Mento is a style of
JamaicanThe music of Jamaica includes Jamaican folk music and many popular genres, such as mento, ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub music, dancehall, reggae fusion and related styles. Jamaica's music culture is a fusion of elements from the United States , Africa and neighboring Caribbean islands such as...
folk musicThe term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer...
that predates and has greatly influenced
skaSka is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
and
reggaeReggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s.While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady. Reggae is based...
music. Mento typically features acoustic instruments, such as
acoustic guitarThe classical guitar is a plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones. It traditionally has 3 plain gut bass strings and 3 gut wound silk core treble strings and the modern adaption typically has 6 nylon strings .The basic characteristics of the shape of the...
,
banjoThe banjo is a stringed instrument developed by enslaved Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments.The name banjo is commonly thought to be derived from the Kimbundu term mbanza...
,
hand drumA hand drum is any type of drum that is typically played with the bare hand rather than a stick, mallet, hammer, or other type of beater. The simplest type of hand drum is the frame drum, which consists of a shallow, cylindrical shell with a drumhead attached to one of the open ends.-Middle & Near...
s, and the rhumba box — a large
mbiraIn African music, the mbira is a musical instrument consisting of a wooden board to which staggered metal keys have been attached. It is often fitted into a resonator...
in the shape of a box that can be sat on while played. The rhumba box carries the
bassBass , when used as an adjective, is used to describe tones of low frequency or range. Played in an ensemble/orchestra, such notes are frequently used to provide a counterpoint or counter-melody, in a harmonic context either to outline or juxtapose the progression of the chords, or with percussion...
part of the music.
Mento is often confused with
calypsoCalypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music which originated in Trinidad and Tobago.- Caribbean history :The islands had a core population of descendants of African slaves and workers and remnants of the indigenes, while colonial masters changed rapidly bringing settlers from France, Spain and the...
, a musical form from
Trinidad and TobagoThe Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying northeast of the South American country of Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. It shares maritime boundaries with other nations including Barbados to the northeast, Guyana to the...
. Although the two share many similarities, they are separate and distinct musical forms. In part, the differences stem from the differing colonial histories of the two West Indian Islands, as Jamaican music lacks the
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
influences found in other
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
musical styles.
Mento draws on musical traditions brought over by
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
n slaves.
Mento is a style of
JamaicanThe music of Jamaica includes Jamaican folk music and many popular genres, such as mento, ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub music, dancehall, reggae fusion and related styles. Jamaica's music culture is a fusion of elements from the United States , Africa and neighboring Caribbean islands such as...
folk musicThe term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer...
that predates and has greatly influenced
skaSka is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
and
reggaeReggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s.While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady. Reggae is based...
music. Mento typically features acoustic instruments, such as
acoustic guitarThe classical guitar is a plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones. It traditionally has 3 plain gut bass strings and 3 gut wound silk core treble strings and the modern adaption typically has 6 nylon strings .The basic characteristics of the shape of the...
,
banjoThe banjo is a stringed instrument developed by enslaved Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments.The name banjo is commonly thought to be derived from the Kimbundu term mbanza...
,
hand drumA hand drum is any type of drum that is typically played with the bare hand rather than a stick, mallet, hammer, or other type of beater. The simplest type of hand drum is the frame drum, which consists of a shallow, cylindrical shell with a drumhead attached to one of the open ends.-Middle & Near...
s, and the rhumba box — a large
mbiraIn African music, the mbira is a musical instrument consisting of a wooden board to which staggered metal keys have been attached. It is often fitted into a resonator...
in the shape of a box that can be sat on while played. The rhumba box carries the
bassBass , when used as an adjective, is used to describe tones of low frequency or range. Played in an ensemble/orchestra, such notes are frequently used to provide a counterpoint or counter-melody, in a harmonic context either to outline or juxtapose the progression of the chords, or with percussion...
part of the music.
Mento is often confused with
calypsoCalypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music which originated in Trinidad and Tobago.- Caribbean history :The islands had a core population of descendants of African slaves and workers and remnants of the indigenes, while colonial masters changed rapidly bringing settlers from France, Spain and the...
, a musical form from
Trinidad and TobagoThe Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying northeast of the South American country of Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. It shares maritime boundaries with other nations including Barbados to the northeast, Guyana to the...
. Although the two share many similarities, they are separate and distinct musical forms. In part, the differences stem from the differing colonial histories of the two West Indian Islands, as Jamaican music lacks the
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
influences found in other
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
musical styles.
Mento draws on musical traditions brought over by
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
n slaves. The influence of European music is also strong, as slaves who could play musical instruments were often required to play music for their masters. They subsequently incorporated some elements of these traditions into their own
folk musicThe term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer...
. The lyrics of mento songs often deal with aspects of everyday life in a light-hearted and humorous way. Many comment on poverty, poor housing and other social issues. Thinly-veiled sexual references and
innuendoAn innuendo is, according to the Advanced Oxford Learner's Dictionary, "an indirect remark about somebody or something, usually suggesting something bad or rude; the use of remarks like this: innuendoes about her private life or The song is full of sexual innuendo." The word is often used to...
are also common themes. Although the treatment of such subjects in mento is comparatively innocent, their appearance has sometimes been seen as a precursor of the
slacknessSlackness refers to vulgarity in Jamaican and Caribbean culture, behavior and the music associated with these cultural changes, especially the decline of roots reggae music. Today, it also refers to a subgenre of dancehall music with crude, sexual lyrics performed live or recorded. Its form and...
found in modern
dancehallDancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that developed in the late 1970s, initially as a more sparse and less political and religious variant of reggae than the roots style that had dominated much of the 1970s....
.
The golden age of mento was the 1950s, as records pressed by Stanley Motta, Ivan Chin, Ken Khouri and others brought the music to a new audience. In the 1960s it was overshadowed by
skaSka is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
and reggae, but it is still played in Jamaica, especially in areas frequented by tourists. It was repopularized by the Jolly Boys in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the release of four recordings on First Warning Records/
RykodiscRykodisc Records is an American record label. It is owned by Warner Music Group, operates as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance.-Company history:...
and a tour that included the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Further reading
- Floyd Jr, Samuel A (1999). "Black Music in the Circum-Caribbean". American Music, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Spring, 1999), pp. 1-38.
- Neely, Daniel (2001). "Long Time Gal! Mento is Back!". The Beat, December 2001, vol. 20, no. 6: 38-42. Available in pdf format at New York University homepages.
- Neely, Daniel (2007). "One of mento's great voices silenced". "Jamaica Observer, March 18, 2007,ok
Films
- 1984 - Caribbean Crucible. From Repercussions: A Celebration of African-American Music series, program 6. Directed by Dennis Marks and Geoffrey Haydon.
External links
- Jamaica - In Calypso: A World Music, a site created by Historical Museum of Southern Florida about calypso and mento
- Jamaican Mento Music - site created by Michael Garnice (comprehensive information on the history and the musicians who made the music)
- Ivan Chin - Mento music's pages on mento pioneer Ivan Chin