JAMAICAN COMPOSERS IN THE CLASSICAL TRADITION:

THREE VOCAL WORKS BY DEXTER, ASHBOURNE, AND MARSHALL

BY

MELISSA ANNE DAVIS

THESIS

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts Music
with a concentration in Performance and Literature
in the Graduate College of the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2013

Urbana, Illinois

Doctoral Committee:

Professor Ollie Watts Davis, Chair

Associate Professor Gayle Sherwood Magee, Director of Research
Professor Charlotte Mattax-Moersch
Assistant Professor Reynold Tharp
ABSTRACT

tVi
Classical music has been present in the Jamaica since the 18 century. The country

conquered by Britain in 1655, still bears its European influence in its current culture. With a

history of many cultures sharing common ground on the island, Jamaicans have adopted a love

for hybridization - the interweaving of elements from various cultures together. With the

dominant influences of African and European culture in Jamaica, Jamaica’s art music composers

have sought to create music that fuses the elements of each culture together in their

compositions. The topic of this dissertation is an exploration of how hybridization in Jamaica has

served the sociological purposes of preserving Jamaica’s rich culture, uniting the people and

allowing the island’s folk culture to gain further exposure on international concert stages.

Jamaican art music composers, Noel Dexter (b.1938-), Peter Ashbourne (b.1950-), and

Andrew Marshall (b.1982-), have fulfilled these functions of hybridization through their works

and as a result, have aided in strengthening Jamaican culture.

With a plethora of cultural influences in Jamaica, and society questioning the definition

of Jamaica’s true identity since the country’s independence in 1962, hybridization provides an

answer to Jamaica’s obscured sense of identity in the syncretization of its cultures. This blending

of cultures defines Jamaica as a country that values mixture and it is this fusion that aids in

rectifying the country’s issues of the loss of its folk tradition, divisions of class and culture, and

the country’s international impact. Hybridization has solved a host of social ills in Jamaica and is

to be credited for being a significant factor in helping the nation to progress.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................1

CHAPTER
I: JAMAICAN HYBRID IDENTITY AND COLONIALISM IN JAMAICA........... 10

II: FOLK AND ART MUSIC IN JAMAICA.................................................................. 23

III: NOEL DEXTER (b. 1938-)...........................................................................................43

PSALM 27...................................................................................................................... 53

IV: PETER ASHBOURNE (b.1950-)................................................................................59

FI MI LOVE HAVE LION HEART (2005; For High Voice & Piano)......................66

V: ANDREW MARSHALL (b.1982-).............................................................................85

HARDTALK...................................................................................................................88

VI: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS.........................................................................98

APPENDIX A: LIST OF COMPOSERS WORKS........................................................................116

BIBLIOGRAPHY..............................................................................................................................121
INTRODUCTION

The Caribbean is an unbelievably rich musical area. On any island

one can fin d music that is essentially African...Everywhere, both
Europe and Africa have left their marks: in religious rites, in vocal
and instrumental styles, in instruments themselves, and in the
approaches to form, to material, and to function. But Africa has
proved to be the catalyst, has molded and reworked European
material until the music o f the whole area, despite its several
languages and myriad islands, is recognizably related - not one
music, certainly but one musical family.1

Jamaica is a culturally diverse nation comprised of many ethnicities, each influencing the

artistic and social landscape of the country with its distinctive style. The country’s motto, “Out

of many, one people”, shows both the recognition of this diversity and the country’s desire for

unity, thus creating one people sharing a common ground and common experience. The Oxford

Dictionary o f Geography aptly describes Jamaica’s social landscape in its definition of

creolization - “The hybridization of a culture, as it absorbs and transforms forces from outside;

the production of new local forms in response to globalization.” Professors of sociology

Wendell Bell and Robert Robinson describe the term as a way of life differing from one’s

cultural homeland: “creolization refers to the process whereby a group of people develop a way

of life peculiar to the new locality in which they find themselves, as distinct from the cultures of

their homelands.”

1John Storm Roberts, Black Music o f Two Worlds (New York: Praeger, 1972).
2 Susan Mayhew, A Dictionary o f Geography s.y. “Jamaica” (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1997).
3 Wendell Bell and Robert Robinson. European Melody, African Rhythm, or West Indian Harmony? Changing
Cultural Identity Among Leaders in a New State. 1979, p. 253.
This creolization was manifested in Jamaica as the country became entrenched with

various cultures forging a new lifestyle. The beginnings of the trend date back to the seventeenth

century when enslaved Africans of various tribes were grouped in masses and brought to Jamaica

to work on plantations. The amalgamation of traditions, languages, cultures and tribal habits

caused Jamaicans to value hybridization and the blending of cultural traditions became a way of

co-existing and also communicating with those of a different lifestyle.

Acting as a sort of meeting place for people of different cultures, the island boasts a spirit

of togetherness, regardless of race, class, culture, or social status. A recent poll from the

University of the West Indies notes Jamaica’s total ethnic make-up, with 76.3 percent of African

descent, 15.1 percent Afro-European, 3.4 percent East Indian and Afro-East-Indian, 3.2 percent

Caucasian, 1.2 percent Chinese and 424,000 of Jewish ancestry. This diversity is reflected in the

Fine Arts in Jamaica, and in particular, in music. Beverley Anderson notes, “Indeed, the

Caribbean is one of world’s most culturally heterogeneous areas, and the musical forms that have

evolved there can be viewed as the cultural miscegenation of Europe, Africa, Asia, and the

Americas.”4 With so many ethnicities represented in Jamaica, the current artistic expression in

the nation may be analyzed through the lens of its historical heritage.

Historically, Jamaica’s cultural landscape, originating with the aboriginal Arawak

Indians, has changed significantly because of colonization efforts including Columbus’s arrival

in 1492, the establishment of a Spanish colony lasting 161 years, and ultimately the arrival of the

British in 1655. Out of its many faces, Jamaica’s current culture is influenced by two dominant

societies - the indigenous cultures of Europe and Africa. The collision of these cultures in the

seventeenth century has had a lasting effect on Jamaican culture which may be seen particularly

in the arts. With the British invasion in 1655 came a lasting imprint of Western art music on

4 Beverley J. Anderson and Winston E. Langley, Music o f the Caribbean (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996), p.2.
Jamaican culture. The creolization that occurred between the European and African cultures

continues to give Jamaica a complex identity that many of Jamaica’s inhabitants have grown to

embrace. Jamaica’s present creolized culture may be attributed to what Ivy Baxter, a pioneer of

Jamaican pre-independence dance theater, calls “the slow interaction” of the two dominant

cultures:

Jamaican cultural ideas also had root in the entirely separate

development of the reorganized folk culture of Afro-Jamaicans.

Therefore the cultural climate of Jamaica was based, not only upon

adaptations of two main traditions transplanted to this island, but

was formed by the slow interaction of each upon the other, and

later by synthesis of some elements from both cultures, which were

themselves undergoing disintegration or renewal.5

Although the synthesis created by this collision produced a hybridized culture, folk music

and classical music in their pure forms are still present on the island. While Jamaican music

continues to evolve as the country acknowledges its multiculturalism, Jamaica’s hybrid musics -

mento, ska, rocksteady, and reggae have survived over the years and continue to be performed by

many on the island. With the historical influences of the Arawak Indian, African, Spanish and

European cultures currently in existence in Jamaica, artistic expression in the nation is varied.

Jamaican choreographer, dancer and scholar, Rex Nettleford comments on Jamaica’s value of

diversity:

Many Jamaicans do make a virtue of diversity, even at the risk of

creating instability. The “natural pluralism” of Caribbean society

5 Ivy Baxter, The Arts of an Island: The Development o f the Culture and o f the Folk and Creative Arts in Jamaica,
1494-1962 (Independence) (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1970), p. 342.

3
may indeed be an overriding factor in the way that Jamaicans go

about their business or in the way that multiple institutions are

created and play one against the other....Jamaicans clearly have a

preference for options. They would quickly opt for everything that

can be had both inside and outside of the “revolution.”6

This “preference for options” Nettleford speaks of is prevalent in Jamaica’s music. Although it

is the nation perhaps best known for creating the popular music genre, reggae, one finds a

plethora of other genres such as mento, ska, rocksteady, dub music, dancehall, and jazz that all

contribute to defining Jamaican music.

Seeking to create innovative music, many of the nation’s art music composers have

composed works that blend elements of the indigenous folk music of Jamaica with various Euro-

classical art music forms. This blending of styles appears to be a typically “Jamaican”

maneuver, as Jamaicans have maintained the practice of blending contrasting elements from their

West African ancestors. There is something apparent in Jamaican culture that values the blending

of otherwise contrary elements. Hybridization is such a prominent feature of Jamaican culture

that it may be seen not only in Jamaica’s music but also its religious practices,

.. .many elements of Christianity, both doctrinal and ritual, have

overflowed the bounds of any of the Christian churches and

become mingled quite inextricably with the remains of African

cultist practices brought over by the slaves and still having a

considerable hold on the folk more than a century after

6 Rex M. Nettleford, Caribbean Cultural Identity: The Case of Jamaica: an Essay in Cultural Dynamics (Los
Angeles, CA: Center for Afro-American Studies, 1979), p. 48.
emancipation (1939). It is quite impossible to draw sharp lines of

distinction among the multiplicity of mixtures already produced

and still continuing.7

This fusion by Afro-Jamaicans of African cultist practices with elements of Christianity

produced a new tradition that had a vibrancy that is still found in Jamaican religious music today.

Jamaican government folk music research officer, social anthropologist and musicologist, Olive

Lewin notes such vibrancy: “When Jamaicans were first exposed to Christianity, they imbued it

with an emotional fervor that may have sprung from a spiritual vitality that the long years of
O
slavery could not destroy. This emotional fervor is reflected in Jamaican music.” Not only is

this emotional fervor being expressed in the religious music of Jamaica but it is also being

infused into the art music of the nation.

Art music in Jamaica, although not the most widely practiced musical genre on the island,

is being written and performed by various professional ensembles and continues to be taught at

Jamaica’s prestigious educational institutions. The School of Music at the Edna Manley College

of Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica, offers studies in classical music, while

professional performing ensembles such as Jamaica’s renowned chorale, the University Singers,

continue to influence the artistic scene in Jamaica. Not only is art music being taught and

practiced as a discipline on the island, but it is also being used for times of celebration and

national pride. With the year 2012 marking the country’s fiftieth year of independence from the

British Commonwealth, three operas were written in order to commemorate the celebrations,

each by Jamaican composers unaware of each other’s compositions. The operas, 1865 by

Franklin Halliburton, based on the Morant Bay Rebellion of October 11, 1865, Hardtalk by

7 Olive Lewin, Rock It Come Over, The Folk Music o f Jamaica (Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies
Press, 2000), p. 190.
8 Olive Lewin, "Biddy, Biddy Folk Music of Jamaica,” Music Educators Journal 63/1 (1976), p. 39.
Andrew Marshall, based on the Tivoli Gardens invasion of 2010, and Mikey by Peter Ashbourne,

based on the tragic life of dub poet Michael Smith, were each written for the year-long

festivities. These works were meant to inspire a national pride in the population by recounting

important historical events while also encouraging cultural and racial unity as a moral

responsibility. Such works elicit our attention and provide valuable resources for musical study.

Music by West Indian composers is rarely introduced into North American classical

music curriculum and very little is known and written about the subject. Yet, the dissemination

of classical works written by Jamaican composers is vital to our understanding of Western music

and its global influence. The inspiration for this study grew from the various works that integrate

the vibrant rhythms, language and melodic figures of Jamaican folk music into traditional

classical genres. This study is in part aimed at expanding the awareness of the significant

contribution that Jamaican composers have made to classical music and how their classical

works are not merely artistic but also have the potential to incite social change. Through the

study of Jamaican classical vocal repertoire, concert soloists and choral musicians will likely find

treasured gems in these works and will be able to acquire and premiere some of these unknown

works in North America and abroad. These Jamaican classical works make a rich contribution to

the classically-trained student’s repertoire. Additionally, interpreting western art music from a

non-Western perspective presents a new dimension of classical composition that is ripe for

investigation.

A small number of current publications have only begun to explore the topic of Jamaican

art music, as prominent Jamaican art music composers are slowly being recognized for their

works in the Western art music genre. Byron Gordon Johnson discusses the historical and social

perspectives that have contributed to the survival of Jamaican folk music arrangements since
Jamaica’s independence and their incorporation into formal concert programs.9 He argues for

their right to be presented on the Western art music stage and for their value as pieces for

consideration as part of art music programs in concert. Johnson’s dissertation does not, however,

present a discussion on the Jamaican value of hybridization. Similarly, Natalee Burke, focuses

on Jamaica’s prominent art music composers and their works as a topic requiring public

attention.70 While Burke’s thesis presents an account of the role of imitation, hybridization,

assimilation, and innovation in the development of art music by Jamaican composers, it centers

on performance practices, reception history, and published criticism of art music in Jamaica and

abroad, rather than the social significance of hybridization on the island.

Although a small number of scholars and musicologists have written books and articles

on specific Jamaican composers, no publication addresses the social impact of the fusion of

Jamaican folk music with Euro-classical music, on both Jamaican society and world-wide.

Mark Brill discusses classical and classically-influenced styles of music, folk, traditional,

and popular music in Jamaica; however the book is more informative, educating the reader about

the existence of these genres in Jamaica, rather than explaining their social significance.11 Raoul

Abdul provides a view of Black American and a brief excerpt on Black Brazilian composers, but

does not extend to those of Jamaican descent.12 Similarly, Zelma George provides information

on Black American composers and singers in the arts, but does not speak of the lives and works
1^
of West Indian composers. The online bibliography, Art Music by Caribbean Composers:

Jamaica, by Dr. Christine Gangelhoff, professor at The College of the Bahamas, and Cathleen

9 Byron Gordon Johnson, Presenting Jamaican Folksongs on the Art Music Stage: Social History and Artistic
Decisions, D.M.A. Thesis, University of Southern Mississippi, 2010.
10 Natalee Burke, The Art Music o f Jamaica, West Indies, M.Mus, Thesis, The College at Brockport, 2012.
11 Mark Brill, Music of Latin America and the Caribbean (Boston, MA: Prentice Hall, 2011).
12 Raoul Abdul, Blacks in Classical Music: A Personal History (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1977).
13 Zelma George Watson, A Guide to Negro Music, An Annotated Bibliography o f Negro Folk Music and Art Music,
Ph.D. Thesis, New York University, 1953.

7
LeGrand, librarian at Royal Thimphu College, provides insight into prolific figures of Jamaica’s

classical music scene and is as an excellent introductory resource for finding the names of

prominent Jamaican art music composers, a list of their compositions and a brief background of

art music in Jamaica.14 This bibliographical article serves as an informative guide rather than

being an investigative report on the influences found in Jamaican music and Jamaican artistic

values.

Not only do most current publications on the subject of art music in Jamaica provide little

information on the island’s composers and their works, but also this music has not been widely

disseminated, to the detriment of many prolific Jamaican composers, who as a result tend to go

unnoticed. Additionally, the lack of funding for art music in Jamaica as well as the lack of

enthusiasm or popularity surrounding the genre tends to stifle art music composition in the

nation. These issues will be further discussed in the personal correspondence with Peter

Ashbourne in Chapter IV. With such obstacles, art music composers in Jamaica have turned to

hybridization as a vehicle through which cultures and classes can be united, allowing the music

to transcend such barriers and ultimately be embraced by wider audiences.

The hybridization of Western art music and Jamaican folk music can be found in the

vocal works of three prominent Jamaican composers - Noel Dexter (b.1938-), Peter Ashbourne,

(b. 1950-), and Andrew Marshall (b. 1982-). These composers have written vocal works that

combine indigenous Jamaican rhythms, instrumentation and performance style with Western art

music genres, musical devices and techniques, creating music that includes both their British

influence as well as their Jamaican folk roots. Though each of these composers represents a

different generation, each has continued the hybrid tradition in Jamaica. These hybrid pieces

14 Christine Gangelhoff and Cathleen LeGrand, Art Music by Caribbean Composers: Jamaica, College of the
Bahamas, 2011, online at http://joumals.sfli.ca/cob/index.php/files/article/view/153/179.

8
seem to create a genre all their own, as they are neither solely Euro-classical nor solely

Jamaican-folk in style. While these hybrids add to the wealth of Western art music for study and

performance by singers and introduce the listener to the contribution of Jamaican composers to

the Western art music tradition, they also serve a significant social purpose. Blurring the

boundaries of race, culture, and class, these hybrids manage to surpass purely musical

significance, serving as instruments of social development.

While this study seeks to rectify this issue of neglect and expand the awareness of the

reader concerning the many prominent musical figures in art music from the African Diaspora, it

further provides social and historical perspectives on folk music and art music in Jamaica and the

implications of their fusion for Jamaican society. Examining select art music works of the

aforementioned composers will show how hybridization preserves the Jamaican folk tradition

and by fusing the disparate cultures, creates a sense of unity among the people. Furthermore,

hybridization has allowed Jamaican folk music, an art form otherwise performed only in the

Jamaican countryside, to now be performed on international concert stages, allowing the

tradition to gain further exposure.

