Practically everybody who travels to Jamaica has heard of Bob Marley and reggae music, however far fewer learn about mento, the normal folks music of rural Jamaica which has lyrics centered on on a regular basis nation life (not in contrast to conventional American nation music) and is performed on acoustic guitars, banjos, hand drums, and a rhumba field, a bass instrument with roots in African music.
But it’s possible that you simply’ve heard some mento songs in your lifetime — it’s simply that they had been most likely branded as calypso, as a substitute. Jamaican-American musical legend Harry Belafonte was topped the King of Calypso within the Nineteen Fifties, however lots of his most well-known songs, like The Banana Boat Tune, (Day-O), had been remakes of basic mento tunes.
“Plenty of People, by means of Belafonte, know these mento songs,” says Mike Garnice, creator of The Final Information to Nice Reggae and administrator of the web site mentomusic.com.
The blurring of the strains between mento and calypso are comprehensible, says Billboard music author Pat Meschino, as a result of calypso music from Trinidad and Tobago was a few of the earliest Caribbean music recorded and distributed through data and radio within the early twentieth century.
“That most likely actually influenced folks music in Jamaica,” she mentioned. Even Lord Fly, one of many earliest mento musicians together with Rely Lasher, Lord Tanamo, and Lord Lebbe, was known as a “calypso star.”
Whereas calypso music grew to become a world musical sensation, mento remained well-liked in rural Jamaica, offering a few of the musical influences (together with ska and rocksteady) of roots reggae, which in flip has given delivery to dancehall, reggaeton, and different extra fashionable offshoots.
The origins of the identify mento are unclear, though it could come from pimento (a spicy pepper native to Jamaica) and even from one of many livelier sections of Quadrille, a type of European sq. dancing that was taught to enslaved folks in Jamaica in response to Garnice.
“Mento is nation music, not solely due to the devices used however as an expression of rural folks,” mentioned Meschino. “A lot of reggae is about connecting together with your roots, and mento is basically native tales about native folks celebrating their day-to-day lives. Mento was a part of the inspiration of the recording business in Jamaica and contributed to as soon as of the best musical types we’ve, which is reggae.”
“Individuals discuss reggae being the roots — mento is the seed. It’s actually the start of indigenous Jamaican music,” says Garnice, who mentioned mento might be thought-about a type of ‘acoustic reggae.’
Penny Reel, an early ska music by Eric Morris, was additionally a canopy of a classic “name and response” mento music, and Garnice, says there are “a whole bunch of reggae songs which are covers of mento songs” or function mento influences — even some recorded within the 2000s, just like the raunchy Bleach Pon It by Tanya Stevens.
The varied types of reggae dominate the airwaves and membership playlists in Jamaica, but it surely’s nonetheless potential to listen to mento performed — typically by bands whose members have been taking part in mento for a half-century or extra. A visit to Cockpit Nation or different elements of rural Jamaica might embrace a cease at an area bar with a mento band, and mento continues to be historically performed at funerals within the Jamaican countryside.
However maybe the best approach to benefit from the sounds of mento is, maybe mockingly, at a Jamaican resort or resort, the place bands just like the Jolly Boys nonetheless carry out for island guests.
Easygoing, accessible and with no requirement for electrical energy or amplification, mento is an effective match for a resort setting, mentioned Garnice.
Mento bands play usually on the resort bar on the Half Moon resort in Montego Bay, amongst others; the GeeJam Lodge in Port Antonio is well-known for its help of mento and music and musicians usually. You additionally could discover mento bands taking part in their laid-back folks music at Sandals and {Couples} all-inclusive resorts.
