music clip of the day

Last week we heard the Blues Busters and the Maytals.

Here’s a very young Jimmy Cliff.

Jimmy Cliff, “King of Kings,” live, Jamaica (Kingston [Sombrero Club]), 1962

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lagniappe

The Sound System was and is an integral part of the Jamaican social scene especially the working class who rely on this for their entertainment and social life. The middle and upper class fly to Miami and N.Y while the working class depend on the Sound System, which had an impact on my life from my boyhood days in the countryside of Jamaica where I could listen the Sound System at the big upstairs house that was beside the little house where I lived with my Father and my Brother.

This big upstairs downstairs house had a bar called ” Money Rock Tavern ” where the Sound System called “Pope Pius” would play and this was my me only opportunity to hear different kinds of music especially Latino.

My parents were staunch Christians so I was not permitted to associate with those kinds of music so I had to hide and steel away to go to the fair grounds where dances and fairs were held. I could see and learn the latest Dance moves and hear the latest, Rumba, R’n’B, Calypso, Merengay etc…

A little later in my youth life my Father managed to buy a little battery powered radio so I had another opportunity to tune in to American radio particularity New Orleans and Miami, and of course Cuba which is close to Jamaica only 90 miles away. On the local radio station I learned of local Artists writing and recording their own songs so I decided to write my own while still in school, quite a fete for a little country boy but I had high ambitions. Among the locals that inspired me wave Derrick Morgan, Prince Buster and Monty Morris.

After leaving primary school at Somerton my father took me to the capital of Jamaica Kingston to go to Kingston technical school, with a few songs in my head I had written. Where I was going to live was unknown but I ended up in East Kingston. Miss Gwen a stranger Lady said she would cook and wash my clothes while I slept with my cousin in his one rented room.

I was happy to be in Kingston to fulfil my dreams. I tried many producers while still going to school studing radio and tv trying to get the songs recorded without much luck. I entered talent shows and won some and was cheated on some. One night I was walking past a record store and restaurant as they were closing, I pushed myself in and sang for the Chinese owners of the store and convinced one of them Leslie Kong to go into the recording business starting with me.

My second recording with him Hurricane Hattie became a number one hit in Jamaica. I followed that hit up with Miss Jamaica, One Eyed Jacks, King of Kings and Leslie Kong went on to become King Kong among the producers in Jamaica.

This was the ska era of Jamaican Music.—Jimmy Cliff