9
CHAPTER I
JAMAICAN HYBRID IDENTITY AND COLONIALISM IN JAMAICA

The Jamaican musical heritage is itself the result o f centuries o f

cross-fertilization o f the sounds and rhythms o f Africa, Europe, the

creolized Caribbean itself, the Orient and modern America.15

Hybridization runs rampant in many facets of Jamaican society. From religious practices

to social traditions to cuisine, Jamaicans have a history of taking foreign material and morphing

it into their own creation by mixing it with their indigenous culture. This chapter, in addition to

tracing the roots of hybridization in Jamaica, and discovering why it has become such a cultural

mainstay, will also trace Jamaica’s history, its cultural influences, examine the attitudes and

models left behind after Colonialism, and attempt to rediscover Jamaican identity since

independence.

Known for valuing syncretization, John Roberts explains the cultural influences on

Jamaican music:

The Caribbean contains music that embraces quite neo-African

styles - style that still preserves old European elements in a pure

form - and every possible amalgam of European and African.

Moreover, Caribbean forms on the European side were derived

from three countries, Spain, Britain, and France.16

15 Nettleford, p. 26.
16 Anderson and Langley, p. 2.

10
This synthesis of cultures appears in much of Jamaica’s music including the popular music of the

island, which at times combines North American popular song with Jamaican folk rhythms and

instrumentation, written specifically to suit the Jamaican public.

Bearing the scars of slavery, Jamaica has wrestled with its identity as a nation since

gaining independence. With the voices of many cultures, a strong European background and

Afrocentric roots in existence on the island, some have questioned whose voice will determine

“Jamaican culture” - which culture will dominate? Perhaps this question may be best answered

by examining the role of music in each of the dominant cultures on the island and the

significance of music as a sociological force. Beverley Anderson notes the varied purposes of

music between cultures in the Caribbean,

Many writers on Caribbean music have observed “the extent to

which [its] musical traditions are closely integrated with social and

religious activities,” as distinct from the Eurocentric tradition that

views music as an autonomous art form... .Further, it is clear that

music in the lives of Caribbean people is part of a larger struggle to

create communities and societies, a struggle to determine whose

voices will be heard and whose will be silenced, and a struggle

17
over who will determine social values.

Rather than settling on one dominant voice, Jamaican art music composers have composed

musical works that fuse the diverse cultures and traditions, creating a unique representation of

Jamaican music. Rex Nettleford notes the value of the combination, stating that “the melody pf

17 Ibid, p. 8.

11
Europe and the rhythm of Africa’.. .form a new organic whole embodying unprecedented and

creative modes of relationship.”18 It is fitting that in Jamaica, a cultural mosaic of many cultures,

languages and traditions, that art music composers would reflect the nation’s culture by

creolizing.

Choosing to pair the contrasting styles of Euro-classical and African-derived folk music

in a single work proves to be revolutionary since although both cultures are a part of the nation’s

history, the differences between the two cultures are significant. Former Director of the Jamaica

School of Music, Pamela O’Gorman, notes one such difference, “Jamaican music is essentially

percussive and rhythmical, just as European music is predominantly melodic and vocal.”19

Additionally, a primary element of Jamaican folk music is its demand for an immediate response

from its audience (such as clapping or laughter), whereas European art music is meant to be

internally evaluated by its audience mainly for its artistic merit.

18 Rex M. Nettleford, Mirror, Mirror: Identity, Race and Protest in Jamaica (Jamaica: Williams Collins and
SangsterLtd, 1972), p.173.
19 Pamela O’Gorman, “Jamaica School of Music,” Jamaica Journal 20/1 (July 29, 1987): p.7.
COLONIALISM AND ITS IMPACT ON JAMAICAN MUSICIANS

Jamaica’s history continues to dictate present trends on the island. Remnants of the

nation’s past still linger in the expression of art in society. As they seek to express themselves,

Jamaican artists have undertaken a quest to discover the nation’s true identity, grappling with the

country’s issues remaining since Colonialism.

From the fifteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century, Jamaica was a place where

different races united, becoming cultural strangers. One group became dominant while the other

succumbed to the subordinate role of slaves. This creolization process began with a period of

what Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin call “seasoning,” a period where slaves
20
where branded, assigned new names, and were taught the new language they were to speak.

From the aboriginal Arawak Indians to Christopher Columbus’s arrival in Jamaica in

1492, to the 161 years of Spanish rule on the island, and ultimately its conquest by the British in

1655, Jamaica as a country has assumed many faces. The intrigue of the island brought many

people to its shores however, the indigenous cultural traditions of Europe and Africa would

collide and dominate the island’s culture, forming a completely new one.

The first inhabitants of Jamaica, the Ciboney people, an Amerindian community coming

from Asia to North America and to the Caribbean into Jamaica, were soon joined by the Tainos,

an Arawaken people coming from Venezuela. It is from the Tainos that the country assumed its

name, “Xaymaca” meaning “land of wood and water.”

One of the first musical hybridizations occurred in 1494, when the Spanish first arrived in

Jamaica, settling in St. Ann and then moving to what is now known as “Spanish town,” where

they were greeted with gifts by the singing Tainos. Spanish music soon melded with that of the

Tainos. It was not long, however, before Jamaica became a Spanish colony with the Spanish

20 Bill Ashcroft, The Post-Colonial Studies Reader (New York: Routledge, 2007), p.203.

13
enslaving the native Indians, ultimately leading to the extinction of the race. Their enslavement

brought death by exhaustion due to harsh labor conditions, suicide, ill-treatment, disease, and

genocide by their Spanish masters. In 50 years approximately 60,000 Arawakans died.

In 1517, the Spanish, now left without laborers, turned their gaze to Africa, and began

importing Africans from West and Central Africa into the island to become slaves, thus

beginning the African slave trade. The year 1655 marked the British invasion of Jamaica, with

English sailors William Penn and Robert Venables capturing the island and causing the Spanish

to surrender and relocate to Cuba while some secretly fled to northern Jamaica. By this time

there was no evidence of the pure Arawak race on the island. During this time a group of

descendents of former slaves escaped into the mountains and forests of the island and settled,

forming a community known as the Maroons. The music of the Tainos disappeared into the hills

with the Maroons. It was not until after participating in a guerilla war against the British that the

Maroon community gained independence in 1739 by signing a peace treaty with the British.

In 1656, the island was infiltrated with the new British population, and British indentured

laborers found themselves unable to assimilate to their new climate. They began suffering from

diseases, prompting another importation of negro slaves from Africa, specifically Gambia, the

Windward Coast, the Gold Coast, and Nigeria, to work on the plantations. Upon arrival, African

slaves endured cruel hardship and were subjected to the dominant British culture and the

abandonment of their religious beliefs, social behavior, language and music.

European and African migration to Jamaica presented two cultures of people, who not

only had to adapt themselves to a new environment, but also to each other. Out of the cruel

friction created by this confrontation however, came a creativity that shapes Jamaica’s current

cultural landscape. From the shores of West Africa came many different languages, musics,

14
religions, and different ways of being. African drums and songs were now seen as powerful

means of sustaining the African people. The Spanish and the British sought to devalue African

cultural forms, deeming them forms of the lower class and placing high value on European

culture as forms for the upper-class members of society. The Jamaican Creole language, Patois,

is a product of the communication between the many African tribes and their European masters,

to be discussed later in the chapter. Before 1826, slaves were often separated from their families

and sent to different plantations, resulting in a mixture of people from different African tribes on

the plantation together. The slaves began communicating with each other in English, the

language they were accustomed to hearing from their masters.

In the years leading up to 1807, Jamaica was at the height of its prosperity and flourished

as an agricultural colony. This was a particularly monumental year due to the abolition of the

slave trade. It was not until the Emancipation Act, however, in 1833 that all slaves in the British

territories were set free; thus no new African slaves were imported into Jamaica and the

apprenticeship system was abolished. With workers now moving away to cultivate their own

land, the labor force suffered serious depletion. Integration concerns began to surface after

Emancipation since Jamaicans only knew the European master and Negro slave structure. While

the Emancipation Act was a monumental event in Jamaica’s history, the country began to pass

through many difficulties as it witnessed conflicts between the different classes of people on the

island resulting in the Morant Bay rebellion of 1865.

Jamaica’s cultural make-up now included Britain, Scotland and Ireland as well as a

German population who arrived to start a better life, establishing a village called “German

Town”. The African culture in Jamaica began to decline by the 1820s as 80 percent of Jamaica’s

population was slaves, the majority of them born in Jamaica, with no concept of their African

15
roots. The years 1838-1917 saw Jamaica’s encouragement of immigrants from India and

indentured Chinese laborers, followed by a non-indentured Chinese population arriving after

1911. Immigrants from Syria and Lebanon soon followed.

On August 6, 1962 Jamaica was the first British territory in the Caribbean to attain

independence and become a self-governing dominion within the British Commonwealth of

Nations and later was accepted as a member of the United Nations. Olive Lewin notes the

significant impact of independence on Jamaican culture:

With the removal of shame and stimulus provided by political

independence which we got in 1962, the need to disguise ourselves

with an ill-fitting European mask was removed, and we began to

see the rich outlines of our own culture. It took only a few years of

serious research into our musical heritage to show that it went a

long way further back than the four and three quarter centuries of

our Jamaican history. Culturally we are as old as the cultural

history of Africa. It is probably music of the Kumina cult more

than any other - that has opened our eyes to the necessity for a
91
completely new attitude towards our culture and its significance.

The movement to reclaim Jamaica’s African roots has been maintained on the island with

annual post-independence celebrations. The year 2012 marked the fiftieth year of independence

for Jamaica as a nation and celebrations of independence have typically prompted scholars to

trace the nation’s history and the many factors that have shaped Jamaican culture today. The

birth of the Dominion of Jamaica signaled a growing sense of pride in the Jamaican population

21 Olive Lewin. “Jamaica's Folk Music.” Yearbook of the International Folk Music Council, 3 (1971), p.16.

16
and gave rise to a new form of artistic expression. With the proclamation of independence came

a committee assigned by the government to organize celebration programs. The people chose the

island’s national symbols, national anthem, flag, and revised motto on the 300-year-old coat-of-

arms. Once written in Latin, the coat of arms now bore the English phrase, “Out of many, one

people,” symbolizing Jamaica’s diverse population: a nation comprised of people of many races

living together in harmony. On Independence Day, the Union Jacks were lowered and the

Jamaican flag was unveiled. The new flag was divided in sections with black on its sides (the

hoist and fly) reflecting hardships, green on its top and bottom, representing land, and a gold

saltire, representing the shining sun. Out of nearly 100 entries submitted in a public contest, the

national anthem, a collaborative effort (with words by Hugh Sherlock and music and

arrangement by Robert Lightboume and Mapletoft Poulle respectively), was chosen. The joy and

pride of the Jamaican people became a cultural mainstay that bled into the people’s daily lives.

Music became a powerful medium used to express such pride and joy, as well as to foster a sense

of identity within the people.

Jamaica’s Afro-Jamaicans have undergone many social changes over the years, wrestling

with the rediscovery of their hidden indigenous roots. European music, given the label of music

worthy of serious study from the colonial archetype shifted to a post-colonial archetype that took

on a more multi-cultural approach and challenged the prominence of European music in Jamaica.

One of the principal ramifications of colonization was an inferiority complex among the

Afro-Jamaicans. Lewin explains the effects of colonization in Jamaica,

Cultural manifestations such as language, religion, methods of

socialization and the creative arts have been greatly influenced, as

the ideas and values of Britain were imposed through both formal

17
and informal education. One negative result of this has been the

development of a belief in the superiority of cultural expressions of

other societies, particularly those of the former colonizers, and the

99
inferiority of the indigenous traditions.

This prevailing attitude of inferiority among Afro-Jamaicans led to the rejection of their

own indigenous culture. In the pre-independence era, Jamaican children were taught British

songs in schools, and indigenous Jamaican folk music was soon replaced by Irish and Scottish

folk melodies. Lewin further explains that

Colonial policies caused Jamaicans not only to be ignorant of their

African past but also to despise sounds, sights, and ideas that did

not synchronize with those of the ruling powers. Children were

taught songs and stories from European countries thousands of

miles away and cultures as far remote. They were beautiful and

interesting, but were presented as though nothing else worthy of

notice existed. No mention of hibiscus, orchid or orange blossom,

doctor bird or firefly. Even after an educational system was

introduced in the nineteenth century, Jamaican children were

taught far more about the “mother country” than about their own

island, a situation which lasted well into the middle of the

twentieth century.

22 Lewin, p.35.
23 Lewin, p.42.

18
Forced to abandon their indigenous culture and with the African culture being denigrated,

Jamaicans were left with an identity crisis. Similarly, Beverley Anderson notes the prevailing

attitudes of Jamaica’s colonial period: “Western European music has been accorded the

unchallenged position of ‘music,’ and the music of other cultures has been accorded inferior

status.”24 Anderson further details the tendencies of Jamaican culture due to a crisis in identity:

The Caribbean is largely politically, economically, and culturally

fragmented, the exception being those areas of culture that are

identified throughout the region as African retentions. The

fragmentation has led to what may be a crisis of identity - the

societies of the region are somewhat uncertain of where they

belong culturally, and unsure of their values. The tendency is to

look for outside models of doing and being.

In recognizing that they did not truly belong to the British culture and that its traditions were

rather being taught to them and enforced, Jamaicans had to fashion a new sense of self in the

years after independence.

With independence came decolonization and the country’s history prompted a strong

desire among Jamaicans to discover their true identity as a people. This desire for identity has

shaped the musical expressions on the island. Rex Nettleford notes that Jamaicans’ self­

perception largely influences their self-expression, “Yet Jamaicans and their Caribbean

counterparts are still perceived by themselves and others as extensions of Europe, historically

24 Anderson and Langley, p. 3.

25 Ibid, p.4.

19
9 f\
speaking. Their actions are seen as ‘responses’ or reactions to the initiatives of Europe.” Colin

Clark echoes this sentiment, as he considers the initial scene in the nation’s capital, Kingston:

When Kingston became capital of independent Jamaica in 1962 it

continued to express a Creole ambivalence. In its spatial

arrangement it was - as it always had been - essentially European;

but its social structure and economic base remained pluralistic and

dependent.. .So Kingston has been, in part, decolonized, not

through a systematic state policy, but rather more casually through

education, the arts, improvements in the quality of urban life

measured by housing - and the sheer absence of whites. However

97
it has also been Americanized.

Decolonization for Jamaica’s capital city meant a new approach to education, an elevated quality

of life, and a change in the arts, namely music. In pre-independent times however, this was not

the case. Jamaica’s education system suffered many years of the abandonment of the folk

culture. Pamela O’Gorman notes the country’s educational history, “For too long our children

have been educated out of their environment to a value system that originates in other countries.

Over the past ten turbulent years in Jamaica, we have realized that the solution to our problems
9J)
has to come from within - not from without.” Suggesting an internal approach to resolving this

dilemma in Jamaica’s education system, O’Gorman recognized the need for Jamaica to remove

the stigma attached to the indigenous tradition and to begin to value its folk culture. Elements of

the folk culture, such as Patois, were greatly discouraged in pre-independent times.

25 Nettleford, p. 60.
27Colin G. Clarke, Decolonizing the Colonial City Urbanization and Stratification in Kingston, Jamaica (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2006), online at http://site.ebrary.com/id/10271536. p. 44; p. 268.
28 O’Gorman, p. 42.

20
Throughout Jamaica’s history, the language Patois has been vilified and rejected and has

been considered the language of those of low estate on the island. Olive Lewin expounds on the

social division created by the British-imposed rejection of Patois and its impact on Jamaican

music:

It was as though there had never been any African, Caribbean or

even Jamaican cultural heritage or creativity.... It was absolutely

taboo to use Jamaican vernacular, the main language of most

Jamaicans... This alone effectively separated those aspiring to

“higher things”, or a “good education” from most of Jamaica’s

own music.29

The ramifications of the condemnation of Patois were such that use of the language divided the

people, thus dividing Jamaican society in their views of music, as music was a carrier of the

language. Despite the dominance of European culture, Lewin further notes that Africanisms

survived in Jamaica:

In spite of neglect and outright rejection by certain levels of

society, the traditional music of Jamaica survived. It was

interwoven with all aspects of everyday life... However, the

middle and upper echelons of society, exposed as they were to the

Eurocentric influences of their education and the effects of colonial

rule, were unaware of the cultural wealth of the music of the

people.30

29 Lewin, p.42.
30 Ibid.

21
As Lewin notes, there is a clear division among classes in Jamaica in their views

regarding the value of Jamaican folk music. Having been a British colony for many years, the

Jamaican folk world has often collided with the British influence on the island today. While

Jamaica’s working class citizens have historically been known for exhibiting a deep sense of

pride in the folk culture, upper-class citizens are content with the view that Jamaica’s folk music

belongs to the working class and that its value is small in comparison with Euro-classical music.

Despite these conflicting views, over time folk music has risen to a higher level of

appreciation with members of the middle and upper classes in Jamaica now appreciating its

richness and inherent ability to foster a sense of national pride. The veil of shame felt for Afro-

Jamaican indigenous culture is being lifted in modern-day Jamaican society, causing many to

become reintroduced to their roots. Breaking class barriers, the powerful Jamaican folksong with

its relatable stories, dialect, rhythms, and melodies, has acted as a unifier for Jamaican society,

allowing the people to identify with the music regardless of their current social status.

