Sample 6 and Passa Passa!!!!!!!

Below I have posted two videos: one displays a Passa Passa and the other shows the group Sample 6 dancing (picture of Sample 6 to the left). The song that Sample 6 is dancing to is an example of a call and response form that I have mentioned earlier in one of my previous blog entries. Sample 6 is a group of 6 men who are Jamaican and can really dance. They dance to any reggae song and attend a lot of events. One event that they attended that I was also at was the annual Labor Day Parade held in New York City. This parade is where everyone who is of Caribbean descent and those who aren’t come to dance around floats. Most floats that moved up “The Parkway” in Brooklyn represent a different part of the Caribbean. There is a Panamanian float, a Trinidad & Tobago float, there were three Haitian floats, and of course a Jamaican float. The Jamaican float is always the most popular and usually goes at the end. Around the float the scene is like a mob crowd that hardly anyone can move and sometimes people get hurt. The reason for all of this commotion is the fact that they have Sample 6 on top of the float dancing to the reggae music that is blasting, and also Beenie man who is also a famous reggae singer on the float singing the songs. Sample 6 is known for their extreme dance moves.

Passa Passa is another well-known form of Jamaican music and representation. It is a weekly street party that is equivalent to a block party. It originated in Kingston, Jamaica and still goes strong to this day. Passa Passa has drawn many professional and amateur dancers into the media spotlight as the event is typically videotaped for mass DVD distribution. During Passa Passa you can catch a lot of out of control dancing where people are just having fun at all hours of the night.

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PASSA PASSA

Passa Passa is a weekly street party that started in Kingston, Jamaica. It is performed to dancehall music. It has migrated throughout the Caribbean. It can be compared and simulated to a block party. The Passa Passa usually gets started around 1am and has been known to continue straight through until 8am.

Providence Club

Last night I went to a club in Providence (I wish to keep the name anonymous) with three other friends, that played very little reggae and dancehall music. This was surprising to me because in Norton, it is as if all I hear is Jamaican music. This led me to believe that maybe it is the group of people I hang out with and associate myself with that music that brings on this generalization that everyone in the New England area is familiar with Jamaican/reggae/dancehall music. I have bracketed myself within this type of music that I have failed to realize that only within my “world” is this type of music dominant. Throughout my study with this project and taking an anthropological stance on the matter, I didn’t open my eyes to the fact that I should have gone outside my boundaries of Norton to look for a broader and rounder take on the subject. When I was in New York in February of 2007, a little less than a year ago, my friends and I went to a club in lower Manhattan. There it was reggae all day everyday. In the club in Providence, it was hip hop and rap. At the rare times when they did play a reggae song, two of my friends danced the traditional way that one would normal dance to that type of song. One song which I remember to be “Dutty Wind”, had a lot of people staring at them because they didn’t know how to dance like that. One guy wanted to dance with one of my friends but couldn’t because he didn’t know how to handle that type of dancing. This experience opened my eyes to the fact that I can not generalize my studies and opinions on area that I have never ventured into.

Jamaican Restaurant in Boston

Just recently I traveled to Boston to eat at a Jamaican restaurant with a lot of people as part of a group association that we have here on campus. The restaurant was a very small restaurant smaller than the size of our classroom and it looked as if it was owned my friends or family. It was not a chain restaurant. Anyways, the atmosphere was very warm and welcoming and even though I have tried Jamaican food many times before I was excited to see how theirs tastes, because everybody makes them different. By them, I am referring to the different types of food: oxtail, curry goat, jerk chicken, fried dumplings, and rice. There were many other various types of food but those are the ones that I tend to favor with. I thought this restaurant would be a good addition to my blog because we just finished talking about food and how it can shape or be shaped by culture. In this culture food is very important because it is like none other. You won’t find oxtail is an American restaurant for example, and you definitely wouldn’t find curry goat on a daily American dinner plate that’s for sure. In this culture, I think that it is a mutual study to where food shapes and is also shaped by the culture. Jamaicans are also known for there food just like they are with their dancing. I think that the food shapes the culture, because food to Jamaicans is a relaxed and fun thing. When a lot of Jamaicans, as well as most of the people of Caribbean decent, get together to eat it is suppose to be thought of as a conversational part of the day. This shapes the culture because it makes the culture a more fun and free type. There is no stress in trying to be quiet while eating, or not having to worry about chewing with your mouth open; it is very relaxed. In some American homes, my dad’s for example, children are taught to not talk while eating and when you eat it is not time for conversation. I liked this Jamaican restaurant because I felt like I could take my time and enjoy my food. The food was great also!

Interviews

I interviewed two of my friends, Renee and Howard. Both Jamaican students to see their reactions and responses to certain Reggae affiliated questions. The first question was, “Do you think with the household you have grown up in has influenced the genre of music you listen to today? If so, why?” Howard said that he definitely thinks that the house that he grew up in had influence of the genre of music that he listened to today because there was always some form of Reggae, Gospel, or Dancehall music being played in his house. Renee said that it depends on the age of whom you are living with. She says that if you live with guardians who are in the generation of 50 years or older then they are most likely to be brought up on Reggae. Where as if you lived with someone who was 40 years or younger, the type of music would most likely be of a dancehall genre. This specifically shows the timeline of when different types of music came around. The second question I asked them was, “What is your prediction of Dancehall music in the future?” Howard responded by saying that Reggae music will adopt some if not all the tendencies of today’s Rap music in which musicians and artists constantly sing/rap about luxurious items: “I have seen some of the latest music videos that Dancehall artist have made and they are exact replicas of currents Rap videos.” Renee replied by saying that, “Dancehall music is getting more violent, women jumping on men and visa versa. A lot more people will die trying to certain dances.” This does not speak to highly of present Reggae music. Just like so many other types and genres of music, Jamaican music is becoming more Americanized and being taken away form how it was originally done.

STOP LIGHT PARTY

Last night there was another Balfour party held at my school. The dance was call the Stop Light Dance in which everyone wore colors associated with their relationship status. Red signified stop, meaning that you were taken; Yellow signified slow down and that whatever relationship you were in was complicated; And green meant that you were single. This was its 2^nd annual dance and it was already the most popular dance that people look forward to attending. We hired an outside DJ. He played primarily calypso, soca, and reggae music. There was hardly any variety. This was obviously the best observation period that I had at observing a lot of the dancing. One song that I have previously mentioned was Everybody Dance. Another was Tek wey Yaself. I wish I had brought my camera because it was amazing how many people new the songs and how they were all in unison dancing. One of my guy friends and two or three other male friends were all in a circle battling each other to one of the songs but at the same time having fun. While guys were dancing, many girls were on the steps, including me, dancing on there own and watching waiting for a turn to jump in a battle as well. Eventually one of my girl friends jumped in to dance and killed it. They dance with such attitude. Another point at the party, two girls were battling to another reggae song. The battle soon turned into three more girls showing up turning it into an even bigger “dance-off”. Pretty soon you had a swarm of people doing the same dance until the track was switched.