Monday marks the beginning of October and my yearly countdown of spooky themed Jamaican tunes... a little mix I like to call the Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2011. Now if you're new to the blog I should probably fill you in how I go about doing this... I post an individual song every weekday in the month complete with scary sound effects and soundbites from old Halloween records, movie trailers and other creepy stuff I accumulate throughout the year... you download each tune individually then reassemble them in order in your Itunes or on a CDR and you'll have the complete Halloween mix and a nice sampling of the haunted sounds of Jamaican music!"Haunted sounds of Jamaican music?" you may ask. Yes, just like any mainstream genre of music, Jamaican musicians and artists, ranging from calypso styled mento of the 1950's to ska to rocksteady to reggae and all of its various incarnations in between until today, are capable of recording material that explores themes and subject matters outside the stereotypical notions of what a lot of people think reggae "is about." Over the last 6 years I have researched and sought recordings in any of the aforementioned sub-genres of Jamaican music that explore subjects and use titles that would be best suited for late night horror movies.
Yes, I know many will find this hard to believe but there is a dark side to this music and though it doesn't begin to compare in intensity to death metal, slasher films or any other genres that people closely associate with black eyeliner and body piercings, I believe it holds its own with the rock and roll styled Halloween novelty music everyone knows and loves.
There's the rub, stay tuned!!
