How Jamaica Conquered the World
Summary: The small island of Jamaica has forged a new type of empire, an intangible realm of which there are no physical monuments. There is no official political or economic sphere of Jamaican influence but when it comes to popular culture its global reach is immense, far exceeding the reasonable expectation for a nation of just over 2.7 million people. For a nation that gained independence from the British only 50 years ago, Jamaicans have left their mark on music, sport, style and language around the globe and have become an international marker of ‘cool’. Jamaican music has colonised the new and old world alike, its athletes break world records with impunity and youngsters the world over are incorporating Jamaican slang into their dialects. Despite this the country has reaped no economic reward in return, unlike empires of old, and Jamaica still remains an economic pygmy. Jamaican influence has unconsciously spawned creative innovation around the globe and to this day it remains a country to be studied, celebrated, and demystified. Through the help of linguists, artists, musicians, designers, sports personalities, and historians we take a closer look as to how Jamaican culture conquered the world.
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He is the most influential musician of the 20th century, He sang about oppression, justice and love. His music and legacy has touched people from all over the globe.
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited with helping spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari movement to a worldwide audience. The compilation album Legend (1984), released three years after his death, is reggae's best-selling album, going ten times Platinum which is also known as one Diamond in the U.S., and selling 25 million copies worldwide. Ishmael Beah (born on November 23, 1980) is a former Sierra Leonean child soldier and the author of the published memoir, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.
Rasta is a spiritual movement. It arose in the 1930s in Jamaica and Bob Marley helped spread it's message of peace and one love across the world in the 70's through his music, this is their story.
Dub grew out of reggae music in the 1960s and 70s. Get ready to be taken to a cliff and dropped into a sea of bass, as we explore Dubs start and how it has influenced other forms of electronic music.
At the end of the 70's a new sound came out of England. It was the meeting of Reggae and a more pop and soul influenced vibe, it was born in London and was called Lovers Rock.
In the 70's Britain's, Jamaican population starts to assert its own musical and cultural footprint. From this decade comes a flowering musical energy, a reimaging of identity through Jamaican Ska.
When Jamaican Clive Campbell went to New York, he started a new musical style that was to rewrite musical norms throughout the world. He is credited with originating Hip Hop.
How Djs started a new and radical innovation in 60's Jamaica. This is the story of how toasting and rapping began, a phenomena that swept the world.
Around the time that Jamaica become independent, the sound of its popular music began to change and take on a more distinctive tone. This is that story.
Around the time of Independence in 1962, the island saw mass migration to Britain, Canada and the US. This is the story of that movement of Jamaicans to new shores. The story is told with clips from the Jamaican Toronto Association, my Mother Joyce Brown, Janice Bryant from London and the Jamaican Ambassadors to Britain and the USA
As the world hovered close to nuclear war in 1962 with the Cuban missile crisis, the first of Britain’s colonies in the West Indies Jamaica became independent. Anthony Johnson, The Jamaican High Commissioner to the UK, Joyce Brown and former Prime Minister Edward Seaga tell us the story of that momentous year, together with news clips and independence ska to set the mood.
