Presentation : The SOUND-SYSTEM Culture

Born in the 1950's in the streets of Kingston ghettos, the sound system is the foundation of an important part of jamaican cultural history and has being responsible for the rise of modern Jamaican musical styles such as ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub. Its evolution is directly linked to the development of vinyl support but also of Jamaican migration during the second half of the 20 century, particularly in England and the United States.

A sound system is usually composed of one or several disc jockeys, sound engineers and MC's that broadcast standards and musical news of the time. They load their truck operators with a generator, turntables, amplifiers and loudspeekers and set up street parties with heavy bass.

The sound system is before all a mobile device to broadcast the modern music for anyone of a poor population or people which has no traditional listening system. It is also a moment of Exchange and ease of use for a party who permits the investment of the public spaces by its residents.

The most important jamaican's sound-system include those of Coxsone Dodd, Duke Reid, or even Prince Buster.

At the beginning the Dj's played primarily new rhythm ' n Blues of the United States but gradually, in order to limit the costs involved by importing and to propose always more exclusive releases, will produce music directly in Jamaica. While jamaicans proclaimed their independence, they tried to invent a sound that is unique, a typically jamaican musical identity will born. First the Ska, fast and festive music, which represents the music of independence, then Rocksteady music with a slowed rythm that allows dancers of the sound systems to be less quickly tired, and finally the Reggae, influenced by the musicians of Rasta movement that is characterized by an heavy bass in rhythm with the heartbeat.

Then the sound system has been extended through Europe and the United States when jamaicans started to emigrate starting from the 1970s. In England, the movement of the roots and dub sound system has spread and has developed its own identity through artists such as Jah Shaka, Aba Shanti I, or Channel One, and then has evolved to other musical areas such as Dubstep, Drum'n ' bass and the current Dj music...In the United States, Dj Kool Herc, a Jamaican immigrated to the United States, has adapted the concept of sound-system at funk, soul and Rhythm'n ' blues U.S musics to give birth to the first Block-Parties. He is regarded as one of the founders of the Hip-hop movement.

 As we can see, the sound system is a device that allowed the development of new musical forms and continuous to support an important musical history that evolved according to the social, political and historical contexts through various places in the world. To learn more about the sound-system culture I recommend the book Bass Culture of Lloyd Bradley as well as the documentary Musically Mad by Karl Folke.

                                                                                                       Louis Cailliau.