Jamaican Dancehall Culture - Term Paper Example

?Sound Clash: Jamaican Dancehall Culture at Large Introduction Jamaican dance-hall music is a subculture of US rhythms that is funky and outrageous in performance. Written by Carolyn Cooper, it resembles hip-hop in many ways, which is an American culture. In their efforts to defeat each other in the supremacy battle of dance hall, Braggadio DJs normally engage themselves in sound clash. The lyrics of this music, when close read, shows that dance-hall culture and music is political and gives the oppressed a voice in their struggle to maintain humanity in areas where they face economic injustices. While the lyrics are misogynistic, homicidal and homophobic, Cooper contends that they worship and celebrate the female, thus giving them a measure of liberation. Cooper argues that Jamaican dancehall culture brings to the fore the animal nature of males and females, violence and sex being recurrent themes therein. Cooper notes that while women are always portrayed as mindless bodies their function primarily being to provide the males with sexual pleasure, the theatrical message that it brings out is that the woman’s body has absolute authority and that men give homage to the woman’s principle. In other words, the woman’s fertility and sexuality is ritualized in a manner that the not so keen eye may easily ignore. Dancehall is basically speechifying with accompaniments of music like basic drum beat. In the past, dancehall’s lyrical contents were violent, and this made it to encounter a lot of criticisms of rival raga performers. In performance, sound clash dancehall is more of dance and addresses cultural issues like gender equality. On the other hand, calypso is slower, more political and music driven. Dancehall raises your feet into dancing, even is you were under stress because once you hear it, you just dance because you can’t help. Jamaica’s dancehall has been electronically blasted by Meggawatage sound systems, which has been enhanced by tongue twisting and riddims lyrics across the globe. Dancehall culture by Carolyn Cooper gives a sympathetic and philosophical account of a number of dance hall DJs like Apache Indian and Ninja man. She illustrates how dancehall culture language is normally devalued like mere noise, articulating a bigger boarder clashes’ understanding that characterize the society of Jamaica. She gives an analysis of sound clashes that are experienced in the Jamaican dancehall culture movement across boarders. Cooper defends the dancehall culture stating that in its explicit homoerotic nature, the dancehall is a place where women derive liberation outside the rigid social conventions of daily routine. The female gender also gets in control even as her identity is misrepresented by the culture. Cooper’s argument and thought Cooper joins in the argument that seeks to challenge the problem of social inequality through the hybridization of the dance hall culture in form of the aesthetics that hint to the American culture. This is infused into the Kingston hardships which she argues are the agents of the social inequality. This is a feature in the Jamaican Dancehall Culture that has indeed served as a highlight to the plight of the socially alienated groups within the society. The alienation is manifested in terms of reggae fusion, anti-gay lyrics and the dance fusion. It has in every sense helped to bring forth the fears of social degradation due to the overshadowing effect of the popular culture. Analysis of Sound Clash: Jamaican Dancehall Culture at Large, Carolyn Cooper Many types of music portray women as weaker sex that can easily be sexually exploited. They are portrayed naked in the dance floor, as well on video and books covers. However, Carolyn Cooper, as a cultural studies lecturer tries to change this view in Sound Clash: Jamaican dancehall culture. She attempts to fight this moral decay in the society, by replacing it with values that show respect for women. However, men are portrayed as decent beings, but only in dressing, in the society. They dress properly, but they sexually harass women, thus showing their sexual weaknesses. Though common in calypso, dances like salsa show the decent nature of both the male and female genders. Men and women both dance to the music at a slow pace while extending their respect to each other. Carolyn Cooper is an insightful thinker and writer, of dance hall culture in Jamaica, addressing globalization and gender politics implications in Jamaica. As the music mainly focuses on Caribbean dance hall, she introduces a narrative that applies to cultural studies and political theory, internationally. Her music boldly indicates the artist’s position of Jamaican indigenous language and privileging folk life, which out do high brow theory. She tries to develop culture’s universal laws, where some elements are prioritized over others, in the realm of experience. Sound Clash (Cooper, 2004), is a Jamaican dance hall investigation. Studying it is like studying the impact of dance hall culture in the larger world. Majority of the work interrogates key musical figure lyrics of dance hall in Jamaica like Buju Banton, and the way that these figures represent the wider concept of gender relations, freedom and power. Whether the Caribbean Diaspora in Jamaica in popular subculture or genres, this music’s achievements continue to inspire all people in popular subcultures and genres. Carolyn Cooper requires respect for cleverly and fiercely fighting for the dispossessed. On the other hand, dance hall culture gives women a chance to play roles that they can otherwise not play in their ordinary life. This music opens a window of fascinating academic tone and culture. It aggressively argues for women’s freedom, as they claim for their sexual identity, which may be even more explicitly homoerotic. This may however prevent introduction of dance hall culture to more audience. With an elastic intelligence, humor and insights, it gives a wide range of assurance, over the tricky terrain of literary theory in the contemporary world. Through the music, Cooper makes controversial and compelling arguments