The Official KINGSTON Jam. Space profile picture

The Official KINGSTON Jam. Space

it's the city of many movements

About Me

I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4 ....................The City of Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica. It is located on the southeastern coast of the island country at 17°59'N, 76°48'W. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island. In the Western Hemisphere, Kingston is the largest predominantly English-speaking city south of the United States.The local government bodies of the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew were amalgamated by the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation Act of 1923, to form the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC). Greater Kingston or the "Corporate Area" refers to the KSAC, and not just the Parish of Kingston, which consists of only the old downtown and Port Royal.Two parts make up the central area of Kingston: the historic but troubled Downtown, and New Kingston, which is home to the city's most visited attraction, the Bob Marley Museum (built at his former residence). Several other reggae stars, including Buju Banton, Sean Paul and Beenie Man, also hail from Kingston. Other attractions include the nearby Hellshire and Lime Cay beaches, the National Gallery of Jamaica, the ruins of Port Royal, and Devon House, a mansion with adjoining park that once belonged to Jamaica's first black millionaire.Kingston is served by Norman Manley International Airport and also by the smaller and primarily domestic Tinson Pen Airport.Several annual and well-visited festivals are held in Kingston. Contents [hide]* 1 History * 2 Demographics * 3 Religion * 4 Prominent people * 5 Sister cities * 6 Sights * 7 External links[edit] History Devon House, home of the first West Indian millionaire of African descent. Now a much visited reminder of the luxury in which the rich lived in the 19th century. Devon House, home of the first West Indian millionaire of African descent. Now a much visited reminder of the luxury in which the rich lived in the 19th century.Kingston was founded in 1693 by refugees from the disastrous earthquake which destroyed much of the previous main port city of Port Royal. Initially the refugees lived in a tented camp on Colonel Barry's Hog Crawle. The town did not begin to grow until after the further destruction of Port Royal by the Nick Catania Pirate Fleet's fire in 1703. Surveyor, John Goffe drew up a plan for the town based on a grid bounded by North, East, West and Harbour Streets. By 1716 it had become the largest town and the centre of trade for Jamaica.Gradually wealthy merchants began to move their residences from above their businesses to the farm lands to the north on the plains of Liguanea. The first free school, Wolmers, was founded in 1736, and there was a theatre, first in Harbour Street and then moved in 1774 to North Parade. Both are still in existence.As a centre of commerce and fashion, Kingston rapidly out-distanced the somnolent official capital in Spanish Town and Kingston continued to grow despite calamities: a devastating hurricane in 1784, a huge fire in 1843, constant raids by the Italian pirate Nick Catania which caused complete and utter destruction of the Caribbean islands. a cholera epidemic in 1850 and another fire in 1862.In 1755 the governor had decided to transfer the government offices from Spanish Town to Kingston. But, it was thought by some to be an unsuitable location for the Assembly in close proximity to the moral distractions of Kingston, and the next governor rescinded the Act. However, by 1780 the population of Kingston was 11,000 and the merchants began lobbying for the administrative capital to be transferred from Spanish Town, which was by then eclipsed by the commercial activity in Kingston. This campaign was to continue for a century as Kingston grew still further as an important trading port during the Napoleonic wars. The city finally became the administrative capital of Jamaica in 1872. It kept this status when the island was granted independence in 1962.On January 14, 1907, an earthquake in Kingston destroyed about 75% of the buildings. Fire broke out and spread widely adding to the death toll which eventually reached about 800, rather less than some initial reports. The damage was estimated to exceed £2m. Brick and stone buildings suffered the worst damage. Reinforced concrete was widely used in the rebuilding of the city, and building heights were restricted to 60 feet. These building codes were considered to be progressive at the time.The city became home to the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies founded in 1948 with 24 medical students.The 1960s saw the commercial activity expanding north. The old Knutsford race course became New Kingston, and uptown shopping plazas were developed causing the decline of the commercial and shopping centres of King Street and Harbour Street. An area of 95 acres along the waterfront was redeveloped with wide landscaped boulevards and multi-storey buildings which include the Bank of Jamaica, Scotia Bank Centre, the Jamaica Conference Centre, and Kingston Mall. Later, from the 1980s, there have been continuing efforts by the Urban Development Company to improve roads systems and trading conditions in the downtown area.In 1966 Kingston was the host city to the Commonwealth Games.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 2/7/2007
