dancehall Entertainer 151
7 "Run Come Inna the Dance": The Dancehall Performance 193
8 The Politics of Dancehall Culture: A Conclusion 227
Notes 249
Bibliography 273
Index 285

Promotional Information

An ethnography of Dancehall, the dominant form of reggae music in Jamica since the early 1960s.

About the Author

Norman C. Stolzoff, Ph.D. is president of Ethnographic Insight, Inc., a consumer anthropology and marketing research firm in Bellingham, Washington.

Reviews

"Arguing that dancehall music is steeped in the Jamaican slave culture of 200 years ago and is not just a recent form of expression by volatile ghetto youth, Norman C. Stolzoff, an anthropologist at the University of California-Irvine, puts forth the first comprehensive study of a largely misunderstood and underestimated phenomenon. [He] reveals that the lingo, dress code, power structure (including sexism and violence), sound and expression of dancehall not only reflect the struggle between Jamaica's haves and have-nots but also represent an intra-class (though not insular) battleground among the nation's poor."--Publishers Weekly "Wake the Town and Tell the People offers valuable insights into dancehall's enduring power--and into the reasons so many international critics have missed the point entirely. Stolzoff deserves our thanks, for, as any DJ knows, the record must be set straight."--Vibe "This is the first sustained study of Jamaican dancehall music and culture in all of its aspects. Everyone interested in the island music, and in popular music in general, will find something useful in this book."--Andrew Ross, author of The Celebration Chronicles "Norman Stolzoff has gone where many fear to tread - to the very heart of the dancehall milieu in the depths of the Kingston ghetto, emerging with the first full, objective look at this fertile birthing ground of Jamaican music. Wake the Town introduces us to many of the prime figures in DJ culture--producers, promoters, selectors and artists--and traces their history back hundreds of years. It is a remarkable work."--Roger Steffens, co-author of Bob Marley: Spirit Dancer and Old Fire Sticks: The Autobiography of Bunny Wailer (forthcoming)_ "Wake The Town And Tell The People is an admirable attempt to change the terms of the debate engaged in by foreign journalists and tastemakers who have dominated the discourse on Jamaican music... Stolzoff's historical analyses of the rise of dancehall culture, patricularly how it grew out of the gang rivalry sponsored by Jamaica's two main political parties, effectively maps the socio-political onto the music ... his fieldwork and reportage of numerous yard dances is a crucial contribution to the literature."--The Wire, January 2001

"Arguing that dancehall music is steeped in the Jamaican slave culture of 200 years ago and is not just a recent form of expression by volatile ghetto youth, Norman C. Stolzoff, an anthropologist at the University of California-Irvine, puts forth the first comprehensive study of a largely misunderstood and underestimated phenomenon. [He] reveals that the lingo, dress code, power structure (including sexism and violence), sound and expression of dancehall not only reflect the struggle between Jamaica's haves and have-nots but also represent an intra-class (though not insular) battleground among the nation's poor."--Publishers Weekly "Wake the Town and Tell the People offers valuable insights into dancehall's enduring power--and into the reasons so many international critics have missed the point entirely. Stolzoff deserves our thanks, for, as any DJ knows, the record must be set straight."--Vibe "This is the first sustained study of Jamaican dancehall music and culture in all of its aspects. Everyone interested in the island music, and in popular music in general, will find something useful in this book."--Andrew Ross, author of The Celebration Chronicles "Norman Stolzoff has gone where many fear to tread - to the very heart of the dancehall milieu in the depths of the Kingston ghetto, emerging with the first full, objective look at this fertile birthing ground of Jamaican music. Wake the Town introduces us to many of the prime figures in DJ culture--producers, promoters, selectors and artists--and traces their history back hundreds of years. It is a remarkable work."--Roger Steffens, co-author of Bob Marley: Spirit Dancer and Old Fire Sticks: The Autobiography of Bunny Wailer (forthcoming)_ "Wake The Town And Tell The People is an admirable attempt to change the terms of the debate engaged in by foreign journalists and tastemakers who have dominated the discourse on Jamaican music... Stolzoff's historical analyses of the rise of dancehall culture, patricularly how it grew out of the gang rivalry sponsored by Jamaica's two main political parties, effectively maps the socio-political onto the music ... his fieldwork and reportage of numerous yard dances is a crucial contribution to the literature."--The Wire, January 2001