Mento

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Mento is the first popular Jamaican folk music that originated in the late 1930s.

The mento was a purely entertaining and not a religious form of music. It is considered to be the first stage in the development of Jamaican popular music as it is a synthesis of many musical forms and is not identified with any particular region, group, or religion.

The Jamaican national dance emerged from the mento.

Mento was a profession of the " troubadours " who traveled across the country and spread news, gossip and social criticism in songs and dances. It was the most popular music in Jamaica and expressed the hopes, desires and philosophy of life of the people. It was created as a result of a creolization process that combined elements of the European dances popular in Jamaica such as quadrille or mazurka with elements of Afro-Jamaican musical tradition such as Jonkanoo (also written Jonkonnu or John Canoe) or the Cuban rumba .

African references are clearly visible in the mento: the texts were simple, the rhymes were based on two repetitive statements, the call and response style, the emphasis was on the polyrhythmic pattern. In dance, the hip-centered movements with additional head, shoulder and arm movements come from the traditional form of the kumina . The texts were direct and almost pornographic, so that under pressure from the Church, some records could only be sold under the counter.

What is striking is the steady 4/4 rhythm and the unusual instrumentation. The rhythm section in the mento consists of the rumba box (a kind of thumb bass piano), percussions such as bongos and banjos . The melody instruments are sometimes self-made like bamboo saxophones , but saxophones , clarinets and violins are more common.

In the 1950s, the Mento in Jamaica combined with the Calypso from Trinidad . Mento has had a strong influence on ska . In the early 1960s, ska versions of traditional mento pieces emerged. In a way, this early mento influence was an expression of the pride of the time as the 1962 independence celebrations were still present in the minds of Jamaicans. The influence of the mento increased during the reggae era. There was a real sub-style or genre of mento reggae that was very popular, especially in rural areas.

Famous mento artists of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s included Count Lasher, Lord Tanamo, Lord Flea, Lord Creator and Laurel Aitken . Nowadays there are only a few bands like the Jolly Boys or Stanley Beckford who play the mento. Mento is also played by Willie B and his Coral Group from the Caribbean island of Providencia (Colombia) .

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