Although the perceived shame of Jamaica’s history prevents some from embracing their

roots, many art musicians have sought to use the music of their stolen past as a form of self

expression. In this study, each composer’s hybrid work presents the pulse of Jamaica’s

indigenous folk music. Typical folk instrumentation, folk music styles, and rhythms were

carefully chosen by the composers to give their works a “Jamaican flavor”. To fully comprehend

the hybrid as a whole, an understanding of both of its parts is imperative. These classically-

based works become unique compositions when infused with the elements of Jamaican folk

music.

22
CHAPTER II
FOLK AND ART MUSIC IN JAMAICA

The student o f Jamaican folk music will then become aware, not
only o f the influence o f European folk dance, and music forms
upon the fo lk music o f Jamaica, but will be able to comprehend the
very functional use o f music in the old Afro-Jamaican setting. It
will be found that the time pattern o f English and Scottish dance
tunes was changed by offbeat rhythm and syncopation.31

The folk music of Jamaica conveys the nation’s rich history, bearing the influences of

both African and European culture. Playing such an important role for Jamaican society, it is

imperative that the folksong persevere to maintain the nation’s culture. The dominance of

popular music in Jamaica poses a threat to the folk tradition. Art music composers seem to have

found a solution to this problem in their employment of hybridization. This chapter will trace the

historical influences on the folksong, its various types and will also consider how hybridization

ensures its survival. Art music on the island will also be discussed - its history, and how this

tradition is working to maintain the nation’s folk culture.

Although Jamaica’s reggae music has risen to international acclaim, it was Jamaican folk

music that first received such acclaim. In the mid-twentieth century, Harry Belafonte rose to

fame singing an arrangement of the popular Jamaican folksong “Day O.” This rendition allowed

Jamaican folk music to travel to stages worldwide and gave the island much exposure. With this

movement in the resurgence of folk music, there was also a strong movement in the creation of

popular music which borrowed from the traditional folk music already in existence.

With its wide range of forms, folk music reflects the lives of individuals and communities

in Jamaica. From work songs to play songs; songs for ceremonies such as marriage, birth and

death; songs of hope and songs of despair; songs about everyday life and songs that comment on

31 Ibid, p.332.

23
events in history, the Jamaican folksong allows the singer to express his or her feelings and

allows the listener to gain insight into the life experience of another. Despite a range of

influences on the genre, there is an unmistakable African performance style to all Jamaican

folksongs, a lasting trait from its African origins. Ivy Baxter notes various characteristics of the

music: “ .. .the close relationship between movement, words and music of certain types of West

African singing, especially that which accompanies work, is too well known not to recognize the

profound effects of African song structure upon the development of the Jamaican folksong...”

Jamaican folksongs further reflect their African roots in their use of Patois, improvisation,

derision, and use of the drum despite the law of 1696 that forbade slaves from meeting to sing

accompanied by the drum.

African-Jamaican Beginnings

The early music of slaves in Jamaica, rooted in African tradition, over time became

creolized with the combination of the different traditions of the many African tribes and also the

slaves’ exposure to the European music of their colonizers. Olive Lewin notes the various

purposes that the early music of the slaves served:

Music was a manifestation of basic philosophies, attitudes, and

beliefs and was a vital link with the past from which they had been

forcefully separated. Music also formed a means of

communicating with the cosmic world, and it is likely that the

slaves found their need for communication much greater in their

new, harsh setting. Music was a means of relieving pent-up

emotions, which could and did destroy lesser people. Ritual,

32Ibid, p. 176.

24
ceremonial, and social music are likely to have been the types most

used by them, and these types still carry the greater cultural

weight.33

Many of these purposes of the early music of the slaves may still be seen in modern-day

Jamaican society with ritual, ceremonial and social music still playing a big role in Jamaican

culture.

With the obvious influences of Africa and Europe found in Jamaican folk music, an

understanding of the folksong is necessary in being able to identify which traits belong to which

culture. The types of folksongs - Kumina, Revival, Mento, Work Songs, Ring Games and Play

Songs, each have distinct traits that bear the influences of Africa, Europe or a combination of

them both.

The most African of the Jamaican folk forms is Kumina. This form was shared with

African slaves in Jamaica by newly arriving indentured laborers from the Congo in the mid

1800s. The name Kumina is commonly used to refer to a number of artistic and social practices.

It refers to music, an urban style of drumming, dance and an African religious tradition. Kumina

ceremonies involve the summoning of ancestral spirits and commemorating the dead and often

include hymns called “sankeys”. In this folk form, songs are often sung antiphonally with two

kinds of drums (the kbandu and the cast, upon which players sit) accompanying the dancing and

singing. Other participants play catta sticks or other percussion instruments, each person playing

an independent rhythmic pattern. Kumina became a significant folk style in Jamaica that bridged

the European religious traditions of the nineteenth century with the practices of enslaved

Africans. The blending of the Kumina drumming style with Rastafarian culture resulted in the

33 Ibid, p.43.

25
creation of the nyabinghi drums (discussed in Chapter III). Members of the Rastafarian religion

coined the term “nyabinghi”, meaning “black victory”, and in their ceremonies began to integrate

hymns and psalms adapted from the Christian Sankey Hymnal, yet infused them with true

Rastafarian concepts and rhythms such as the Kumina rhythm, as a way of expressing their

African identity. This bridging of cultures produced new religious practices that may be

prevalently seen in Jamaica’s religion known as Pocomania from the Revival tradition.

Music plays a significant role in the Afro-Christian religion known as Revival. In the

form of Revivalism known as Zion, drums, tambourines and other percussion instruments

accompany the singer. In Pukko, or Pocomania, another form of Revivalism, handclapping and

percussive vocal sounds made by breathing in and out replace the drums and accompany the

singer.

Mento, Jamaica’s indigenous dance style of folk music is a fairly slow music genre

intended to accompany dance, with its 3:3:2 rhythmic pattern. This mid-twentieth century folk

style has a characteristic feature of an accent on the last beat of each measure in 4/4 time. Its

name is derived from the verb, “mentar” which means to “call out” or to “name” in Spanish.

These songs are either humorous or serious and draw upon events of the past and use wit to

spotlight, or “call out” the social ills of the time. Baxter notes how in the music of the mento

style there is a direct correlation with the rhythm of the square-pattern in social dancing. She

suggests that mento’s meter as well as the rhyming scheme of the verses have evolved to

mirroring the movements in partner social dancing - a European tradition adopted by Afro-

Jamaicans. The quadrille, the lancer, and the mazurka - European ballroom dances - became the

bases of popular Jamaican dances both during and after the slavery era. Mento is a hybrid in that

it combines European dance musics with African musical elements and typically sets foreign

26
melodies to the prosodic syncopation of Jamaican Patois. Instruments employed in mento are

commonly the guitar, banjo, rhumba box, and the European fiddle.

The singing of work songs by the slaves served a double purpose: to make the heavy

burden of work seem bearable and to communicate with one another. The majority of work

songs are in the call-and-response form, where the “call” is initiated by a leader or soloist and the

“response” is sung by the group. The leader’s role was to set the pace for the group by calling

out a phrase that established a rhythmic pulse, thus causing the work to become more

manageable. The art of improvisation also sprung from this form since leaders often improvised

new lyrics or melodies to continue the momentum of the work. The rhythm of each song was

fashioned to match the rhythm of the task at hand.

With a distinctively African performance style, ring games and play songs are typically

sung and played by children across the island. Other such instances where ring games and play

songs are performed are the gathering of adults on special moonlit nights or at death ceremonies

such as the “Nine Night” ritual, where games are played to celebrate the life of the deceased.

The form of ring games and play songs can vary significantly as they sometimes take the form of

antiphonal patterns, while at other times they contain verses and choruses or even a single phrase

sung repeatedly.

Rhythm is a key factor in distinguishing one Jamaican folksong from another. Each type

of folksong presents its signature sound with its rhythmic pulse and accentuation. Syncopation is

a prominent feature in Jamaican folk music. Baxter notes the predominance of rhythm in

Jamaican folk music, “Although melodies may vary from modal and West African tonal styles to

adaptations of European hymns, songs, sea-chanties and set dance tunes, in both vocal and

27
instrumental [Jamaican] folk music the strongly marked rhythmic pattern is a notable feature.”34

Baxter’s book farther notes that once in Jamaica, the European folk dance forms eventually

changed, favoring offbeat rhythms and syncopation.

According to scholar and musician Seretse Small, offbeat syncopations enliven a

Jamaican spirit. He notes that Jamaicans love to play with timing, infusing their music with an

intense matrix of rhythm, an ebb and flow of improvisation and a performance practice of

playing either behind or ahead of the beat more than in the music of most other cultures. Reggae

music - with its high hat (on the beat), the bass guitar (exaggerated behind the beat), and the

rhythm guitar (a little ahead of the beat), demonstrates Small’s observation. Small explains

Jamaican rhythm saying, “you simply cannot rush a Jamaican!” In the hands of Jamaican

musicians, rhythm becomes a device to be played with and manipulated in various ways, and the

music is not typically constrained to standard Western rhythmic patterns but rather mirrors its

African roots in its approach to rhythm.

Instrumentation in Jamaican folksongs is a primary feature in communicating the

message and feel of the songs. The drum plays in integral role in Jamaican folk music. Anne

Hickling-Hudson writes: “[drums] have epitomized the Jamaicanization of our arts and

entertainment and have become an all-pervading symbol of the dominant African element in our

culture.”36 The use of African instruments or variations of them pervade Jamaican folk music

and comprise the foundation of the songs.

One popular music genre that has maintained its African musical roots is Reggae.

Reggae music stems from folk music and was bom out of the religion outside of the mainstream

34 Baxter, p. 192.
35 S. Small, personal communication, June 2012.
36 Ann Hickling-Hudson, “Postcolonialism, Hybridity, and transferability: the contribution of Pamela O’Gorman to
music education in the Caribbean.” (Caribbean Journal o f Education, 1 & 2/33 (1991), p. 8.

28
in Jamaica known as Rastafarianism. This Jamaican-born religion is largely based on a deep

connection to African culture. Olive Lewin notes: “The most modem manifestation of African

thought in Jamaica is Rastafarianism although it developed in isolation from traditional

communal roots.”37 Dominating the Jamaican music scene today reggae music has kept folk

traditions alive with its clear folk characteristics. This genre is incorporated into Andrew

Marshall’s chamber opera Hardtalk, discussed in Chapter V.

Although Jamaican folk music embodies clear traits of African culture, the influence of

European culture was present since the creation of the folksong. With the British invasion, the

indigenous music that was created by Afro-Jamaicans also gained European influence. Walter

Jekyll discusses Western music’s creolization within Jamaican folk music,

By far the greater part of these Jamaican tunes and song words

seems to be reminiscences or imitations of European sailors’

‘chanties’ of the modern class; or of trivial British nursery jingles

adapted, as all such jingles became adapted .. .1 have not found

one Jamaican tune which is entirely like any one English or

European tune that I happen to know. But unrecorded folk tunes

TO
are essentially fluid, and pass through endless transformations.

Jekyll’s observations imply that Jamaican folksongs were hybrids from their inception,

since they were sung by Afro-Jamaicans but also highly influenced by the songs of European

sailors. Lewin agrees and writes: "Jamaican music is as varied as the people who inhabit the

island... [M]uch folk music retains features and functions of black African music, blended with

37 Lewin, p. 197.
38 Walter Jekyll, Jamaican Song and Story: Annancy Stories, Digging Sings, Ring Tunes, and Dancing Tunes (New
York: Dover Publications, 1966), p 285.

29
elements of European (primarily British) music.”39 Although using British models (sea chanties

and jingles), Afro-Jamaicans created a music that truly expressed who they were. It was their

adaptations of these models that conveyed their creativity as a people and also communicated

their African traditions.

Folk music in Jamaica has historically been sung and played for many reasons. One such

reason is to give a voice to the island’s working classes, as the songs express the lifestyle of this

class of people, stories of simple joys, friendships, daily tasks, celebrations and hardships. Other

genres of Jamaican music provide the same function, giving a voice to Jamaica’s underprivileged

communities. The select Jamaican composers of this study have sought to create music that

“levels the playing field” - music that places Jamaican folk music on the same level of

appreciation as Euro-classical music and gives a voice to the underprivileged members of

Jamaican society, who have typically been the preservers of the rich folk tradition. These hybrid

pieces have become vehicles through which “low brow” Jamaicans can see and hear expressions

of themselves in works written for the concert stage and also in which listeners accustomed to

Western art music can hear familiar genres but also be exposed to new non-European rhythms,

unfamiliar text, and instrumentation not commonly used in the given Western music genres.

With the many classes represented in Jamaica, Anderson and Langley pose a poignant

question, “Whose voice shall define the values of the nation?40”

39 Olive Lewin & M.G Gordon, “Jamaica.” Grove Music Online / Oxford Music Online, (2007-2011), online at
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
40 Anderson and Langley, p.5.

30
Preservation of the Folk Tradition

Olive Lewin in her observations of working class citizens believes that the low social

status of this class is the reason for their preservation of the folk culture. This view implies that

folk culture is not the most popular nor is it the most prevalent culture in Jamaica, and if one

wishes to explore it, the search may begin with the nation’s lower class citizens who have long

enjoyed its riches.

Not only has this sector of the Jamaican population sought to maintain Jamaica’s

indigenous culture, but the island has traditionally had political leaders who have placed great

value on folk culture and who encourage the development of the arts, viewing Jamaica’s cultural

heritage as the basis for national development. Since Independence, Jamaica has made strides to

protect and preserve the Jamaican folk tradition through government and social initiatives

initiated by the public. Recognizing the need to identify themselves anew, Jamaican artists have

chosen to devote their artistic expression to the preserving of the folk culture.

Traditionally in Jamaican fine arts there has been an emphasis on the expression of the

folk tradition; however this tradition is the most threatened in the music sector. Visual artists

continue to incorporate patterns and images in their works that are based on African heritage and

many poets have attempted to awaken and revitalize folk traditions by creating poems in Patois

that describe everyday life situations in particular regions. Ashamed of a past scarred by slavery,

Jamaicans once denied their background and shunned the lower class citizens who spoke Patois,

rejecting its origins. One poet who made a significant impact on Jamaican culture and caused a

renewed sense of Jamaican identity was Louise Bennett Coverly, affectionately known as “Miss

Lou.” Patois, the once-rejected Creole language of working-class Jamaicans, gained greater

31
esteem through Miss Lou’s poetry. In an interview, Carter Van Pelt quotes reggae musician

Mutabaruka’s sentiments about Miss Lou and the impact that she made on Jamaican culture:

Miss Lou is the keeper of the folk tradition through poetry and
songs in Jamaica. Miss Lou is the one who maintain the language
of the people in the artistic expression of the people. When people
was looking at the Jamaican language as dirty, terrible, Miss Lou
used it in the artistic expression to express the feelings and the
attitudes of the people. She is rightly where she is. She is a hero to
a lot of people. She is one of the women who has kept the African-
ness inside of the Jamaican culture and express it through song and
poetry.. ..to speak like a Jamaican was not accepted in the
Jamaican society. It was not accepted. You were either uneducated
or you was just [considered] stupid to speak that way. Well, Miss
Lou used that language and make it become something of a gem in
the Jamaican society, through her art form.41

Miss Lou used the mediums of poetry and song to instill a new sense of identity in the Jamaican

public. Using the powerful rhetorical devices of irony and wit, Miss Lou also captured the

injustices of colonialism and the faultiness of the class system, painting such pictures through

Patois, and caused Jamaican society to begin to view Patois as an authentic and vital expression

of Jamaican culture. The narratives of African heritage, frequently performed by Bennett-

Coverley, were soon respected and given a degree of prestige in Jamaica because their social

impact helped trace the roots of Jamaican indigenous culture.

From 1970 to 1982, a generation of Jamaican children were raised

watching “Miss Lou” on her popular Ring Ding television show.

Throughout this time, when Jamaica was enduring a profoundly

divisive political period, she unified all and sundry with her huge

smile and insightful depiction of Jamaican life - always with

41Carter Van Pelt, “Mutabaruka: The Ultimate Interview-Part II: Out of the Wilderness.” (1998), online at
http://incolor.inetnebr.com/cvanpelt/muta2.html.

32
humour that removed the sting from even her most penetrating

social commentary. Her enormous talent and persistent pride in

Jamaican culture gained her international fame.42

With Miss Lou’s death in 2006 came the passing of a vibrant figure that helped to shape new

attitudes for Jamaica; fortunately her dream and legacy live on through folk performing

ensembles such as the Carifolk Singers, the Jamaican Folk Singers, the National Dance Theatre

Company, and the University Singers. Despite the popularity of the repertoire of these ensembles

now, it is uncertain what the lasting effect of these performances will be and if the tradition will

continue to flourish in the future.

Legacy

Contrary to the Eurocentric tradition, where music is an autonomous art form, music in

Jamaica is a large part of daily activities. One of the most African traits brought to Jamaica was

the idea of giving life a musical soundtrack. Jamaican slave songs related to everyday tasks and

life activities and served as a way to communicate with one another, tell a story, or share one’s

feelings. The main purpose of folk music in Jamaica was to accompany other activities such as

rituals, work, and dancing. More than the music itself, the words reflected Jamaican

philosophies and also provided an account of significant happenings within particular regions of

the island that resound with the natives. The importance of Jamaican folk music as a valid art

form was not fully recognized until the 1960s, when various initiatives were made to ensure its

preservation,

42Laura Tann, “The Hon. Louise Bennett-Coverley, Aka “Miss Lou”: Jamaica’s Beloved Cultural Icon.” (Made in
Jamaica Catalogue: The Gold Edition. 2010), p. 18, online at http://www.jamaicacatalogue.com.

