Field Notes Set #1

field notes on dancehall

D A N C E H A L L

-digitalized reggae/”ragga”...faster paced than more standard reggae music

-riddim----->playing old tracks on new rhythms; reconfiguring old-school Jamaican sound in Kingston’s dancehalls...1970’s-90’s

-Violent lyrics, heavy bassline, womanizing lyrics

-Homophobia (Buju Banton most controversial)...gay rights groups vs. dancehall artists

-HAILE SELASSIE always mentioned in lyrics-->Ethiopian, messiah in Jamaican/Rasta tradition

-ghetto youth in Kingston ..advancement? diaspora-->changing aims of genre

-hybridization (hip hop/reggae)..USA/Jamaica interchange

-clothes/materialism..chains “jeans & fitted” look but expensive stuff ..gold shades

-videos-->women thick hips, tight jeans, navels showing...

-cake soap/skin bleach/skin color-power dynamics...why women bleach faces

*straight, pointy noses>kinky/nappy hair in jamaican ideals of desirability..Brown>black skin

• “Browning”--a woman with skin the color of brown sugar idealized (kinda like Maira/caste system narrative?) 

Dancehall party on campus-October 7, 2011

-Mostly Brown University students, some from Tolman HS in Pawtucket 

-wall dances...both men & women utilizing wall for gyration on Sean Paul song, Rihanna rmx.

-mostly black and latino students, most students dancing come from east coast (pawtucket/pvd, boston, nyc area)

-dress-->not unlike any typical party apparel...v necks/jeans for boys, some fitted caps, very little  overly expensive garb... women dressed more modestly than in dancehall video circuit

-soundtrack-->heavily mixed between dancehall and hip hop, some remixes that blur the lines significantly...

-2 songs have the same riddim-->prompt the same choreography despite having distinct creators/musicians..

-dutty wine circle-->men and women thrash heads around in middle...same as what I’ve seen at orientation dances

-nobody on the ground...”winin” limited to wall and to each other...sexualized dancing was limited to men on women although some “reverse grinding” (men grinding on women, women “receiving”)

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