about dance halls’ fundamental relevance to the critical Jamaican culture understanding. It is a Jamaican music that confidently announces the political force of other artists, and their powerful artistry. This music has therefore dominated Jamaican sound systems, Caribbean and all over the world. Carolyn inspires people into taking indigenous and local subject seriously, as well as he national language of Jamaica, and feminist values in Lady Saw and Shaba Ranks lyrics. She insists that it is important to recognize all emancipator possibilities of Dance-hall culture in Jamaica. The work is a monumental sound clash, which makes huge waves, which even female Gods of patron divinities and great waters of Global Africa recognize. Sound Clash is the first work that critically examines the cultural politics in ragga. The dance hall has a contextual social space as a vigorous and an authentic legal space of the Caribbean post colonial urban poor in their response to government’s oppression according to race or class (Cooper, 2004) by. The author illustrates dance hall vibrations, tension juggling and acceptance of status and containment through safe frustration release, a dialectic that is common in grass-roots, which are common in cultural forms. However, sound clash is by far beyond academic interest. It draws sustenance from hated and disgust mismatch, indicated by their betters unlike their passionate enjoyment performers and audiences who mutually reinforce and nurture the prowess of each other. Their good poetic evoke, that involve the oral devices and rhetorical strategies with African origin and plantation slavery that shows modern impoverishment versions. While dismissing western politics as distaste with high-and-mighty ignorance that is slowly approaching Jamaica, Cooper interprets Jamaican ghetto life in the lyric’s grounding in Jamaica. The dynamic crossing boarder shows the global ragga migration, experiencing oppositional stances from local fusions with Asian styles, like salsa, and rap. The dance opposes sexual slackness and entices respectable culture. Close analyst of dancehall lyric’s sexual politics, moral critics, among the middle class, as classic reggae strongly conforms to conventions of traditional patriarchal , while ragga celebrates egalitarian and realistic relations between males and females (Norman, 2000). Male performers duplicitously and gleefully make use of women bodies’ as objects, while they urge pride, strength and independence among women. However, personification of immensely powerful and hugely popular traits of women traits like Lady Saw, who are even ruder as they fully try to maintain class and integrity, shows that the display language, erotic co modification and pleasure is precisely deployed the quos of social status. Dancehall was Jamaica’s first scholarly journal of analysis that addressed the Jamaican culture. The publications of this essay lead to literature explosion in Jamaica, where dancehall was ensued. The essay studies and investigates dancehall at large in Jamaica. The study of Jamaican dancehall further leads to study of the impact of dancehall outside the island. Dancehall educates people the importance of appreciating their culture, and respect for all genders in the community. Therefore, cooper devotes much of his work in addressing gender issues surrounding the society, which hinder economic growth and civilization. Her work mainly questions other musician’s lyrics, in their reflection of freedom, power and gender relations. From the traditional perspective, women had no freedom, and they owed everything to the males. However, Cooper deals with this problem by educating women to fight for their own freedom, since they are equal to men. She advises other musicians like Lady Saw to join her in her fight for freedom of women. On gender relations, she portrays a clear picture of how males and females are supposed to relate in a healthy manner, without oppressing the other. Though women are the once who are normally oppressed, she outlines the female status in the society, as an important figure that should be respected from all levels. Although her work has been criticized by many rivals, Cooper’s work remains outstanding in explaining the features of Jamaican dancehall culture. As can be seen, it has transformed Jamaican culture, to a point where they have come to appreciate their language, a indicator of patriotism and acceptance of their own culture. On the other hand, both males and females have understood their different roles in the society, and respect for each other, irrespective of gender. This has consequently yielded healthy gender relations hence cohesive living in the society. The female gender in particular, although displayed as objects in the music, it is agreeable with Cooper’s views that in the midst of massive criticism, females are strong and wield a lot of power. Dancehall can then be called a river that has brought about social justice in gender, in Jamaica, and the societies that have embraced it, supported by Carolyn Cooper. Conclusion Sound Clash: Jamaican dance hall culture by Carolyn Cooper is an excellent work that addresses cultural issues in the society that need to be addressed. These include appreciation of cultural language and respect for women. It is also a voice for the voiceless, especially in areas where the poor seem to face economic injustices. It differs from calypso and other forms of music in that it is more dances oriented than just mere music. Though her work has faced major criticism from its opponents, it has stood the test of times, and transformed the Jamaican culture. Besides appreciating their language, they have come to respect women and the poor in the society, who never had a voice. The female gender has found a place to be respected and men have changed their ways of relating with women. It is a voice that calls for moral uprightness in the society. References Cooper, C. (2004). Sound Clash: Jamaican Dancehall Culture. Jamaica; Macmillan Publishers. Norman, S. (2000). Wake The Town and Tell the People: Dancehall Culture in Jamaica. Jamaica; Duke University Press. Read More