33
Recognition of Jamaican traditional music as a valid art form has
come about through a number of factors, including a government
initiative in the 1960’s to begin field collections of such music that
was in danger of disappearing. A great deal of work in the
collection and preservation of folk music continued with the
ongoing organized efforts to make field recordings of traditional
and contemporary folksongs, throughout the country, particularly
by such notable scholars as Marjorie Whylie and Dr. Olive Lewin.
Their important work in collecting and interpreting Jamaican folk
music, contributed to the preservation and perpetuation of this
significant area of Jamaican life and culture. Also, the Jamaica
Festival movement has helped to keep some of the traditional
music alive by recognizing and giving a platform to traditional
groups from villages and towns all over the island and also
contributing to field research.43

Such initiatives have contributed to the survival of folk music in Jamaica, as the government and

citizens have realized that a true sense of Jamaican identity can be found in its folk tradition.

Jamaica’s independence in 1962 seems to have fostered a society in which there is a great sense

of pride in the indigenous culture. Lewin describes the post-independence scene in Jamaica: “In

the 1960s and 1970s, nationalism stimulated an interest in indigenous research in some

developing countries.”44 Among the institutions enforcing the study of Jamaica’s folk traditions

in the post-independence era was the Jamaica School of Music. Seretse Small comments that in

1985, the Jamaica School of Music had a great sense of mission and prioritized Jamaican

tradition. At the school, the study of mento was given priority before jazz became a subject of

study and reggae was examined before other genres.

While class continues to divide the island, there is a prevailing sense of nationalism and

pride in all things typically “Jamaican”. Some folk practices, such as the use of Patois, have

been perceived by the upper class as customs of Jamaica’s lower class citizens; however many

43 “Jamaican Folk Music” (The African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica, June 28, 2012), online at
http://www.expeditionjamaica.com/topics/culture-and-religion/item/16-jamaican-folk-music.
44 Lewin, p. 311.

34
Jamaicans now embrace their African roots and make conscious efforts to preserve them. With

the dawn of independence, Jamaicans began to recognize the growing importance of their

African roots and folk traditions. With this recognition also came efforts by the public and also

the government to re-educate the Jamaican people in returning to their roots. The Jamaica

Festival of Arts, founded in 1963 was an initiative by the then Jamaica Labor Party Minister of

Development and Welfare, Edward Seaga, to encourage a new self-expression for the Jamaican

public. The Festival was created with the intention of focusing on elements particular to

Jamaican culture. In addition to blurring socio-economic levels, the Festival was designed to

expose the public to Jamaican creativity and culture. With his ‘Long-term Development Plan for

Jamaica’ (1963-8), Seaga viewed the Festival as an integral part of national development since it

would provide Jamaicans with a new sense of self and re-educate the public on Jamaica’s history

and culture. The festival began in 1963, a year after Jamaica’s independence and Seaga

envisioned it as a way of igniting the spirit of the Jamaican people. Now known as the Jamaica

Cultural Development Commission, the festival incorporates traditions including graphic design,

culinary arts, literature and performance.

Not only have political figures recognized the value of Jamaica’s folk heritage and placed

great importance on this re-education since independence, but the lower class of Jamaican

society has also maintained the folk culture in their daily living.

Jamaica’s lower class citizens have managed to preserve the

indigenous culture “ .. .the social outcast status [of urban and rural

black manual laborers] has allowed this group to retain and

preserve the vibrant and indigenous heritage that has perhaps

sustained and strengthened its members. In spite of attempts to

35
suppress some of their cultural forms, this group somehow

managed to protect and preserve them.45

Though folk music has survived in Jamaica thus far, modernization and industrialization

now pose serious threats to the tradition, as these two movements have caused lifestyle changes

for folksong preservers. With mechanical devices such as vacuums available in Jamaica to assist

with the completion of housework, there is now little need for the stabilizing rhythms that the

work songs perpetuated.

Although current trends suggest the thriving of the folk culture, without set systems in

place to protect the culture, its survival remains threatened. Through hybridization, Jamaica’s art

composers are ensuring the survival of the folk tradition. Noel Dexter’s choral anthem, “Psalm

27,” Peter Ashbourne’s song cycle for high voice and piano, “Fi Mi Love Have Lion Heart,” and

Andrew Marshall’s chamber opera “Hardtalk” will each be analyzed in the succeeding chapters

as hybrid works of socio-political significance. By aligning folk music with a thriving genre such

as Western art music, they preserve Jamaica’s indigenous folk traditions, foster a sense of unity

among classes, and allow the folk tradition to gain international exposure, ultimately inciting

national pride.

Folksongs communicate stories that encourage listeners to reminisce about their personal

connection to the song’s text. Some have direct connections to the content of the folksongs, since

they lived in the regions in which the songs originate. Others remember parents or grandparents

singing the songs to them as children. No matter the connection to the music, taking the folk

music to the higher level of global exposure conjures up a sense of pride in the Jamaican people

45Ibid, p. 36.

36
as they witness their story being told to the world. This music, at one time only aurally

transmitted, can now live longer through a written score and be performed internationally.

Pairing folk music with Euro-classical styles allows the folksong to be brought into

spheres uncommon to folk traditions. If not for hybridization, folksongs - having roots in

slavery, a dialect once considered shameful and only used by the uneducated, and conveying

stories from a rural lifestyle - would not have the opportunity to be performed in concert. Not

only does the hybrid allow for international exposure, but it also contributes to the longevity of

this new tradition. Such hybridization ensures the survival of something that was otherwise

deemed unworthy and not fit for public performance. Now Jamaican folksongs can be studied by

students of all classes, races and cultures in universities worldwide and have much more far-

reaching effects on a global level. The philosophies and the values of the Jamaican people found

in the music are a valuable resource in the discipline of anthropology and the appreciation of

world music.

Now in Jamaica’s post-independence era, musicians can reclaim the Jamaican folksong

that was formerly looked down upon in pre-independence years. Folksongs are now included in

the school curriculum of Jamaican schools, where they were formerly omitted, and are being

performed on the concert stage in Jamaica where audiences can enjoy them. There is a strong

desire among both art and popular musicians on the island to keep the folk music of Jamaica

alive, and relevant. Folk music is being included in the repertoire of Jamaican pop and jazz

musicians and Folk Masses and Jamaican folk hymns are becoming increasingly popular.

Whether on the concert stage, on television product advertisements, or being used by popular and

classical musicians, Jamaican folk melodies and rhythms continue to thrive.

37
ART MUSIC IN JAMAICA: A HYBRID

In the past century Jamaica has experienced a new wave of cultural awareness and musical

expression. Ivy Baxter has noted how Jamaican society uses the fine arts to express and

communicate their reactions to Jamaican life, “.. .the creative arts in the island of Jamaica,

although in their relative infancy and confined to a fairly small portion of the population, reveal

the increase in the depth of an awareness and communicative power of a people who are

undergoing new reactions and a new synthesis in their cultural development.46” It is not new for

the society to use its music as an expression of everyday life; however modern-day life in

Jamaica is being expressed using new forms of music to suit the changing times. Although art

music composers continue to surface in Jamaica and express this culture in new ways, Western

art music has been a long-standing tradition in the nation.

The island was under British rule until 1962, and the British influence in its music has

survived. For more than three centuries Jamaican school-children were taught to sing Irish folk

ballads rather than their own indigenous folk music - which was considered poor taste. Since the

eighteenth century, especially after gaining independence in 1962, Jamaican art composers have

expressed national pride by composing pieces that combine the traditions of their colonial

upbringing with the traditions of their indigenous folk culture.

Samuel Felsted (1743-1802) and Frederic H. Cowen (1852-1935) were two of the first

classical music composers in Jamaica. Felsted composed the first oratorio written in the New

World, titled Jonah, around 1775. The latter half of the eighteenth century is commonly referred

to as the “Jamaican Renaissance,” a time of increased interest in learning, science and elitism;

46 Baxter, p. 365.

38
when art music also flourished. In 1808 John Stewart, a long-time resident on the island, noted

that there had been no theatrical performances for approximately 25 years; however concerts

were prevalent in Jamaica’s capital city. Stewart remarks: “In Kingston, there are occasionally

tolerable concerts, the principal performers in which are French emigrants from St.

Domingo.”47 Not only were the French performing in concert, but their African slaves also

earned a living by performing.

In twenty-first century Jamaican music, the fusion of Western art music with Jamaican

folk music has become a growing phenomenon and is especially prevalent in Kingston.

Although the country is not known for its classical music, the presence of classical music in

Jamaica is great. Ivy Baxter writes:

The climate for classical music in Jamaica has been remarkably

well sustained, especially in Kingston.. .One important music

feature over the past 20 years has been the Lunch Hour Concert, a

free weekly concert sponsored by the Institute of Jamaica.. .Here

new and old choirs, soloists and ensembles appear .

Similarly, in 2012, the 50th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence, there were lectures

and concerts in the capital city Kingston, including the event Reggae Meets Opera, an evening

that took the form of a symposium of art music composers explaining their hybrid works, the

concerts Beethoven Meets Bob, and From Felsted to Marley, both programs featuring the highly

47 Errol Hill, The Jamaican Stage, 1655-1900: Profile of a Colonial Theatre (Amherst, Mass: University of
Massachusetts Press, 1992), online at
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=22394.
48 Baxter, p. 335.

39
contrasting works of Ludwig von Beethoven, Jamaican classical composer Samuel Felsted and

Reggae icon Bob Marley.

Institutions, including the Edna Manley College and Mico University College, both in

Kingston and Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville, offer courses and degrees

specializing in the Western art music tradition. Various performing arts organizations such as

The National Youth Orchestra of Jamaica, the Jamaica Philharmonic Orchestra and the Jamaican

Symphony Orchestra, also continue to uphold the classical music tradition in the island. The

Jamaica Youth Orchestra, a string orchestra, is comprised of students who study at the Edna

Manley College and also in private music schools. Not only are ensembles and institutions

upholding the classical tradition, but many Jamaican composers are similarly writing works

within this genre. Composers are ever writing new art music specifically for the youth orchestra

aiming to produce a sound that is distinctly Jamaican. Jamaican-born composer and violinist,

Paulette Bellamy, seeks to write her Euro-classical music with a “Jamaican sound” through her

rhythms, Oswald Russell in his Jamaican Dances for piano references Jamaican folksongs fusing

them with Euro-classical harmonies, while Noel Dexter composed a suite of Jamaican folksongs

for the Western concert stage, based on traditional religious materials, labeled “Jamaican

Spirituals”, originally written for Jamaican soprano June Thompson.

While genres including reggae, ska, and mento have become some of the nation’s most

popular musical styles, art music composers are also contributing to the Jamaican music scene,

writing little-known works that merit more attention. Three of Jamaican art music composers -

Noel Dexter, Peter Ashbourne and Andrew Marshall - create unique, hybrid works through their

choice of instrumentation, their use of rhythm and the Jamaican Creole language known as

Patois, their chosen subject matter, paired with Euro-classical harmonies, and a Western style of

40
performance. Dexter, Ashbourne and Marshall each specify that their pieces are to be performed

employing Euro-classical singing technique, as opposed to the folk style of singing that one

would typically employ when singing in Patois.

The fusion of these styles is fascinating considering the distinct attitudes Jamaicans have

surrounding both genres. Colonization has left a lingering attitude among some Jamaicans that

Euro-classical music is superior to their own indigenous music and that Western art composers

are superior to Jamaican composers. Some scholars, including folklorist Louise Bennett Coverly,

affectionately known as “Miss Lou,” and musicologist Olive Lewin, have sought to popularize

and elevate the attitudes surrounding Jamaican folk music. While they ask the public to consider

its inherent merit, classical music in Jamaica seems to carry more sophistication and esteem than

the island’s indigenous folk music. Classical composers are viewed as an elite class and the

music itself has become a standard for ‘sophisticated’ music, while Jamaica’s popular and folk

music does not receive the same praise. Rex Nettleford argues that each musical genre has its

own excellent musicians and one genre’s musicians cannot and should not be compared with

those of another:

So Brahms, Beethoven, Bach are declared superior to Marley, the

Mighty Sparrow and Jimmy Cliff. “Serious music” becomes a term

used exclusively on local radio stations to describe the music of

Europe. The “models” continue to be outside of the Caribbean.. ..It

is not a question of whether Mahler is superior to Marley. More to

41
the point is the fact that they have each attained excellence in their

respective genres of musical expression.49

With such attitudes plaguing Jamaican society, pitting cultures against each other through

musical expression, hybridization has become an invaluable resource in its ability to unite the

people of Jamaica.

49 Nettleford, p. 53.

42
CHAPTER III
NOEL DEXTER (b.1938-)

Dexter is a born choral conductor who lives in a world o f pure

vocal sound. To him a choir member is not necessarily someone
who can sing well, but a voice o f singular quality, colour, and
range that will help him achieve a particular choral sound that
exists inside his head... To my mind, the sound he achieves is
neither European nor African but clearly Caribbean (perhaps
more exactly Jamaican).50

In order to produce masterful works, a composer’s musical palette must be rich with a

vast array of colors and hues. The works of Noel Dexter embody such mastery as he is equally

skilled in both Euro-classical and folk music. Choosing to combine the two in the vast majority

of his works, Dexter writes music that is characteristic in its sense of Jamaican identity, as he

often employs Jamaican dialect, rhythms and instrumentation to create a Caribbean feel. This

chapter will discuss his journey and influences as a composer, his hybrid composition, Psalm 27,

and the social implications of his life’s work.

Bom in Portland, Jamaica in 1938, Noel Dexter has become a household name in

Jamaican music. A renowned conductor, pianist, soloist and ethnomusicologist, Dexter was

Director of Music at the University of the West Indies at the Mona Campus from 1977 until

2002, and he continues to serve as an Associate Professor of Music at the university. With

honors such as the Order of Distinction, a national honour from the Government of Jamaica for

his service in the field of music, and the Prime Minister’s Medal in 2003, Dexter has been

recognized as a national icon.

50 Pamela O'Gorman, "From Field to Platform: Jamaican Folk Music in Concert—2,” Jamaica Journal 20 (1987), p.
45.

43
Dexter’s composition career began in 1962, the year of Jamaica’s independence, and his

works have been published world-wide in hymnals, song books, and collections. He graduated

from the University of the West Indies in 1967 with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in sociology,

and went on to receive a Licentiate of Trinity College London, in class music teaching and a

diploma in ethnomusicology and folklore studies. Soon after, Dexter attended summer sessions

at Westminster Choir College in New Jersey and at the Royal College of Church Music in

London, England.

Dexter served as a music teacher and director of the award-winning choir at Ardenne

High School for more than ten years and in 1962 he founded the Youth Fellowship Singers (later

the Kingston Singers). This prestigious choir was made up of young singers from churches

throughout Kingston and became an important part of the music scene for 25 years. The award-

winning choir performed classical, folk, and jazz repertoire, and began to tour internationally,

performing in concerts and winning competitions, thus increasing public awareness to the many

facets of Jamaican music.

The University Singers, another ensemble Dexter has directed, has performed

internationally and has also received critical acclaim. The choir, whose repertoire consists of

Jamaican folk music, Jamaican popular music, and classical music, has entertained heads of state

and royalty visiting Jamaica. Now under the direction of accomplished Jamaican composer and

conductor Franklin Halliburton, the University Singers continue to experience Dexter’s

leadership as acting Musical Director of the ensemble.

Dexter’s religious affiliations are evident in his body of work. Having served as

coordinator for the Caribbean Church Music program of the Caribbean Conference of Churches

in the 1970’s, Dexter composed many of the hymns, songs, and anthems which are widely sung

44
today in both Jamaican churches and worldwide. His Jamaican Folk Mass, and various

arrangements of Biblical psalms and hymns, such as his Psalm 23, Psalm 150, and Psalm 27

have been performed by choirs throughout North America. His hymn “The Right Hand of God,”

1983, with words by musician Patrick Prescod from the island of St. Vincent, is said to be the

most popular hymn from the Anglophone Caribbean and has been included in a number of

church hymnals worldwide. In these post-independence years church music on the island has

become infused with a “Caribbean lilt”, which is a syncopated rhythm Dexter uses in much of

his music, and in particular this hymn, giving the arrangement a distinct Caribbean flavor.

Dexter notes that the hymn was rejected at first, but soon rose to international acclaim. Its early

rejection but later acceptance is an indication of the prevailing attitudes in Jamaica concerning

the fusion of Jamaican rhythms with European hymns. Once hesitant, perhaps due to

unfamiliarity with the new fusion, the Jamaican public is now growing to accept this form of

hybridization, blending African rhythms with the traditional structure of the European hymn.

Dexter confirmed through personal correspondence the desire and effort of Jamaicans put

forth to trace their African roots during the 1960s. He noted that with this effort also came an

upsurge of Jamaican people aiming to create and identify “things Jamaican” and to call them

their own. When the country was under British rule, Afro-Jamaicans did not explore indigenous

artistic expression, but upon gaining independence, a new sense of Jamaican pride began to

swell, causing an exploration of their own indigenous culture.

