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This course was an unexpectedly an enjoyable one; I saw Caribbean Civilization in a new light. Slavery, in that of gender roles and discrimination stood to me. Even though the struggle of the slave was not one of pleasure I think it helped create part of the Caribbean’s identity. The struggle made us stronger as a unit and assisted in grooming us into becoming self- reliant and independent today. Gender roles have evolved today, showing women that they can become independent and educated enough to be more than just domestic workers. The empowerment of women and men from then to now has shown the progress in the growth of development as a people mental and economically.

Caribbean Syncretism through language, religion and music opened up mind to the cultural diversities within our region. With these cultural diversities it created avenues of evolution and transmissibility. This is why for example Trinidad and Tobago is so diversified in its culture. We celebrate multiple religious festivals, sport and music; this helps us unite as one nation. Unity and Caribbean Identity is the primary concepts that stood to me from this course. Even as we continue to live as one our Caribbean identity and unity has and will always bring us together as a family.

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Mustapha, Nasser. Sociology for Caribbean Students. Ian Randle Publishers, 2013.

Heuman, Gad. The Caribbean A Brief History Second Edition. Bloomsbury Publishers Plc, 2014.

Romer, Megan, Dancehall Music 101, ThoughtCo, April 20, 2017 https://www.thoughtco.com/dancehall-music-3552844

A History of Reggae Music, April 20, 2017

http://www.scaruffi.com/history/reggae.html

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Ska Music entailed influences of Nyahbinghi African drumming and Jazz Blues music, emanated from New Orleans and Calypso music originating from the western parts of Africa were famous for its musical syncretism in its era. Musical genres from these origins were constantly merging to find new genres, new identity and new sound. In this period of the 1950’s to the late 1990’s a new sound of musical and instrumental syncretism were heard. In the 20th and 21st century, artiste of different cultures began singing together and displaying Caribbean unity through musical unity. This created another international phenomena for Caribbean people. We are now known worldwide for our unique rheumatic sound, unity among the Caribbean nations and extraordinary musical talent through the waves of syncretic music. One of the recent alliances in 2016 between two diverse cultural groups in the Caribbean, is a song named “Memory”. This was a fitting collaboration by two of the Caribbean's finest entertainers, Soca Artiste Machel Montano & Jamaican Reggae Artiste Tarrus Riley.

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Musical Syncretsim Machel Montano &Tarrus Riley- Memory

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Reggae music’s foundation is grounded upon the principles of black self- reliance and self- empowerment, combined with a ‘back to Africa’ doctrine. As seen in the first part of the video, it speaks to the origin and culture of reggae music in its entirety in the era. Culture (Why Am I A Rastaman?), a veteran foundation reggae artiste, voiced the reasons he chose to be of the Rastafarian faith, that of which, was guided back to Emperor Hailie Selassie and the Rastafarian teachings. Bob Marely (Natural Mystic), would have expressed from the Rastafarian perspective; the beginning of the end times before Judgment Day. In the late 1990’s to present day, reggae has taken different forms of directions due to the western influence of Rhythm and Blues entwined in the earliest forms of music in Jamaica. This resulted in the central change in Reggae music today known as pure or conscious reggae and lover’s reggae. These forms expanded reggae in a way that a mass amount can relate too. Pure Reggae symbolizes societal concerns, human rights and enforcing morals and values in the way of living. As seen in Buju Banton’s (Untold Stories), it expresses about the rise in economic prices that causes crime and limited employment in the society of the lower class citizens and . Lover’s Reggae represents romantic relationships, interests and circumstances. Beres Hammond and Jah Cure songs speak about relationships, love affairs and appreciation for women in the culture of their native country. Even though reggae music has been secularized, reggae artiste like Luciano, Sizzla and Capleton, just to name a few, still keep the culture and origin of roots reggae music alive.

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Rastafarianism, which started in Jamaica in the 1930’s is a doctrine that looks to Africa and Ethiopian’s Black King Emperor Hailie Selassie. After his visit to Jamaica, ‘Rastafari’ became the voice of black consciousness which brought about this new generation of music called Reggae. Musically, reggae came from the famous Ska music which was fast paced and Rocksteady music which took mellow vibe approach. Reggae was mainly popularized by Bob Marely in the late 1960’s. The purpose of sharing his songs, was to revolutionize spiritual music. He also sang about the political issues and black power movement in this era. Reggae music was then linked to Rastafarianism not only because of black empowerment but also its spiritual awakening. In the 1970’s, Jamaica was experiencing revolutionary changes by a radical economist and Prime Minister at the time named Michael Manely. He had the support of Bob Marely and other iconic reggae artiste, to make a change in the nation’s independence from America socially, economically and through positive reggae music. He quoted, ‘reggae music is a tremendous political forces for change. It is the first real peoples language in which people are singing about their tragedy, struggle and despair and are forcing the society to understand it.’ This change liberated ‘rasta’ people and created a way for true freedom amongst them to never be looked at as an outcast again. This allowed Bob Marely to carry reggae music to the wider regions of the world’s stage.

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Dancehall, which was also known as “bashment”, was a popular type of music originated in the late 1970’s in Jamaica, as a result of varying political and socio-economic factors. This type of music was heavily influenced by the western world in the 1990’s. This reflected in shift or topics discussed in reggae. Initially, Dancehall came from a sparse version of reggae. Dancehall was seen as a lower class entity in society, nevertheless, it evolved in the 1980’s when recognized deejays marked the transition from mainstream reggae to dancehall music by taking it to nightclubs in Jamaica. This new version of Jamaican music contained frequent digital instrumentation made dancehall increasingly characterized by faster rhythms. The chant of the dancehall deejay, part talking, part singing, came to prominence in the late 1970s, when U-Roy experimented with talking over or under a “riddim” (rhythm) as heard in the first parts of the mix. Entering the 1980’s to the 1990’s ,slackness and ‘gun talk’ dominated the lyrics of dancehall deejays, the most notable of whom were Shabba Ranks, Ninjaman, Bounty Killer, Beenie Man,Lady Saw and Tiger. Dancehall music continued to evolve in the 2000’s, exhibiting flagrant sexual content, rivalry against different groups, life journeys and accomplishments, societal subjugation and love. These genres of dancehall are most recognized by Vybz Kartel, Mavado, Popcaan and Alkaline. Deejay’s or as we refer to it today as producers, gravitated to generating beats and rhythms rather than singing on them.