Sound System Culture Jamaica & UK 1986-88.
April 1986 that I took my initial photos with a Leica and a handheld lamp (no flash) It was here that I truly first encountered Jamaican sound system culture and the nascent dancehall scene.
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'Inna Dancehall Style
Inna Dancehall Style captures the extraordinary exuberance and creativity of Jamaican dancehall. A massively influential subcultural scene, it was raw, sensual and at times even bombastic, with an edginess born on the streets of the capital, Kingston. Dancehall music would eventually achieve worldwide prominence and notoriety, as would its fashion with bespoke boutique and homespun outfits. The early 90s was arguably its golden era and my photos cover the years of 1992 and 1994, mainly at The House of Leo Stone Love sessions on Cargill Avenue, and the Topline club at Southdale Plaza. Also included are a small set of UK Dancehall photos taken in London In 1993 on assignment for The Guardian and The Sunday Times respectfully. Images from my collection have also been published in numerous books including Reggae Xplosion (Virgin books, 2001), Lloyd Bradley’s Reggae: The Story of Jamaican Music, ( BBC, 2002), Black Style (V&A, 2004), Street Style by Ted Polheums (PYMCA, 2010), Sound System: The Story Of Jamaican Music by Chris Salewicz and Adrian Boot (2012 ) and On The Dance Floor (A24, November 2022). In addition, two diptychs and a single image from the my collection were acquired by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2015.
Youth Promotion crew- 1 Robert Crescent Kingston Jamaica April 1986.
Lincoln ‘Sugar’ Minott’s bedroom studio at 1 Robert Crescent Kingston Jamaica Home to the Youth Promotion Sound System and crew. April 1986.
Youth Man Promotion Sound System, Kingston Jamaica 1986.
Pleasure Minott wearing a bowler hat (Brother of Sugar Minott) with members of the Youth Promotion Sound System Crew, Robert Crescent, Maxfield Park, Kingston, Jamaica 1986.
Jamaican Sugar Workers taking a break from the searing sun in an
Jamaican Sugar Workers taking a break from the searing sun in an old sugar transport hut. Caymanas Sugar Estate, St Catherine Jamaica 2003. After Jamaica gained independence in 1962, sugar cane estates in Jamaica employed 50,000 people. But a combination of privatisation, and the end of EU quotas combined with the closure of estates has hit the Jamaican sugar industry hard over the last 20 years. In 2003 I had the opportunity of photographing the burning and harvesting of the sugar cane on the Government owned Caymanas Estate. Using outdated equipment and sugar largely cut by hand in the searing heat, workers make up a substantial number of voters. So successive Jamaican governments have made every effort to keep the industry going. Today, the island economy relies mostly on agriculture and tourism industries. The sugar industry is the oldest continually operating industry in Jamaica, generating the third largest foreign exchange for the island.
Revellers Notting Hill Carnival - 28 August 2022.
After a hiatus of two years due to the pandemic, Notting Hill Carnival is back. Notting Hill Carnival. 28 August 2022.
Revellers Notting Hill Carnival - 28 August 2022.
After a hiatus of two years due to the pandemic, Notting Hill Carnival was back in August 2022.
Aquarius record store, Half Way Tree, Kingston Jamaica. 1986
Aquarius records on Constant Spring Road in Halfway Tree Kingston, Jamaica, was owned by Lloyd and Daphne Chin-Loy. When this photo was taken in the mid 1980s the shop was a hive of activity and before the transportation hub was built much later, it was also the main transportation point for most routes across the Kingston at that time. The gates on the left of the photo were the entrance to the recording studio, and at one time was one of the most important in Jamaica. Artists who have passed through the gates include Augustus Pablo, Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Beres Hammond and Ernest Ranglin. Dancehall DJ Tiger had his first job in the Aquarius store and Bunny Wailer recorded and mixed his seminal album ‘Blackheart Man’ at the studios in 1975. Also Sugar Minott, Earl Sixteen, Little Roy and Triston Palmer, recorded in the studio. Aquarius was on a strip with ‘KG’s’ appliance and electronics store, along with Skateland, skating rink; and Miami Store, which sold the latest style and fashions from the USA. Music would play from speakers outside the store, including the latest 7’inch Jamaican releases before they were played on the radio. Kingston Jamaica. 1986.
Youthman Promotion crew- 1 Robert Crescent Kingston Jamaica April 1986.
Lincoln ‘Sugar’ Minott’s house at 1 Robert Crescent Kingston Jamaica Home to the Youthman Promotion Sound System and crew. April 1986.
Rastafarian repatriation rally. Kingston Jamaica 2002.
Rastafarian repatriation rally Half Way Tree Kingston Jamaica 2002.