After 1962, Jamaican identity was being explored by the formation of organizations such

as the Jamaican Dance Theatre Company and the Jamaican Folk Singers. These organizations

became national symbols, tasked with maintaining the folk culture. Dexter notes the emergence

of such ensembles at this pivotal time in Jamaica’s history:

45
In addition to the Jamaican Folk Singers, a number of folk choirs

sprung up in which folk music was moved from the field to the

stage with very artistic arrangements created. While all of this was

going on, there was a strong movement in the creation of popular

music. A lot of this music, the popular music, borrowed from the

traditional folk music which had already existed.51

With the increased popularity of folk music arrangements, Dexter observed that Jamaica’s folk

music began to replace a lot of the pre-existing European-based music for staged performances

in musical theatre. While there was an emphasis on creating new material and a growing sense

of national pride, it took time for English songs to assume a subordinate role in the theatre and

music education. In schools after 1962, Jamaican folk music began being included in the

classroom and music competitions in the country included Jamaican folksongs. Dexter remarks

that at this time research into Jamaica’s folk music traditions began:

We still sang English songs and music education was still focused
on music from overseas. All of the stuff that we used to sing didn’t
go out immediately but there was an emphasis on creating new
material - material of our own. In school, our own music was
included in the classroom, and was given some respect, so there
were competitions in the presentation of traditional Jamaican
music and we started a folk research unit and a memory bank
where we collected songs from old people, songs which would
have been lost, and in art music now, there were one or two
composers who started to write both vocal and instrumental
music.52

With these “lost songs” resurfacing - songs collected through research and from elderly

people familiar with the folk traditions - folk traditions were being rediscovered and

implemented in both secular and religious music.

51 N. Dexter, personal communication, Nov. 2011.

52 Ibid.
Having grown up in British Jamaica, Dexter learned British and Irish songs in school, and

understood that Jamaican life then meant operating and expressing oneself within a British

context - communicating in a way that reflected British culture. He recalls that at the time of his

youth, Jamaican folksongs were not given any respect as they were not considered “proper;”

songs such as “Blue Bells of Scotland”, and other British folksongs and hymns were

incorporated into the curriculum at Jamaican schools. In the post-independence years, however, a

movement began in the Jamaican church that was meant to represent how Afro-Jamaicans felt

about God and how they related to God. New folk expressions surfaced to convey the Jamaican’s

way of communicating with God. This new form of expression meant taking the historic

Eurocentric traditions and incorporating indigenous styles such as adding African beats to hymns

from the Euro-classical tradition, and dressing in African garb when attending religious

ceremonies, as can be seen in the Pukko religious ceremonies. Art music composers began

composing music infused with folk traditions for use in the church.

The majority of Dexter’s works are rooted in church music, a tradition that began with his

first compositions published in the United States in the 1970s, Psalm 150 and Psalm 23.

Composing the pieces at the Ardenne High school in Kingston for the St. Cecelia Festival,

Dexter recalls that the compositions were requested by the director:

Every year the St. Andrew Singers, one of our live-in choirs has a

St. Cecilia Festival, the patron saint of music, and when the

director of that choir, Lloyd Hall asked me to bring the girls and

boys down to sing the two solo parts in Mendelssohn’s “I Waited

47
For the Lord” . . ..he asked me to do something else and I wrote
CO
those two songs as a part of our presentation.

Alongside performances of works by European composers including Felix Mendelssohn, were

performances of Jamaican sacred classically-based works, infused with the Afro-Jamaican

traditions of syncopated rhythms and drumming. Masses and hymns became the dominant forms

for compositions. There was a movement now that was not unique to Jamaica, but involved the

Caribbean at large. Dexter describes the movement:

It was a movement all over the English-speaking Caribbean. The

style of the masses and church music in Jamaica incorporated the
syncopation of our music and the rhythms which people knew in
secular songs, so that we had what were called “folk masses”, and
even a Reggae mass. Olive Lewin was founder of the Jamaican
Folk Singers... .an accomplished musician, having studied at the
Royal School of Music in London in piano, violin and
composition. Her folk mass included our folk melodies. Mapletoft
Poulle who was one of the collaborators in composing the national
anthem of Jamaica, wrote a folk mass and solos as well as
anthems. In addition to the piano accompaniment in these works,
there was drumming and other percussion instruments to give them
a real “Jamaican flavor.”54

This emergence of the “folk mass” in Jamaica began a trend that many church musicians

would follow. Important works in this style include Father Richard Ho Lung’s Caribbean Mass,

Mapletoft Poulle’s Jamaican Folk Mass, Lisa M. Narcisse’s First Jamaican Mento Mass and

Paulette Bellamy and Noel Dexter’s Jamaican Folk Mass, each emerging as masterful works

combining Euro-classical forms with Jamaican folk rhythms and melodies. The Roman Catholic

Church has had a dominant influence on the development of Caribbean classical music within

the choral music genre. The masses of both Mapletoft Poulle (composed between 1970 and

1975), and Father Ho Lung (composed in 1996), - devout members of the Roman Catholic

53 Ibid.
54 Ibid.

48
church - distinctly feature Jamaican musical elements and incorporate popular music styles.

Poulle, asked by Father Ernest Kamath, then Director of the Combined Catholic Choir, to write a

mass using the mento rhythm, wrote a setting of 8 movements: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Offertory,

Sanctus, Pater Noster, Doxology, and Agnus Dei, written for mixed chorus, soprano solo,

dancer(s) if available, keyboard instrument (piano or organ), and conga drum. Ho Lung’s mass, a

setting of 9 movements: Lord Have Mercy, Glory to God, Alle, Alle Alleluia, Holy, Holy, Holy,

Christ Has Died, Amen, Our Father, Peace Be With You, and Lamb of God, is written for mixed

chorus, cantor, piano and conga drum and employs the nyabinghi rhythm, and also reggae and

mento styles for its various movements. With the composition of these artistic arrangements,

Jamaican folk music was moving from the field to the High Church.

Founded in 1973, The “Caribbean Conference of Churches” (CCC), the amalgamation of

churches from the leading denominations in the Caribbean, decided to create a hymnal to

supplement but not replace the foreign hymnals. This continued desire in the Caribbean for self-

identity was reflected in the CCC’s creation of the Caribbean Church Music program. Founded

by Caribbean church music composers Patrick Prescod of St. Vincent, Bro. Pascal Jordon, a

Trinidadian monk, and Noel Dexter, each worked as coordinators collecting music which had

been written by Caribbean composers and hosting workshops to encourage people to compose

more music for the church. The result of their efforts culminated in a song book titled “Sing a

New Song”, a collection of Caribbean hymns and songs. The movement is still alive today and

recently the Anglican church released a new hymnbook of both old and new hymns to replace

the English hymnal “Hymns Ancient and Modem,” which had been unused for some time.

As sacred music was being transformed on the island so was music for the stage as new

works were being written for the Jamaican theatre. Thus, the “National Pantomime,” the main

49
musical theatre production in Jamaica emerged. Not only has Dexter composed music for the

church, but he has also composed music for Jamaican musical theatre, having been musical

director for a number of theatrical productions in Kingston and having composed the music and

lyrics for eight Little Theatre Movement National Pantomimes - Jamaica’s longest surviving

theatre company. Dexter remarked that the Jamaican musical theatre scene in the pre­

independence era was comprised of locally composed works based on folk stories and songs:

Another area of new music is found in the Jamaican theatre. The

main musical in Jamaica is the National Pantomime, which in the

pre-independence period was based on the old English pantomimes

like “Jack and the Beanstalk”. This had been replaced by a

Jamaican musical in which all the theatre music has been locally

composed, from the overture to songs or choruses and solos for the

leads.. .ensemble music - choruses, duets, trios, and quartets. The

script is based on Jamaican folklore or contemporary stories.

Everything is locally composed.55

The birth of the Jamaican Pantomime was a significant development for the country as

Jamaicans could now see their own folk stories presented on the professional stage with

choreographed singing and acting in costumes with props and the backdrop of designed sets.

Whether composing for the church or the theatre, Dexter summarizes the intent behind

the nature of his compositions and perhaps the motives for musical devices used, “All that I have

written has been written for the choirs I lead.”56 His compositions are shaped by the capabilities

55 Ibid
56 Ibid.

50
of the particular ensembles that he directs. His famous choral ensembles, the Kingston Singers

and the University Singers, have held the tradition of singing repertoire of both folk and classical

music. With the choirs familiar with and competent in both genres of music, Dexter has been

able to compose music of both genres for the choirs and has often fused the styles together in his

compositions.

Although often syncretizing musical styles in his works, Dexter has upheld his personal

goal of having his music reflect a typically Jamaican sound. A distinct factor in his music is his

loving dedication to his homeland. In all of his compositions, above all else, he aims at creating a

strong Jamaican tone and atmosphere. When composing, Dexter comments that he is often

inspired by text and it is the text that usually dictates the structure of his arrangements. Once he

realizes how he wants to structure his works, he aims at making them sound very Jamaican. One

of his self-proclaimed challenges in writing music however, is maintaining his unique voice as a

composer. With a plethora of music in existence, he notes that one has to be careful not to

plagiarize the work of another composer. He advises young Jamaican composers who desire to

pay homage to their country by operating within the folk tradition, to make their works as

Jamaican as possible by demonstrating the folk styles by region,

I would advise them to make it [the composition]... .whatever they

do.. .as Jamaican as possible.. .identify it with the region in

Jamaica... .Because there’s so much written, it all sounds alike out

there.. ..To bring something new to the table is one way you can

get it done - try to be as Jamaican as possible.57

57 Ibid.

51
Dexter’s advice reveals his values in composition, highly prizing the Jamaican sound. It

is Jamaica’s folk culture that gives the music its “Jamaican sound”. His works have been

enriched by his in-depth study and accumulation of Jamaican folk music through the Caribbean

Church Music Program. His song book, Mango Time, written in collaboration with Godfrey

Taylor, presents a collection of the melodies of seventy-six transcribed folksongs as well as a

history of Jamaica’s folk music and folksong styles.58 Dexter explained that rhythmic variety is

the most characteristic feature of Jamaican music. Apart from the dialect and melodic devices,

much of what comprises the typical “Jamaican sound” is found in the African-derived Jamaican

rhythms. Dexter notes the current efforts in Jamaica to maintain the “Jamaican sound,”

Currently there is also in Jamaica a Youth Orchestra. It’s a string

orchestra consisting of students who study at the Jamaica School of

Music and in the private music schools. There are people writing

new music for this orchestra for the aim is to produce a sound that

is uniquely Jamaican.59

The post-independence desire to increase the expression of Jamaican folk music is still prevalent

in Jamaica today. Whether in sacred or secular compositions, Jamaican folk music has become a

source of national pride for the Jamaican people. Dexter’s pride in his nationality is evidenced in

his piece Psalm 27, in which he uses a variety of Jamaican folk styles to communicate the song’s

message.

58 Noel Dexter and Godfrey Taylor, Mango Time: Folk Songs of Jamaica (Kingston, Jamaica: Randle, 2007).
59 N. Dexter, personal communication, Nov. 2011.

52
Psalm 27

Dexter’s four-part arrangement of the Biblical scripture Psalm 27 (“The Lord is My Light

and My Salvation”), takes the form of a Euro-classical-Jamaican Folk anthem. Its solo piano

introduction reflects a Euro-classical style in its form and sound, but is soon interrupted by the

beating of the drum, introducing the incorporation of a typically Jamaican sound, with its driving

Afro-Jamaican rhythm. In its lively opening section, there is a common syncopated Jamaican

rhythm from the Pocomania tradition - a ceremonial dance form from the Revival tradition -

which is clearly evident through the rhythmic pulse and form. Anthony Pinn explains the

characteristics of the Revival tradition as evidenced in Dexter’s work:

Revival tradition, including Pocomania...include(s) the familiar

African American lining or call-and-response feature. The

songs, hymns and choruses are often adaptations of spirituals

and Christian hymns...this mode of singing is Africanized with

the accom panim ent of the beating of drums such as the

kettledrum or the bass drum....On the whole, the mode of

singing and worship is lively.60

The syncopated Pocomania rhythm used for the text, “Lord is” is a common rhythmic figure

found in many Jamaican folksongs. (See Figure 1)

Figure 1:

. E* rzab — V - j I--—
*n>— > -- - - 1>—\J 4 - .............. £ 't-
I— r r
* J r- JLoJct !& JujM/ an d my SqJ
. ? ' ... ~f"....... f .......1
- PVn;—'T't*'-------
------------------------------------------- j-------
M— w ..... z'fzzz:
—

60 African American Religious Cultures 2. S-X, Essays (Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-CLIO, 2009).

53
The drum in this piece plays an important role. While it maintains a steady rhythm, the

drum in the opening section creates a mood of jubilance as is suggested by the text. For each

section of the work, the drum sets the tone, shifting in tempo to depict the changing moods of the

text. Judging by the fast tempo and the syncopated rhythms in the chorus, piano, and drums in

the opening section of the piece, a typical Jamaican spirit is notable in the music, as the singers

proclaim their trust in God with the phrase: “The Lord is my Light and my Salvation.” In

keeping with Jamaica’s folk tradition, fermatas in this work are accompanied by drum rolls, a

typical Jamaican folk trait often signifying a transition into a new rhythmic pattern or used as a

suspenseful device.

Not only does a portion of Dexter’s instrumentation convey African roots in the music,

but other African features may be found in the work. The African practice of antiphonal singing,

another Pokomania music feature, is evident in the opening text of the song both for the phrases

“The Lord is my light and my salvation” and also for the text “of whom then...” The male voices

pose the question “of whom then?” and the female voices respond in kind, engaging in a

dialogue (See Figure 2a and 2b). This dialogue between the sexes, a typical Afro-Jamaican folk

music trait, is set by Dexter to a syncopated rhythm, sung antiphonally at the outset of the piece,

but soon shifts to a more homophonic, hymn-like texture when all voices join rhythmically for

the text “the Lord is my Light and My Salvation” (See Figure 2c). As the piece begins to shift in

a new direction for its serious text, this homophonic transition phrase creates a brief contrasting

Euro-classical tone to the piece before the piece returns to adopting a folk-like character. Dexter

masterfully juxtaposes the two genres of music (folk and classical), carefully ensuring that the

flow of the music is not interrupted.

54
This flow of one style into the other suggests a plausible unification of the two genres,

causing the listener to hear their commonalities, rather than their differences. The following B

section is characterized by the Jamaican folk music drumming tradition used for Rastafarian

religious ceremonies known as Nyabinghi drumming. In this section, marked by the text,

“Though an host of men were laid against me, yet my heart shall never be afraid.” and “For in

the time of trouble, He shall hide me, He shall set my feet upon a rock”, the drum once again

plays an integral role in both setting the tone for and conveying the message of the text. Among

the many drumming traditions in Jamaica - this beat pattern best matches the Nyabinghi

drumming tradition of Uganda. This drumming tradition was adopted by the Rastafarian religion.

In early years, the Nyabinghi drumming tradition in Jamaica, signified the summoning of a spirit

to destroy the oppressor. Nyabinghi chants typically include recitation of the Psalms, therefore

setting the Psalm to a Nyabinghi beat pattern is an appropriate compositional technique Dexter

uses. The rhythm Dexter employs in part B, which would typically be played on a set of three

Nyabinghi drums, includes a dominant heart-beat rhythm, played on a Funde61, and a livelier

faster rhythm, a syncopated beat, playing around beats 2 and 4, played on a Repeater62. Although

this East African beat pattern, commonly used in Jamaica for Rastafarian sacred ceremonies, is

employed by Dexter for this piece of Christian orientation it is not uncommon in Jamaican

culture for composers of particular religious traditions to pay tribute to other religious folk

traditions in their works.

61 the middle dram in a set of three Nyabinghi drums. A dominant heartbeat rhythm is established by this drum as
the player applies steady, dampened strokes on beats 1 and 3.
62 also known as the keteh. This is the smallest and highest pitched drum. The player tends to play a syncopated
rhythm around beats 2 and 4. This drum is commonly known as the drum that carries the spirit of the music.

55
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56
The text of a song truly dictates Dexter’s musical settings, as we see the dynamic shifts

and direction of his melodic lines working in accordance with the text. In this B section Dexter

carefully sets the chorus behind the soloist to a beautiful sotto voce dynamic, supporting the

soprano soloist and allowing her melody to soar above the chorus with her hope-filled

declaration - “For in the time of trouble, He shall hide me, He shall set my feet upon a rock.”

Among the Euro-classical traits of the work is Dexter’s choice of language for the piece.

Dexter chose to set the Psalm to Standard English rather than the Jamaican Creole language,

Patois. This choice, combined with the piece’s Jamaican folk traits creates an interesting hybrid

with the folk music styles communicated through the English language. The piece concludes

with a melodic line that mirrors a Euro-classical anthem with its homophonic texture (See Figure

3); however the fusion of Euro-classical texture with Jamaican folk rhythms is evident in the

final bars of the piece, as the drum playing a syncopated Pocomania rhythm, accompanies this

Euro-classical anthem, concluding the song together.

Figure 3:
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While remaining loyal to Jamaican folk traditions, Dexter composes music in the

Western art music tradition that tells a story from a Jamaican perspective. In listening to his

57
music, there is no doubt that his intension is to create a Jamaican sound; however, he

simultaneously operates within the Euro-classical tradition in his use of forms, musical language

and the style in which he trains his singers. Producing choirs of classically-trained singers, the

expectation of employing classical technique is the same whether singing his Jamaican folksong

arrangements or his Euro-classical art music.