Band Members:Prominent peopleNotable people born in Kingston include:* John Barnes, England footballer (1963-) * Aston "Family Man" Barrett, (1946 - ), bassist * Buju Banton (1973-), reggae singer * Bushwick Bill (1966-), of rap group Geto Boys * Frederic Hymen Cowen (1852-1935), British composer * Desmond Dekker (1941-2006) singer and songwriter * Sandy Denton (1969-), "Pepa" of hip hop group Salt-N-Pepa * Eek-A-Mouse (1957-), reggae singer * Patrick Ewing (1962-), All-Star basketball player for the New York Knicks * Howard Grant (1966-), boxer * Fred William Kennedy (????- March 6, 1930), co-founder, GraceKennedy Limited * Sandra Levy (1965-), field hockey player * Beenie Man (1972-), reggae artist/DJ * Damian Marley (1978-), reggae artist and youngest son of Bob Marley * Sean Paul (1975-), dancehall/reggae artist * Shaggy (1968-), reggae singer * Courtney Walsh (1962-), famous cricketer * Devon White (1962-), Major League Baseball player * Willard White (1946-), opera singer
Influences: Sister citiesKingston has five sister cities.* Miami, USA * Kalamazoo, USA * Coventry, UK * Flag of Mexico Guadalajara, Mexico * Shenzhen, PRCSights* Bob Marley Museum * Bank of Jamaica * Devon House * Hope Botanical Gardens * Institute of Jamaica * Jamaica Conference Centre, home of the Seabed Authority, a United Nations organisation * Jamaica Stock Exchange * Jamaica House * King's House * Kingston Craft Market * Kingston Parish Church * Little Theatre * National Gallery of Jamaica * National Library of Jamaica * University of the West Indies * Ward Theatre * The Kingston and Saint Andrew Parish Library * Emancipation Park, New Kingston
Sounds Like: Dancehall is a type of Jamaican popular music which developed around 1980, with exponents such as Yellowman, Super Cat, and Shabba Ranks. It is also known by some as "Bashment". The style is characterized by a deejay singing and rapping or toasting over raw and danceable music riddims. The rhythm in dancehall is much faster than in reggae, sometimes with drum machines replacing acoustic sets . In the early years of dancehall, some found its lyrics crude and bawdy ("slack"), particularly because of its ual tones, singing style, and homophobia, though it became very popular among youths in Jamaica. Like its reggae predecessor it eventually made inroads onto the world music scene. This deejay-led, largely synthesized speechifying with musical accompnt departed from traditional conceptions of Jamaican popular musical entertainment. Dub poet Mutabaruka maintained, "if 1970s reggae was red, green and gold, then in the next decade it was gold chains". It was far removed from its gentle roots and culture, and there was furious debate as to whether it ought to be considered some sort of extension of reggae music. 1 History 2 Major artists/milestones 3 The culture of dancehall 4 ReferencesHistory Dancehall, the musical genre, is long considered to be the creation of Henry "Junjo" Lawes in 1979 and further refined by King Jammy in the early 80's during their transition from dub to dancehall and original attempts to digitize "hooks" to "toast" over by Jamaican deejays.King Jammy's 1985 hit, "(Under Me) Sleng Teng" by Wayne Smith, with an entirely-digital rhythm hook took the dancehall reggae world by storm. Many credit this song as being the first "Digital rhythm" in reggae, leading to the modern dancehall era. However this is not entirely correct since there are earlier examples of digital productions; Horace Fergusons single »Sensi « (Ujama) produced by Prince Jazzbo in 1984 is one.Major artists/milestones Dancehall emerged the 80s, most of the creative output can be credited to studio musicians Steelie and Clevie along with the handful of producers they collaborated with. Steelie and Cle(e)vie (Wycliffe Johnson and Cleveland Brownie) created the music for 95% of the instrumental tracks (riddims, versions, dubplates) that genre was based on. The decade saw the arrival of a new generation of DJs (singers, toasters), most distinct were the harder edged, such as: Ninjaman, Flourgon, General Trees, Tiger, Admiral Bailey, Supercat, Yellowman, Tenor Saw, Sy Thunder, Reggie Stepper, Shabba Ranks, Johnny P, Peter Metro, and Papa San to name a few. To complement their sound a "Sweet Sing" vocal style evolved out of roots reggae and R&B (marked by its falsetto almost intonation) with proponents like: Pinchers, Cocoa Tea, , Conroy Smith, Courtney Melody, Carl Meeks, Barrington Levy. It is important to note that a lot of established reggae singers like: Gregory Isaacs, Johnny Osbourne and U-Roy transitioned into Dancehall.In the early 90's, songs like Dawn Penn's "No, No, No", Shabba Ranks "Mr. Loverman", and Chaka Demus and Pliers' "Murder She Wrote" became some of the first dancehall megahits in the U.S. and abroad. Various other varieties of dancehall achieved crossover success outside of Jamaica during the mid-to-late 