The Jamaican Folk Singers are a Jamaican ensemble dedicated to traditional Jamaican songs.
The group was founded by Dr. Olive Lewin in March 1967, originally a group of eight friends with an interest in Jamaican folk songs. [1] [2]
The group were invited to play at the funeral of Count Ossie in 1976. [1]
By 2012 the group had expanded to 28 members. [2] The group's current musical director is Christine MacDonald-Nevers, whose mother, the soprano Marilyn Brice-MacDonald, is one of the longest serving members. [3] [4]
The group has released several albums including Pepperpot in 2006, and performs an annual season of concerts. [5] [6]
Black Uhuru is a Jamaican reggae group formed in 1972, initially as Uhuru. The group has undergone several line-up changes over the years, with Derrick "Duckie" Simpson as the mainstay. They had their most successful period in the 1980s, with their album Anthem winning the first ever Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 1985.
Joseph Hill was the lead singer and songwriter for the roots reggae group Culture, most famous for their 1977 hit "Two Sevens Clash", but also well known for their "International Herb" single. Hill recorded twenty-two albums.
Mento is a style of Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It is a fusion of African rhythmic elements and European elements, which reached peak popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. Mento typically features acoustic instruments, such as acoustic guitar, banjo, hand drums, and the rhumba box — a large mbira in the shape of a box that can be sat on while played. The rhumba box carries the bass part of the music.
Eliza Carthy, MBE is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing the fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson.
Madelaine Edith Prior, MBE is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span. She was born in Blackpool and moved to St Albans in her teens. Her father, Allan Prior, was co-creator of the police drama Z-Cars. She was married to Steeleye bass guitarist Rick Kemp and their daughter, Rose Kemp, is also a singer. Their son, Alex Kemp, is, like his father, a guitarist and has deputised for his father playing bass guitar for Steeleye Span. She was part of the singing duo 'Mac & Maddy', with Mac MacLeod. She then performed with Tim Hart and recorded two albums with him, before they helped to found the group Steeleye Span, in 1969. She left Steeleye Span in 1997, but returned in 2002, and has toured with them since. With June Tabor she was the singing duo Silly Sisters. She toured with the Carnival Band, in 2007, and with Giles Lewin and Hannah James, in 2012 and 2013. She has released singles and albums as a solo artist, with these bands and in several collaborations. She runs an Arts Centre called Stones Barn, in Bewcastle, in Cumbria, which offers residential courses.
The Jamaica national football team, nicknamed the "Reggae Boyz", represents Jamaica in international football. The team's first match was against Haiti in 1925. The squad is under the supervising body of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), which is a member of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), and the global jurisdiction of FIFA. Jamaica's home matches have been played at Independence Park since its opening in 1962.
Damian Robert Nesta "Jr. Gong" Marley is a Jamaican DJ, singer, songwriter and record producer. A renowned lyricist, Damian is the youngest son of reggae singer Bob Marley. He was 2 years old when his father died; he is the only child born to Marley and Cindy Breakspeare, Miss World 1976. His nickname Junior Gong is derived from his father's nickname of Tuff Gong. Damian has been performing since the age of 13.
Frederick Nathaniel "Toots" Hibbert, was a Jamaican singer and songwriter who was the lead vocalist for the reggae and ska band Toots and the Maytals. A reggae pioneer, he performed for six decades and helped establish some of the fundamentals of reggae music. Hibbert's 1968 song "Do the Reggay" is widely credited as the genesis of the genre name reggae. His band's album True Love won a Grammy Award in 2005.
Millicent Dolly May Small CD was a Jamaican singer and songwriter, best known for her 1964 recording of "My Boy Lollipop", which reached number two in both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100. On her UK records, she was usually credited mononymously as Millie. She was the Caribbean's first international recording star, and its most successful female performer.
"Linstead Market" is a Jamaican folk song of the mento type that tells of a mother who goes to the market with her ackee fruit but does not sell any, with the result that her children will go hungry.
Julie Fowlis is a Scottish folk singer and multi-instrumentalist who sings primarily in Scottish Gaelic.
Olive Lewin OD OM was a Jamaican author, social anthropologist, musicologist, and teacher. She is probably best known for her recorded anthologies of old Jamaica folk songs, researched and collected over her lifetime.
Aston Cooke was one of Jamaica's leading playwrights and the recipient of nine national Actor Boy Awards for outstanding achievement in various categories of theatre in Jamaica. Cooke was an inductee to the Caribbean Hall of Fame for Arts and Culture for his contribution to Jamaican theatre over the years. Cooke served as Chairman of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (2013–2016).
Dr. Myrna Hague-Bradshaw, better known as Myrna Hague, known as "Jamaica's First Lady of Jazz", is a Jamaican lovers rock and jazz singer and actress, who recorded for Coxsone Dodd's Studio One.
Tessanne Amanda Chin is a Jamaican recording artist, best known for winning Season 5 of NBC's reality TV singing competition The Voice as part of Adam Levine's team. She has opened for artists such as Patti Labelle, Peabo Bryson and Gladys Knight, and toured for three years with Jimmy Cliff. She is the younger sister of singer Tami Chynn.
A notable year in the history of Jamaican music was 1907, when Walter Jekyll's Jamaican Song and Story was first published. The Contents of this book include four parts entitled "Anancy Stories", "Digging Sings", "Ring Tunes", and "Dancing Tunes". Each part has an introduction, songs, stories, and melodies.
Adidja Azim Palmer, better known as Vybz Kartel, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall musician, singer, composer, record producer, entrepreneur and convicted murderer. Among his various nicknames, he is referred to as "Worl' Boss". As summarized by Rolling Stone, he "attained folk-hero status in Jamaica with provocative lyrics, and a mischievous public persona", and "few have captivated [the dancehall] audience – or offended the sensibilities of its detractors –as consistently and thoroughly as Kartel."
Oje Ken Ollivierre, popularly known as Protoje, is a contemporary reggae singer and songwriter from Jamaica. His mother is Jamaican singer Lorna Bennett, best known for her 1972 rendition of "Breakfast in Bed". His father is a former calypso king from the island nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. He has one daughter with his wife Lindsay.
Carlton Harold "Jackie" Guy MBE is a Jamaican dancer, choreographer and teacher who has been based in the United Kingdom since the mid-1980s.
Neville O'Riley Livingston, known professionally as Bunny Wailer, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and percussionist. He was an original member of reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he is considered one of the longtime standard-bearers of reggae music. He was also known as Jah B, Bunny O'Riley, and Bunny Livingston.