Dexter’s choral works, always written for the choirs he conducts, are characterized by

rich harmonies, a rhythmic drive, the “Caribbean lilt”, and a melodic line that truly conveys the

text. The hybrid seen in Psalm 27 serves many social purposes beyond its musical merits. This

work acts as a preserver of Jamaica’s folk culture in its quotation of Jamaican rhythms and

instrumentation within the setting of a Euro-classical, piano-vocal anthem. Dexter’s placement of

these folk elements into a classical form ensures the longevity of folk music as it is now housed

in a universal genre, where it may be performed internationally. This fusion furthermore unites

the upper and lower-class members of Jamaican society by exposing each class to the music of

the other, thus allowing for an appreciation of the music of another. Personal observances of

concerts in which his music is being performed have shown this integration of classes, as

Dexter’s audiences are often comprised of people from various backgrounds. Dexter has the

power to stretch beyond social, racial and political boundaries by his ability to express the heart

of Jamaica’s two dominant cultures - European and African, in his music.

58
CHAPTER IV
PETER ASHBOURNE (b.1950-)

Peter Ashbourne is the most versatile o f the younger generation o f

composers born and living in Jamaica. One o f his recent works,

Mikey, a reggae opera, displays his innovative approach to

composition63

The following chapter discusses the life and works of Peter Ashbourne, detailing the

elements of his upbringing that have influenced his music. His song cycle “Fi Mi Love Have

Lion Heart,” for soprano and piano, will be considered as a model of his use of hybridization.

Ashbourne masterfully takes five Jamaican folksongs with syncopated rhythms and sets them to

Western harmonies, textures and forms while maintaining the spirit of the folksong. Constantly

flirting with atonality in his accompaniments, Ashbourne brings a complexity to the pieces that

further allows the listener to not only interpret the story being told by the melodic line but also

the accompanying story being told by the piano’s melodies.

Recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Music in 2004, composer,

arranger, musical director, and performer, Peter Ashbourne, attended the University of the West

Indies in Kingston, the Jamaica School of Music, and Berklee College of Music in Boston, where

he received his Bachelor of Music degree in composition. An accomplished pianist and violinist

Ashbourne also holds a Licentiate Royal Schools of Music diploma in violin performance. At

26, he began teaching in the Jazz Department at the Jamaica School of Music.

63 P. Ashbourne, personal communication, May 6, 2011 - Gangelhoff

59
Among the many influences for his works, Ashbourne was intrigued by violin virtuoso,

composer, arranger, and pianist Jascha Heifetz, and his arrangement of Camille Saint-Saens’

“The Swan.” Heifetz changed harmonies when transcribing the piece for violin and piano which

attracted Ashbourne’s attention and he became interested in similar compositions. Ashbourne

began to focus on compositions at age 11 and was not only influenced by art music, but also

popular music recalling the influence that Bert Bacarach had on his style. He details the varied

styles that influence his compositions:

.. .melodies.. .that has turned out to be one of my “gifts,” one of

my abilities.. .if you make a melody that people can sing then you

are worth it - the snobbery of art music - but it has stood me in

good stead. By the time I was about 15...I decided that I wanted to

write. I discovered that I could write melodies and then I got

interesting in chords and chord progressions.. .the pop music thing

was coming in there. I was greatly influenced by Bert Bacarac, the

quirkiest pop song composer ever.. .you can imagine in Jamaica

where either you are sort of middle class and you play Schubert

and Schumann and a little bit of Bach and maybe some Beethoven,

or you play pop music and you don’t read music or anything, or

you work in the army, the army band and you operate a machine

and make sound. I started writing charts...arrangements.64

64 P. Ashbourne, personal communication, June 2012.

60
While his sense of harmony was influenced by Western styles, his love for the Jamaican

folksong developed during his years working with cultural icon Louise Bennett, Miss Lou, on the

Jamaican Pantomime scene. The wide variety of folksongs in Miss Lou’s possession and the rich

culture found within them fascinated Ashbourne,

Jamaica is a small island in the Caribbean basin that is remarkably

rich in folk material. The quality and quantity are both impressive.

[This richness helps to explain] why I want to examine this folk

tradition [as a] resource. Some very interesting music can result

when these tuneful, mostly diatonic melodies are subjected to

various compositional techniques. The tonal basis of this

traditional music can be conveniently integrated with my current

approach to the musical poles of tonality and atonality.65

Preserving the indigenous music of Jamaica became important to Ashbourne early in his

career as a composer. He explains that the reason why he revived the Jamaican folksong was

that he started a string quartet in the 80s and wanted to write folk arrangements for the quartet.

Recognizing the desire of the public to hear Jamaican folk music, Ashbourne began to devote

much of his compositions to the folk tradition. Although operating in a style that was desirable to

the public, he still encountered conflicting attitudes.

At some point some years ago I decided that I was going to as

much as possible make my art music be based on the Jamaican
cultural identity. What I am is a composer.. .yet when I do
something with a Jamaican thing, it is easier to have it
accepted... .On the other hand I remember I wrote a little Suite for
string quartet that uses a folk melody.. .and how I use the melody
is a point of departure.. .and I asked a friend of mine, and he said
“yes it was nice, but it’s a pity you didn’t write it”. . .somehow it’s

65 P. Ashbourne, personal communication, May 6, 2011 - Gangelhoff

61
because I used a Jamaican folksong, it’s not original. You have
some peculiar attitudes, some interesting attitudes.66

While some may think such compositions to be unoriginal, Ashbourne’s use of folk

melodies as a point of departure rather allows him to take the familiar and add the unfamiliar to

it, so that the song becomes new with a new texture, harmony and form. Despite various attitudes

surrounding his folk compositions, Ashbourne remains fascinated with the Jamaican folksong

and marvels at the vast array of folksongs in existence. It is this fascination that has caused him

to reinforce the Jamaican value of preserving the folk tradition.

Ashbourne’s work includes countless compositions for the Jamaica Musical Theatre

Company and the Little Theatre Movement pantomime shows (Jamaican musicals), as well as

commissions for the National Dance Theatre Company. His instrumental and choral

compositions include commissions for choir, symphonic wind ensembles, chamber orchestra,

chamber groups, as well as instrumental and vocal solos. A multi-faceted musician for over 30

years Ashbourne has also been one of Jamaica’s leading composer-arrangers of commercial

music, producing the music for many advertising campaigns, composing over 700 commercial

jingles, and winning numerous awards for his projects. As a film and television composer, he

produced the soundtrack for docu-dramas, feature films, and the theme and incidental music for

Jamaica’s most popular television soap opera, Royal Palm Estate.

As a prolific performer, Ashbourne has played both violin and piano in solo and

ensemble capacities as leader of the Pimento Ensemble, a classical chamber group and founding

member of MUSICA XAYMACA, the Jamaican Chamber Music Group. Ashbourne’s eclectic

66 Ibid, June 2012.

62
experience has placed him in the company of iconic popular musicians, playing for artists such

as Bob Marley and Paul Simon.

Ashbourne’s works often start with a tonal center, but later begin to experiment with

atonality. It was this atonal approach that Ashbourne used for his art song cycle, Fi Mi Love

Have Lion Heart. Here, he chose to leave the melodic structure of the folksongs intact and to

provide interest with the chord changes that surround the melodies.

Experimenting with various musical devices, Ashbourne notes his struggle in composing

art music in Jamaica, where there is no clear model from which a composer may work. He

comments that it is very difficult to measure how far one can experiment with one’s music in

Jamaica and suggests that art music composers in Jamaica must invent a standard for themselves,

and at times face failure in the work’s appeal for the Jamaican audience. Ashbourne has learned

when to experiment and when to conform to society’s ideals in his works, admitting that he is not

very adventurous with his compositions, since the Jamaican public has not been known to

appreciate great degrees of atonality. Jamaican society rather embraces melodies that can be

easily reproduced and that are pleasing to the ear. This factor has limited his compositions to a

degree since his experimentation with atonality could be greater if his audience was in support of

such music. Regardless, his restraint has not diminished his artistry.

I’m almost sure, that at least on a regular basis, that doing ‘bubble
and squeak’ is not going to work... .1 don’t have the luxury of
writing that music very often, the experiment where you’re trying
this and you’re trying that and you’re using this new
technique.. .that’s one of the things that has colored this project
that I’m doing, this opera thing [“Mikey”]. First of all it’s difficult
to get the balance right. It’s hard to make decisions and that’s the
problem here, it’s .. ..‘what do I write’ which I suppose is every
composer’s problem.. .I’ve spent my entire life, especially with
pop music, being told that my music is too experimental.. .67

67 P. Ashbourne, personal communication, June 2012.

63
Asked by Olive Lewin to write an essay about writing art music in a third world country,

though he has not yet written the essay, Ashbourne points out the obstacles faced by the art

music composer in Jamaica. Labeling Jamaica as “a dot in the ocean”, Ashbourne remarks that

writing art music in this dot is a challenge as the public does not truly understand nor widely

appreciate the art form. Globally, Jamaica is best known for its popular music and parochialism

in Jamaica tends to stifle new innovations in music. He notes the esteem given to popular music

in Jamaica and the challenge this attitude presents in a nation that tends to neglect the art form in

which he is operating. Because of such attitudes art music composers in Jamaica receive very

little financial support, and sponsored training. Ashbourne further comments that Jamaica does

not run on content but rather on form.

Despite such ever-present obstacles for Ashbourne, he continues to marvel at his survival

as an art musician in Jamaica.

Do you realize what I’m trying to do? I’m trying to operate as a

professional musician in a dot in the ocean. A dot in the ocean

usually has the classic thing of not a very highly developed cultural

identity and it’s derived and it’s backward and here am I in this

place and every year that I survive, I marvel at it.68

Ashbourne notes the prevailing attitudes of colonialism in Jamaica, with the nation’s citizens still

valuing the opinions of the European culture above their own. Having rejected a job offer to

teach at Berklee University to return to Jamaica and teach at the Jamaica School of Music, he

noted that this decision made him unsuccessful in the public eye. Ashbourne sees himself as a

“prophet without honor”, one whose efforts are not acknowledged by his fellow countrymen as

68 Ibid.

64
the public has failed to recognize his talent, choosing to believe that his return to Jamaican

signifies failure. Another stifling attitude in Jamaica is the country’s desire for validation by

outside sources, preferably European. Ashbourne laments that Jamaica’s inferiority complex

still exists in that his works are not considered to be of any worth until they are validated by

someone of European descent.

Ashbourne has overcome many obstacles as a Jamaican art music composer and has

struggled with various perceptions from the non-Jamaican public who perceive Jamaica as an

island where no “serious” compositions are written. He states, “This is another thing about being

in Jamaica and writing music at the level that I write - outside of Jamaica nobody takes it

seriously because you’re from the islands. It’s an island song.”69 His wife, Rosina Moder,

confirms that such attitudes from non-Jamaicans have existed in the past, as she notes the timely

premiere of his reggae opera, in a time where fusion is beginning to be accepted and desired.

However, she argues that such prejudice against Jamaicans is outdated since times have changed,

and there is now room for Ashbourne’s works. This perceived wrongful judgment by non-

Jamaicans often prevents the popularity of Jamaican art composers; however with a commitment

to the global performances of these works, attitudes may change.

Hybridization brings about such change. Ashbourne has used it for its inherent ability to

expand the perspectives of the Jamaican people and the world by showing the music of disparate

cultures functioning together within a single work. His fascination for hybridization is evidenced

in the Art Music and Reggae Workshop that he gave at the University of Music and Dramatic

Arts in Graz, Austria in 1986 and the June 2012 lecture he gave on the nature of opera and its

fusion with popular music in his reggae opera, Mikey, at the Edna Manley College in Kingston at

69Ibid.
65
an event entitled, “Reggae Goes Opera.” The elements found in his reggae opera are reminiscent

of those found in his song cycle Fi Mi Love Have Lion Heart, for soprano and piano.

Fi Mi Love Have Lion Heart

Ashbourne’s five-song cycle, Fi Mi Love Have Lion Heart, for soprano and piano, was

written in 2005. This hybrid work is an art music song cycle with Jamaican Patois as its dialect,

Jamaican folksongs as its content, and Jamaican rhythmic patterns throughout. The harmony and

chord progressions however, may be considered Euro-classical and add a certain complexity to

the standard Jamaican folk melodies. These arrangements each present a hybrid in combining

Jamaicanisms with Euro-classical harmony, form and compositional techniques. Tonality was

particularly important to Ashbourne, who crafted his work to contain tonal and atonal aspects

with harmonies that shift in between. This compositional approach is clearly evident in the

pieces as the accompaniment often includes a right hand melody that is tonal and at first

recognizable to the ear, but it later obscured by the left hand’s atonality. There is a wonderful

interweaving and interplay between tonality and atonality throughout the cycle and the listener

can enjoy the push-and-pull tension of the two in accordance with the text.

Ashbourne sets the text well by employing heightened atonal harmonies and melodic

lines for particularly tense or morose moments in the poetry, and shifts to brighter, more clearly

tonal melodic lines for particularly happier moments. Each song introduction contains hints at

the prevailing melody of the adapted folksong; however Ashbourne masterfully weaves the folk

melody into short vignettes that tell their own story before the singer begins to sing, setting the

stage for the grand story to be told (See Figure 4). The piano plays an integral role in this cycle,

not merely as an accompaniment but rather as an artistic partner with the soloist creating

onomatopoeic moments and conveying images that the singer may not be able to communicate,

66
thus enhancing the stories. The piano often provides sound effects to certain words being sung or

the sonic expression of emotion after a phrase. This compositional technique may be seen in

“Liza,” where after the phrase “wata come a mi eye” is sung, the piano expresses the feeling of

tears flowing through a descending chromatic line (See Figure 5).

Figure 4: “Banyan Tree,” mm. 1-5

Figure 5: “Liza,” mm. 12-13

•J-*-
w t-fe r a me eye.

The pieces, “Long Time Gal,” “Liza,” “Banyan Tree,” “Fi Mi Love Have Lion Heart,”

and “Nobody’s Business,” are not connected to one another in terms of content, but they

represent an aspect of Jamaican culture and lifestyle. Ashbourne commented that the works

selected are some of his favourites from the plethora of Jamaican folksongs.

67
The range of emotions captured by these pieces certainly captures the interest of the

listening audience, as in “Nobody’s Business” is a gossip tale that quickly turns to a catty

shunning of the audience by the singer, who relishes in her life’s decisions and refuses to let the

outside world judge them. “Fi Mi Love Have Lion Heart” tells of a lover’s devotion to another,

vowing everlasting love. “Banyan Tree” speaks of a couple singing and dancing at a moonlit

night festivity under the covering of a Banyan tree, a large tree with hanging roots where lovers

typically meet. “Liza” is a sad account of the singer missing a loved one, Liza, and upon each

remembrance of her, begins to cry. “Long Time Gal” conveys the joy of becoming reacquainted

with a friend who has been away for a long period of time.

“Long Time Gal”

In the piano accompaniment to “Long Time Gal”, Ashbourne writes a mento rhythm in the left-

hand accompaniment which repeats throughout. In the right hand he writes a melody reminiscent

of minimalist music in its trance-like rhythmic pulse (See Figure 6). The combination of this

twentieth-century art music style paired with the singer’s syncopated Jamaican folk rhythms and

the text in Patois creates a fascinating hybrid. The thought communicated by the piece is one of

surprise and excitement, as the singer marvels at the improbable re-acquaintance with a friend.

Long Time Gal Long Time, Girl

Dis long time gal mi neva si yuh, It’s been a long time, girl, since I’ve seen you,

Come mek mi h oi’you han ’ Come let me hold your hand

Peel headjohn crow siddung pon di tree top, The bald-headed crow sits upon the tree top

Pick o ff di blossom, And picks off the blossom

Mek mi hoi ’you han ’, gal mek mi hoi ’you han Let me hold your hand, girl, let me hold your hand.

Dis long time gal mi neva si yuh, It’s been a long time, girl, since I’ve seen you,

68
Come mek wi walk an talk. Come let us walk and talk.

Peel headjohn crow siddung pan di tree top, The bald-headed crow sits upon the tree top

Pick o ff di blossom, And picks off the blossom,

Mek wi walk an talk gal, mek wi walk an talk. Let us walk and talk, girl, let us walk and talk.

Mek wi wheel an tun till wi tumble dung, Let us turn around til we tumble down

Mek mi hoi ’yuh han ’ gal Let me hold your hand, girl.

Figure 6: “Long Time Gal,” mm. 1-4

“John Crows” (the name for crows in Jamaica,) are carnivorous, so it is highly unlikely that one

would eat a blossom from a tree. The text, “peel head John Crow, si’ dung pon tree top, pick off

69
di blossom”, signifies that it has been so long and so much time has passed that the impossible is

happening.

The right hand piano accompaniment begins on its own for the verse whose central

message is “come mek mi hoi’ yu han’”, and is soon joined by the left hand accompaniment for

the text “come mek we walk and talk”, the two piano lines joining as if to symbolize the joining

hands of two individuals as they walk and talk. (See Figure 7). Ashbourne not only eventually

melds the two lines of the accompaniment together at this fitting point in the piece, but he also

weaves the two genres together by joining Patois and the syncopated rhythm of the vocal line

with a chromatic minimalist accompaniment. Two worlds colliding in this piece creates a certain

audible tension that creates a dramatic interest in the composition.