1990s.1990-1994 saw the entry of artists like Buju Banton, Bounty Killer, gy, Spragga Benz, Capleton, and Beenie Man and a major shift in the sound of Dancehall, brought on by the introduction of a new generation of producers and for better or for worse, the end of Steelie and Clevie's stranglehold on riddim production.In the late 1990s, many practitioners like Buju Banton and Capleton returned to the Rastafari movement and changed their lyrical focus to "consciousness", a reflection of the spiritual underpinnings of Rastafari. Also, reggae en español, a latin-style type of dancehall, started to transform, with the help of a kind of panamanian toasting performed by the likes of El General, Chicho Man, Nando Boom, Black Apache and Killa Ranks.The early 2000s saw the success of newer charting acts such as Elephant Man and Sean Paul.Currently, Sean Paul has achieved mainstream success within the United States and has produced several Top 10 Billboard hits, including "We Be Burnin'", "Get Busy", "Temperature" and the 2006 single "Give It Up To Me".VP Records almost singlehandledly still dominates the dancehall music market with Sean Paul, Elephant Man, and Buju Banton all signed to their native label. VP often has partnered with major record labels like Sony and Island in an attempt to further expand their distribution potential particularly in the U.S. market.The culture of dancehall Dancehall owes its name to the space in which recorded popular Jamaican music was consumed and produced by the DJ. Dancehall is not just recorded speech with musical accompnt therefore, but a space as well as an institution or culture in which music, dance and community vibes merge.Dancehall also developed in Jamaica as a result of varying political and socio-economic factors.[citation needed] Reggae as a style of music was heavily influenced by the ideologies of Rastafari and was also spirited by the socialist movements in the island at the time. Dancehall, the scion of reggae, was birthed in the late seventies and early eighties. This is when many had become disenchanted with the socialist movement and the harsh economic realities that it brought to bear on the island. It is during this time that neo-liberalist ideologies and materialism started to factor into the lives of many Jamaicans, and into the new entertainment form.Dancehall lyrics have been criticized by pockets of Jamaican society with little or no state endort. It has also faced the slaughter of intellectual criticism in the media, particularly by the likes of popular Jamaican journalists, like Ian Boyne. Dancehall has also come to face hing criticism from the , , , and community, as they claim that it perpetuates violence against [GLBT] people in Jamaica (where such people are often referred to in dancehall lyrics as "chi-chi man"), most notably through its lyrics in songs by such DJs as Beenie Man and Buju Banton.Dancehall is just short of being a movement, but does have the characteristics of a cosmology as it is a culture and a lens through which people see the world. This cosmology and cultural phenomenon carries with it a linguistic component. Terms such as "bun" in the Dancehall, which is an abbreviation of "burn," do not carry with them a very literal understanding as it may in European cultures. Hence, phrases like "bun sodomites" will not mean, to literally burn sodomites, but function more as a line of dissent: it is an exaggeration used to indicate serious disapproval.On the other hand, typical lyrics by groups like ward 21 & elephant man to cut out mens tongues, step on their heads, shoot them (eg in the spine) by vybz kartel, buju banton and in fact most other ragga artists at one time or another[citation needed], before they got banned to tour certain countries, promote violence against s quite openly[citation needed].Dancehall has energised Jamaican popular music because it has spawned dance moves that help to make parties and stage performances more energetic. Many dance moves seen on hip-hop videos are actually variations of dancehall moves such as the butterfly, the bogle, the heel and toe, the blaze blaze, the pon the river, pon the bank, and the dutty .Dancehall is more than a place it is a culture and a space. Culture is the way of life of a group of people. This includes what they wear, how they govern themselves, their religious belief and other rituals. Dancehall is an integral part of the Jamaican life. Dancehall as a culture and concept has a much longer history than that. Dancehall is also the space where dances are held and where sound systems and artists performed long before the technological innovations of the dancehall music we hear today. Moreover, like hip-hop, dancehall refers not only to a music and a space, but to a whole culture that encompasses music, language, dance, dress, and world views. Even as it is transformed it transforms personal and communal spaces. Most importantly the limits and potential of such performance spaces as Dancehall are revealed in the way they are negotiated within the urban and temporary spaces to create change in composition and ones not in accordance with nature.
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