Wake the Town and Tell the People: Dancehall Culture in Jamaica - By Norman Stolzoff

This is the one essential book on Dancehall (after Soul Jazz Records' "Dancehall", of course). A seriously in depth anthropological study of Jamaican Dancehall. Quite wordy but as close an insight into the lifestyle, the studios and the music as you will ever find.

Stolzoff brings a fan's enthusiasm to his broad perspective on dancehall, providing extensive interviews, original photographs, and anthropological analysis from eighteen months of fieldwork in Kingston.Stolzoff argues that this enormously popular musical genre expresses deep conflicts within Jamaican society, not only along lines of class, race, gender, sexuality, and religion but also between different factions struggling to gain control of the island nation's political culture. Dancehall culture thus remains a key arena where the future of this volatile nation is shaped. As his argument unfolds, Stolzoff traces the history of Jamaican music from its roots in the late eighteenth century to 1945, from the addition of sound systems and technology during the mid-forties to early sixties, and finally through the post-independence years from the early sixties to the present.

"Wake the Town and Tell the People" offers a general introduction for those interested in dancehall music and culture. For the fan or musicologist, it will serve as a comprehensive reference book.

100% essential read!