Figure 7: “Long Time Gal,” mm. 9-12

70
A certain degree of Mickey Mousing is used for the text “mek we wheel an tun til we

tumble down,” as we hear the accompaniment’s bass rising and falling to signify this movement.

(See Figure 8).

A notable upward glissando and a prominent key change in bars 23-24 creates a dynamic

effect. These two devices introduce the listener to the next level of text. While the opening verse

suggests utter surprise at the encounter of the friends, the second verse suggests a dialogue about

to begin - the moment where the friends begin to “catch up” with each other, requiring a more

intimate musical setting. Ashbourne sets the stage for this by a softer dynamic and a lowering of

the pitch as if gossip is about to be spread. The upward glissando suggests an outburst of

happiness by one friend marveling at the encounter, as she sings “This long time gal me neva see

youV’

Figure 8: “Long Time Gal,” mm. 37-40.

Mezzo

39 mf
M ezzo
£ &
til we tum-ble dung___mek me liol’ yu han gal____ Mek we wheel an ton*
19
£

71
“Liza”

This folksong is a lament for a woman named Liza, whose presence is missed by her loved ones.

Since families were commonly separated during the early years of slavery, this song may suggest

separation from a daughter, sister, or friend either in death or in migration to another plantation.

Regardless of the exact meaning, a great sense of loss is communicated by the musical

interpretation of the text.

Liza Liza

Ev ’ry time me ‘memba Liza, Every time I remember Liza,

Water come a mi eye. I start to cry (water comes to my eye).

When mi ‘memba mi nice gal Liza, When I remember my nice girl, Liza,

Water come a mi eye. I start to cry (water comes to my eye).

Oh, come back Liza, come back gal, Oh come back Liza, come back, girl,

Water come a mi eye. I start to cry (water comes to my eye).

When mi look upon Sarah daughter, When I look upon Sarah’s daughter

When mi look upon Vie When I look upon Vie

And mi memba mi nice gal Liza, And I remember my nice girl, Liza,

Water come a mi eye. I start to cry (water comes to my eye).

Come back Liza, come back gal. Come back Liza, come back, girl.

Dry the cry from mi eye. Dry the tears from my eye.

Come back Liza come back gal, Come back Liza, come back girl,

Water come a mi eye. I start to cry (water comes to my eye).

72
Ashbourne sets the melody at an interval of a perfect fourth above the initial melody line in the

second stanza to heighten the dramatic intent behind the text. This verse becomes an outcry by

the singer of mourning and loss. In the opening bars of the piece, Ashbourne uses a descending

chromatic line in the left hand to create a vivid picture of the tears falling from the singer’s eye,

even before the text is sung (See Figure 9). The fermata on the word “Liza” in bar 46 (See

Figure 10), also contributes to this outpouring of emotion. This rising interval communicates a

cry sung with abandon at the helplessness felt by the singer in his/her inability to bring Liza

back.

Figure 9: “Liza,” mm. 1-5

slow ly and expressively PETER ASHBOURNE

Mezzo Soprano

Piano

Figure 10: “Liza,” mm. 45-48.

73
“Banyan Tree”

The European influence on this folksong is clearly evident by the initial meter, a waltz

rhythm, as well as the text where the Patois is interrupted by the words “curtsy” and “bow,” from

British tradition.

Banyan Tree Banyan Tree

Moonshine tonight, The moon is shining tonight,

Come mek we dance and sing Come let us dance and sing

Mi deh rock so, you deh rock so I rock this way, you rock that way,

under Banyan tree under Banyan tree.

Ladies mek curtsy, gentleman mek bow Ladies curtsy, gentlemen bow,

Ladies mek courtsy, gentleman mek bow Ladies curtsy, gentlemen bow,

Mi deh rock so, you deh rock so I rock this way, you rock that way,

under Banyan tree under Banyan tree.

Den we join hands Then we’ll join hands

an ’ dance aroun ’ and roun ’ and dance around and around

Den we join hands Then we’ll join hands

an ’ dance aroun ’ and roun ’ and dance around and around

Mi deh rock so, you deh rock so I rock this way, you rock that way,

under Banyan tree under Banyan tree.

74
The piece begins with a fanciful grandiose waltz, a European dance (See Figure 4), which is then

joined by a simpler-sounding waltz ushering in the vocal entry. Traditionally, this folksong has

been performed in either the mento rhythmic style or the European waltz style. Rather than

selecting one tradition over the other, Ashbourne incorporates them both in the piece.

Experimenting with the alternation between the duple and triple meter traditions, the

incorporation of both meters in the piece pays tribute to both versions of the folksong. Noel

Dexter and Godfrey Taylor in their book “Mango Time” note this tradition, “The rhythm of the
70
song [Banyan Tree] may vary from Afrocentric, as in mento, to Eurocentric as in the waltz.”

Some favor the mento rhythmic version while others favor the waltz. The initial text

“moonshine tonight, come mek wi dance an’ sing”, and “ladies mek curtsy, gentlemen mek

bow”, is set to a straight-laced, “sophisticated-sounding” waltz rhythm that is soon interrupted by

a change in meter for the text “Den wi join hands and dance around and roun”. This stanza is set

to quadruple meter in mento style, to depict the dancing of the couple in the song. Word painting

is evident for the text “mi deh rock so, you deh rock so”, with the slurring of the melody in the

accompaniment, suggesting the “rocking” of the body in the dance (See Figure 11). Ashbourne

skillfully brings the piece back to the waltz in the concluding bars so as to unify the piece with

its two contrasting meters. This balancing between the two rhythmic styles is an indication of

Ashbourne’s experimentation with the concept of the Euro-classical-Jamaican folk hybrid in one

work, and how well the two rhythmic styles can work together.

70 Dexter and Taylor, p. 17.

75
Figure 11: “Banyan Tree,” mm. 51-59
a little faster, rliytlimically

^■■82
y .■ | I, — 1 | wm ---------------1 , i ...................... |

* Ms cseh sock ?©, you <kh rock :>o, ua - der 3sn - ya»

■■/■F-t.......... I ------------------ 1-------- 1------

r.,. __3 i ~ ^ y \ * J * * *

k K
..... | 4" '
l - i ■ - T * ■ = = ^ ---1 .. J A
w
0 0 A.

“Fi Mi Love Have Lion H eart”

Ashbourne begins this piece with a chromatic fragmented melodic line; however the

piano assumes a supportive role to the voice in a predominantly tonal accompaniment, which

allows the singer’s text and melody to become the primary focus of the piece. Thus the sentiment

of the piece, that the singer’s love is as strong as a lion and will never die, can then clearly be

expressed. The accompaniment also mimics the sentiments of the text in select moments such as

for the phrase “only fi yu”, where the piano draws attention to single melodic line, suggesting the

singer’s singular focus. The opening a cappella bars for the vocalist further draw attention to the

text. (See Figure 12).

Figure 12: “Fi Mi Love Have Lion Heart,” mm. 6-10

76
The dramatic climax of the piece is made known by the surge in dynamics and tone color

with the twice repeated text “Fi mi love have Lion Heart.” (See Figure 13)

Fi Mi Love Have Lion Heart My Love Has a Lion’s Heart

Fi mi love have lion heart, My love has a lion’s heart

Strong and everlasting only f i yu. Strong and everlasting only for you.

Fi mi love will never done, My love will never end,

Shining like the sunshine only fi yu. Shining like the sunshine only for you.

I f we part and never meet again, If we part and never meet again,

Though we part and never meet again, Though we part and never meet again,

Fi mi love is like a king a reign, My love is like a reigning king,

Strong and everlasting only fi yu. Strong and everlasting only for you.

Figure 13: “Fi Mi Love Have Lion Heart,” mm. 40-49

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11
Ashbourne describes this piece as the piece that is the furthest away from tonality of all

the songs in the cycle - the one where tonality is stretched. Since the melody and text are simple

Ashbourne desired to create interest by experimenting with atonality and chromaticism. He

remarks, “by the time I got to this one [Fi mi love] I said to myself, . .how can I do this

without it sounding like another ordinary version?’” This is a little bit of pushing the envelope a
71
little.. .using the original tune in fragments to do new things and keep the interest alive.”

Atonality, a twentieth century Western art music trait, is combined in this piece with a simple

folk melody in Jamaican Patois. This hybridization shows Ashbourne’s desire to blend adverse

musical devices, and as a result heighten the impact of each singular device.

“Nobody’s Business”

The opening bars of “Nobody’s Business” adopt a sound reminiscent of the ragtime

music style. Ashbourne leaves the verses unaccompanied with only single chords on the

downbeats of each line. (See Figure 14)

The full accompaniment appears on the line “nobody’s business but him (she, mi) own,”

thus allowing the text given in the first two of the three phrases of each verse prominence. This

scarceness of accompaniment by Ashbourne allows a clear delivery of the text for the singer and

a clear understanding for the listening audience. Written in AA’B rhyme scheme, in this piece

the text is meant to be spoken more than sung. This allows the audience to hear the humorous

text before joining in on the B line of each verse and the following chorus. This AA’B form

mirrors the African-derived call and response in that a leader may call out the two A lines and

the group may respond with the B line. The Ragtime feel in conjunction with chromatic fillers,

71 P. Ashbourne telephone interview with composer, 7 January, 2009 - Byron Gordon

78
the Patois story-telling and the typical Jamaican rhythm in the vocal melody, reinforces the

hybrid style.

Nobody’s Business (but me own) Nobody’s Business (but my own)

Solomon granpa gawn a Ecuador, Solomon’s grandpa went to Ecuador

L e f him wife an pickney out a door Left his wife and children outside

Nobody’s business but him own. It’s nobody’s business but his own.

Solomon granma swear she naw go beg, Solomon’s grandma swears she is not going to beg

Tief weh all bra ’Sammy fowl an egg She stole all of brother Sammy’s chickens and eggs,

Nobody’s business but she own. It’s nobody’s business but her own.

Nobody’s business, business, Nobody’s business, business,

Nobody’s business but me own. Nobody’s business but my own.

I f ah married to a Nayga man, If I was married to a Negro man,

An ’ ah le f him fo r a Chiney man. And I left him for a Chinese man,

Nobody’s business but me own Nobody’s business but my own.

I f me even old like Taggoram, If I’m even old like an old ram goat

An ’ me wan ’f i pose as twenty-one And I want to pretend I’m twenty-one,

Nobody’s business but me own It’s nobody’s business but my own.

Ashbourne’s cycle with its blend of well-known Jamaican folksongs and Euro-classical

harmonic devices, texture, and form, effectively communicates the essence of Jamaican culture.

His experimentation with dissonance and atonality does not obscur the nuances of the folk

melodies and the messages that they communicate. Rather than subtracting from the original

intent of the folksong, Ashbourne’s compositions rather heighten the meaning of the text through

79
his accompaniments that often use word painting. The text of a folksong is the main carrier of its

essence and the music supports the text. Knowing this, Ashbourne’s harmonies enhance the tone

colors of each piece and establish the mood, allowing for various responses in the listener with

each changing subject matter.

Augmenting his chords with dissonances, the listener’s attention is drawn to the text and

the meaning behind the harmonic choices, which enhances the meaning of the text.

Each song’s meter is in direct relation to the text. Ashbourne maintains the original meter

of each folksong in his settings so as not to tamper with the meaning and effectiveness of the

poetry.

Because the songs are written in Patois, non-Jamaican listeners, who are unfamiliar with

the language, can still experience the meaning of the text through the moods created by the

music. Ashbourne manages to express the nuances of Patois through accentuation and

syncopation, creating an authentic delivery of the text that encourages the Jamaican sound.

Ashbourne’s use of texture also furthers the text since the thoughts expressed by the

poetry are often paired with a simple or minimal accompaniment to show the lightness of the

mood, versus those weighty thoughts expressed that are paired with complex rhythms and

harmonies. This use of texture may be seen in the contrasting examples of Figures 15, with a

simple accompaniment based on the text and Figure 13, with its heavy tremolo mirroring the

text.

80
Figure 14: “Nobody’s Business,” p. 1.

Nobody's Business

81
Figure 15: “Fi Mi Love Have Lion Heart,” mm 20-22

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Although partially obscured by Western harmonies and characteristics, the pieces

maintain their Jamaican character and particularly the folk music trait of requiring an immediate

response. Jamaican folk music elicits an immediate response from its audience. Clapping along,

moving to the music or responding to the humor of the songs through laughter are typical and

intended audience responses when listening to Jamaican folk music. Such responses are

encouraged largely by Ashbourne’s choice of rhythmic setting. By keeping the traditional

rhythmic structure of each folksong, he carefully uses accents, rests, tempos and dynamics to

create a truly Jamaican vibe in each piece. The Jamaican spirit is specifically evident in the

inclusion of moments of climax through rising melodic lines, dynamic changes, glissandos, and

percussive clapping sounds to be made by the singer, as seen in “Long Time Gal.”

Character songs are very common in Jamaican life - songs about an individual and their

habits. This typical Jamaican story-telling approach as seen in “Liza” and “Nobody’s Business”

is maintained in Ashbourne’s hybrid work as his accompaniments allow the vocal lines to tell the

story. Where there is a lot of text, the accompaniment is minimal, and where there is repetitive

82
text the accompaniment is more active so as to encourage dancing from the audience - one

immediate response required from Jamaican folk music.

The piano as the sole accompanying instrument often acts as an equal story-telling

partner to the voice. In addition to being a rhythmic and harmonic partner, fully supporting the

vocal line, the piano also extends the vocal line through characterized interludes and

introductions. Since Jamaican folksongs are not typically paired with the piano, but rather are

sung a cappella or with guitar and percussion instruments, Ashbourne makes the piano “sing”

with its melodic and harmonic shape. It often mimics the percussive sound, making the pairing

of piano and voice for these settings sound natural.

Just as in African-American negro spiritual, Jamaican folk music has its laments, songs

of jubilee, character songs (as in Biblical story characters), work songs, and coded songs that

carry hidden messages. Ashbourne’s cycle presents a good representation of the gamut of

Jamaican folk music, with a song from at least three of these categories - the lament (“Liza”),

the character song (“Nobody’s Business”), and the jubilee (“Long Time Gal”).

Using Western art music devices meant to heighten the meaning of the text, such as

harmony, tempo, tone color, range, form, texture and instrumentation, Ashbourne skillfully

conveys the individual meaning of each folksong. With the messages of the songs speaking of

the varied subjects of dancing, love, one’s right to privacy, re-acquaintance and sadness over a

lost loved one, Ashbourne has carefully chosen which devices to employ at particular moments

in order to communicate each song’s message and unique nuance.

The chosen songs for this cycle each have special significance as they each give the

listener a glimpse of some facet of Jamaican life. The preservation of these songs is vital since

83
each song uses typical Jamaican phrases that allow the listener to begin to understand Jamaican

values.

This song cycle takes the Jamaican spirit and the country’s values to the concert stage

where it may be shared with audiences who may only have had the opportunity to glimpse

Jamaican life through images communicated through popular culture. With the common

knowledge of reggae music being bom in Jamaica, it is vital for Jamaicans that the world also be

exposed to the rich folk heritage of the country so that listeners can fully understand all facets of

the culture and its contribution to world music. In its original form, sung in rural communities in

Jamaica, the Jamaican folksong has not been able to spread to a wide listening audience, and the

world is being deprived of a rich musical tradition. These songs, however, when paired with

Euro-classical forms can travel to places that the original Jamaican folksong may never have

reached. Through his works, Ashbourne has exposed a world audience to Jamaican folk music

and has fostered a sense of national pride. For Jamaicans this hybrid work chronicles cultural

values, suggests memories and nostalgia provides a common ground on which all Jamaicans can

meet and have a shared experience. Ashbourne’s work preserves the folk tradition, aids in the

unification of the Jamaican people, and exposes the world to Jamaica’s rich musical tradition.

84
CHAPTER V
ANDREW MARSHALL (b.1982-)

“In Jamaica, as elsewhere, artists are influenced by sociological

72
and historical situations which have helped to create them.

As a proud Jamaican, Andrew Marshall has used his music not only as an outlet for self-

expression but also as a vehicle through which he may incite social change for Jamaican society.

The youngest of the three composers of this study, Marshall, while appreciating the current

musical trends in Jamaica, makes it a point in his music to return to Jamaica’s folk traditions.

Recognizing the richness and value of the nation’s folk culture, Marshall’s work reflects folk

traditions in his settings of hymns, choral anthems, Jamaican spirituals, art songs, solo piano

arrangements, symphonic works, and opera. The subjects of his works vary from sacred to

secular however, one of his greatest works of notable impact is his hybrid chamber opera,

Hardtalk. The following chapter will discuss the influences on Marshall’s compositional style,

his work Hardtalk, and the socio-political implications of this hybrid.

An accomplished pianist, educator, prolific composer and arranger, Andrew Marshall,

was born in St. Andrew, Jamaica in 1982. As a teenager, Marshall served as co-director of the

youth choir at his church and became interested in works by American gospel composer and

pianist Richard Smallwood. Beginning to transcribe gospel melodies for his choir, Marshall was

inspired by the voice of lay musician, baritone Everol Dixon, and his rendition of the song, “I’m

Climbing up the Rough Side of the Mountain.” It was this rendition that inspired Marshall’s first

original composition for four-part choir. As a composer, he acknowledges that there is a spiritual

72 Baxter, p. 357.

85
dimension to his act of composing as he considers it a God-given gift. His compositions were

first conceived in church and were based on his spiritual experiences.

Marshall received his Bachelor of Arts degree in music education with an emphasis in

piano performance from Northern Caribbean University, Mandeville, Jamaica, his Master of

Music degree in music education with an emphasis in choral conducting from Westminster Choir

College of Rider University, Princeton, New Jersey and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in

choral conducting from the University of Oklahoma. Several of Marshall’s works have been

performed throughout Jamaica and the United States with compositions and arrangements of

over sixty hymns, carols, sacred music, and secular works for chorus and orchestra. His works

have been commissioned by both local and international organizations. Conductor and

Composer-in-Residence of the Jamaica Symphony Orchestra, Marshall is currently an Assistant

Professor and Director of Choirs in the Department of Music at Northern Caribbean University,

Mandeville. His choral ensembles are in constant demand, receiving frequent invitations to

perform throughout the Caribbean and the United States. Marshall is also the Music Director of

Maranatha Ministries, a non-profit organization that enjoys an annual international touring

schedule. His recent collaborations include working with celebrated Jamaican poet Joan Andrea

Hutchinson in setting her poems to music. In recent years, Marshall founded the Jamaica Choral

Scholars’ Festival, which has been one of the major annual events in Jamaica where choral music

is studied and performed. The festival serves as an educational tool for promoting the significant

works of Caribbean composers. In addition, the Festival is used to promote a standard of

excellence in Christian ministry among church music leaders within a Caribbean context.

Professional workshops, seminars, master classes, and choral rehearsals are employed to broaden

86
the performance skills of participants and to educate participants on the lesser-known musical

figures in Jamaican art music.

Marshall recalls having had exposure to both classical and popular music growing up in

Jamaica. While his music has expanded to include other styles of music, the majority of his

works are religious. Marshall credits dancehall music and rhythms he heard pouring through the

streets of St. Andrew as a contributing factor to his current composition style. Inspired by the

work of the late African-American composer and arranger, Moses Hogan and his popular choral

arrangements of the Negro Spiritual, Marshall has arranged and composed many spirituals for

mixed chorus, including those in the genre of “Jamaican spirituals.” With a commission from the

Jamaica Symphony Orchestra to write a symphony with instrumentation that includes the steel

pan, Marshall wrote Run-A-Boat Symphony, a symphony for orchestra and chorus depicting

Jamaicans gathering to have fun, written specifically for Jamaica’s 50th anniversary of

independence celebrations.

In regards to composition, Marshall remarks that he questions himself daily about the

relevancy of his music and how it may impact the listening audience. He maintains that music

must be relevant and that a composer should write with a target audience or with particular

performers in mind. He also recognizes that composed music must often be subject to change in

the presentation of a work, becoming dependent on the performers available, and their

capabilities. Marshall explains that while melodies frequently come to his mind, the content of

most of his works are more deliberately chosen, often being inspired by current events, Biblical

scripture and poetry. Firmly believing that people must have a connection with his music,

Marshall hopes that the subjects that have inspired him will in turn inspire his audiences.

87
Marshall is clearly connected to the content of his chamber opera Hardtalk. He composed

this work based on a controversial incident in Jamaica, with the specific purpose of inspiring the

Jamaican population to strive for unity. His personal reaction to the incident prompted this

composition as he felt it necessary to use his music as a unifier of Jamaican society. The original

text that he used for the work, as well as the hybridization of Jamaican folk and popular music

with Euro-classical music both convey a strong message of unity.

Hardtalk

Marshall’s chamber opera, Hardtalk is an opera parodying the Jamaican talk show,

“Religious Hardtalk”, hosted by Ian Boyne. An enormous success, the opera had its premiere

performance at the Jamaica Institute in Kingston Jamaica on June 10, 2012 as part of the

concluding festivities of the Jamaica Choral Scholars’ Festival 2012. The opera is based on the

horrific news story of May 24, 2010, when the Jamaican police invaded the Tivoli Gardens

community, a concrete inner-city housing complex built in the 1960s, in order to capture one of

Jamaica’s most powerful drug lords - Christopher “Dudus” Coke. Coke enjoyed the loyal

support of the many impoverished community members of the Tivoli Gardens and they viewed

him as a benefactor. Determined to protect him from the authorities, the community joined

together so that the Jamaican police could not enter the community without the consent of

Coke’s organization. This unwritten agreement became void on May 24, 2010, when the police

entered the area for his arrest killing over 70 innocent civilians in their efforts to capture Coke.

The scandal and uproar of this event led artists, such as Marshall, to create works that became

social commentaries on the happenings of that day and proceeding days and its implications for

88
Jamaica’s future as a nation. Marshall labels it as “one of Jamaica’s dark days,”73 and it was the

impact that the events of that day made on society that inspired his composition. The tragedy of

the event was in the action taken by the Jamaican police who invaded the area where they

suspected the drug lord lived and began killing innocent civilians. The public has remained in an

uproar since the event three years ago, as the government has yet to disclose all of the names of

the people who died in the invasion, how they died, and whether or not it was legal to go into the

area with such brute force. Marshall describes the impact that the event made on the country,

Over 70 civilians were killed - one American and also some

members of the security forces. Up until this time there is still a lot

of haze around the matter and I thought that it would have been an

ideal subject to set to music....

Marshall attributes his combination of Jamaican folk music styles with Euro-classical styles in

the work to his sense of pride in Jamaica:

...a part of my experience so far in my life is one of patriotism. I

really believe in Jamaica. I believe in its potential to compete with
other countries on the international scene and in that regard the
merging of Jamaican elements with classical was something that I
wanted to experiment with. And so, on that background hearing a
lot of the repercussions from that situation on the news, in the
paper... .1 wanted to then merge some of what I did believe were
musical elements that were unique to aspects of the Jamaican
society particularly individuals within those contexts.74

Marshall’s intent in blending the two styles was a deliberate choice to place Jamaican music in a

context where it may be regarded with esteem, alongside the highly-esteemed Euro-classical

music. His approach to recounting the story through music involved more than his personal

reaction to the event. He took advantage of the media to gain further insight,

73 A. Marshall - personal communication - May 2012

74 Ibid.
My approach to the subject was not wholly personal. I went to the
newspapers. I listened to interviews that were done by the major
leaders at the time and I sought to be as objective as possible....1
didn’t even know this... .[after] the work was written.. .the
government got wind that there were buildings in Jamaica that
were hiring persons on the basis of their skin color. They would
send to the AHT and say ‘we want light-skinned people to fill
these vacancies’ and it made front page in September last year for I
think a week.. .Lo and behold, the very same topic that the opera
speaks about which was drawn from the news at that time has once
again come u p .. .those that want to remain blind to what is actually
in front of them can actually see that this is our problem, we need
to deal with it as we look forward to another 50 years.75

With such a heated story in hand, Marshall sought to create a work that would shed light on

Jamaica’s responsibility if unity was to be achieved in the future of the country. Bringing the

message of unity of all people in Jamaica, Marshall first sought to unify uncommon elements

musically. While taking a world music course during his doctoral studies at Oklahoma

University, he conceived of a work that would combine his two favorite styles of music -

Jamaican folk and Western art music. With its use of Patois, and its combination of Jamaican

folk music, Dancehall and Reggae paired with operatic aria-like passages to be sung in the bel

canto style, Hardtalk presents a cornucopia of styles, meant to communicate one central

message. The work mirrors the premise of Jamaican culture and its motto, “out of many, one

people.”

The opera was written for full orchestra, chorus and soloists, with the addition of banjo,

shakers, maracas, steel pan and bongo drums. This eclectic combination of instruments for a

modern-day orchestra establishes a hybridized effect, blending Western art music culture with

Caribbean music culture.

75 Ibid.

90
Various leitmotifs can be identified throughout the work. The opening overture quotes

each musical motive that represents each character. Using the device of leitmotifs in an opera, a

Wagnerian trait, Marshall pays tribute to Western art music techniques.

Marshall’s performance practice notes for the opera present a fascinating concept.

Although many of his works are written in Patois, he encourages classical vocal technique for the

ensembles that perform his music. He maintains that although Jamaican folk music must sound

and feel authentic, in order to produce a full, solid tone, his singers must employ classical

technique when singing his music,

I’ve told the singers that “your presentation is built on a classical

base”. I referred specifically to their method of vocal presentation.

And so this has to do with their method of singing. “Classical” in

the sense that it embraces and ideal maximum way to produce

sound. Without sound, it doesn’t make any sense.. .In the folk

style, don’t sing it like a folk singer.. .in our case, apply the

classical technique. Don’t let the style overpower what you’re

trying to do in its best form vocally.. .I’ve given them examples to

go and hear actual dancehall artists singing with technique, it’s

amazing.. .they are really singing well, so it’s nothing new that we

are doing or trying to ask them to do.76

Patois sung in a classical fashion creates its own sense of fusion in that Patois, when

spoken, must involve all of the inflections and nuances of the language, and in order to sound

authentic, must not resemble any Euro-classical art forms or assume any European accentuation.

76 Ibid.

91
When sung however, many art composers in Jamaica specify that the artists performing their

pieces employ classical technique in the sung delivery of the text, without significantly altering

the vowel shapes and consonant sounds, and while maintaining the integrity and nuances of the

language. Marshall says that this dichotomy is “a relatively new area for music scholarship that
77
is ripe for investigation.”

The opera takes the form of a talk show. The host of the show, the character Mr. Bowen,

takes to the streets to gather the reactions of the people, played by the chorus, who form the live

audience for the talk show. Four protagonists present themselves in the opera as guests on the

show. These characters, each taking a different stance on the issue, represent various aspects of

Jamaican society and are thus given an individual style of music to portray based on the nature of

their character. Marshall explains his choice of musical settings:

The farmer represents the folk style so the original orchestration

has the strings going pizzicato, mimicking that folk ensemble that

would be akin to a mento band or even one of the more earlier

reggae bands. Mrs. Macbride who represents the elite in our

society, she has a more classical, bel canto, type singing...the

harmonies and orchestration in the full version represents that.

Tembule .. .represents the dancehall and the reggae.. .and the other

two gentlemen, the host, Mr. Bowen and Mr. Elliott, motivic

assignments are not so much assigned to them but they speak more

to the issue and less to the musical styles that they are related to

77 Ibid.

92
.. .Throughout the entire piece, the musical styles speak to the class

that they’re representing.78

Each character represents a class-type in Jamaica, who tends to oppose each other, and the

contrasting perspectives on how life in Jamaica can improve as a country become evident in their

reactions to the horrific news story. The character Mrs. MacBride, a senator from St. James,

represents the educational elite and is given traditional Westernized music that is reminiscent of

a Puccini aria, meant to be sung in the bel canto style. She speaks of the need for a solid

education in Jamaica, where schools are held at a high standard, where the leaders of the country

believe in truth, knowledge and purity, and where sound teaching and reading are encouraged.

The Euro-classical harmonies and instrumentation that surround her text are soon juxtaposed in

the opera with the thumping rhythms of the Rasta man. The character Tembule, a Rastafarian

businessman from St. Ann, with a strong sense of national pride, is given reggae and dancehall

music to represent the Rastafarian perspective in Jamaica. He argues that the light-skinned

people are the cause of all of the problems in Jamaica and it is the Black man that must rise up

from the oppression of his past and reclaim his “rightful” place in Jamaican society. He opposes

the proud, rich elite, who he says think that their money shields them from the problems in

Jamaica. Miss Daisy, a farmer from Portland, Jamaica is given music in the Jamaican folk

tradition, with stringed instruments employed specifically for her passages, meant to be

performed in a pizzicato style as in a mento band or early reggae band. The banjo, shakers,

maracas, and steel pan also shape her passages and help to communicate her character. Her

stance is that the problems in Jamaica are caused by the rich elite of the country not willing to

acknowledge the issues of the impoverished communities. She notes that Jamaica was formerly a

78 Ibid.

93
decent place to live, where young men would help her pack her baskets in the marketplace, but in

recent years, they no longer pay attention to her as a vendor. She further argues that the rich feel

that the type of violence surrounding the “Dudus” Coke case is averse to them. She concludes

that both the rich and the poor share in common the usage of drugs and it is not an evil attributed

to the poor only. She feels that as a farmer she is mistreated by the rich, noting their indifference

toward her as they pass her on the street.

The opera’s chorus chimes in at opportune moments, heightening the drama and

reinforcing various attitudes and arguments through their street-scene commentary. The chorus

comments that they believed that Jamaica was a free country, free from the lies of the troubled

past, however it appears to them that the oppression still exists, as the people continue to malice

and mistreat each other.

The climactic moment in the opera comes when the elderly gentleman, retired teacher

and Councilman Winston Elliott, chooses to break his silence and speak to the issue in an

attempt to unify the people. With no particular musical style assigned to his character, Elliott, a

man well-seasoned in the affairs and history of Jamaica, speaks to need for unity and the

abolishment of the walls that divide Jamaican society (class, status, color etc.), in the hopes of

achieving a stronger and happier nation. He notes that in all of his years living in Jamaica, he has

witnessed discord more than anything else. He suggests that in order to build a great nation, unity

is required, the cleansing of the nation from evil must begin and the barriers between people

must be broken down. Marshall’s signature chorus for Mr. Elliott, given an expressive marking

of “stately and unrushed” reads:

Men have sought and thousands fought fo r our country’s liberty,

Fertile hills and verdant plains,

94
We ’re a country bold and free.

Evil lurks at ev ’ry turn, building firm its cruel ground.

Plagues o f greed, war and strife

Can good virtues still be found?

The principal characters soon join Mr. Elliott in the realization that his vision for a better

Jamaica can in fact be achieved with their combined efforts, as they sing,

With God we 11 build together a Land to last forever.

With Love we ’11serve each other,

Each man is my brother.

We will stand, hand in hand, fo r our precious Island Home.

Hope is strong,

With one heart, we proclaim that we are one.

The opera concludes with a dramatic symphonic crescendo, and the rousing chorus and principal

characters singing the phrase “we are one!” Marshall’s masterful conclusion, bringing the entire

opera into agreement with this phrase creates an overwhelming sense of unity. The formerly

clear divisions of class and opinion are now obsolete, having been replaced by the notion of

togetherness and a determination to love each other and build a better Jamaica together, putting

opposing opinions aside to accomplish the greater goal.

Folk and popular music merges with traditional Western art music in the opera, creating a

fascinating hybrid. Class is a great divider in Jamaica and the music one listens to, the way in

which one speaks, and the place in which one lives reflect one’s class and status in Jamaica.

With musical styles dividing the people, Marshall’s work seeks to unify the members of

Jamaican society by juxtaposing contrasting musical styles in one work. This union of various

95
musical genres allows each sector of the public to be represented and validated on the concert

stage through their music, and it is this placing of all of the musical styles on one equal plane that

gives a voice to Jamaican people of all classes. With no hierarchy of styles suggested, each class

in Jamaica can see themselves in Marshall’s work and begin to acknowledge the views of the

other. Music in his hands serves as a great unifier. Those who would not normally be exposed to

another’s socio-political viewpoint can through music listen to the thoughts of another. Marshall

humorously creates a dialogue among the various classes represented throughout the opera,

however he brings a sobering victorious conclusion through the character Mr. Elliott and his

powerful words, which are eventually sung by the entire cast - chorus members as well as

principal characters.

Through his use of an historic incident Marshall successfully brings to light the

problematic issues currently affecting Jamaican society. The reaction of each of the characters in

the opera to the Tivoli Gardens incident reflects the divisions of class, culture, economic status,

and colorism (prejudices with regard to skin tone), that exist in Jamaica. Marshall communicates

the message of the opera - a call for unity in order to ensure progressiveness as a country - by

brilliantly using characters to represent each of Jamaica’s current social ills. Assigning a

particular style of music to each character, each one communicating a distinct perspective in his

or her text, and having each represent a different parish in Jamaica, Marshall allows all of these

voices to co-exist in the one composition and unify by the opera’s end. Marshall’s hope for

Jamaica is clearly evidenced in this work. His lecture Jamaican Music: Forward, speaks of a

desire for Jamaican music to progress, moving away from current stereotypical models. He

suggests a way in which this forward movement may be achieved:

96
we may begin to put into greater practice our motto, 'Out of many,

one people.' Our unique makeup is a part of what makes our

country so special, and this component does not have to be the

main ingredient for division among us. This is true also for musical

styles in the context of representing this country. No class within

our society is any less Jamaican than the other. Music that is

created, therefore, within a Jamaican context with the deliberate

attempt of merging culturally-relevant elements, and that

contributes to the progressiveness of our music and towards our

society's well-being, may become the starting point of our trek

towards a golden age of music development in this country.79

79 Andrew Marshall, “Jamaican Music: Forward.” Transcript, Lecture-Concert on Jamaican Music, Jamaica Choral
Scholars' Festival, (2012).
CHAPTER VI
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

“Art can promote change and social transformation. 80

The preservation of the folk culture, the desire for unity in the nation and the deciding of

what impact Jamaica should have on the world, each continue to be concerns for the Jamaican

public. Hybridization responds to each of these concerns encouraging the perpetuation of

Jamaica’s folk culture and ensuring the unification of the Jamaican public by the open dialogue it

creates between classes and cultures.

In attempting to gather various views with regard to the preservation of folk music, there

does not appear to be any concrete scholarship concerning the opinions of working-class

Jamaicans - the known keepers of the tradition. Since the act of scholarly writing is an elitist

practice, we may never be privy to their opinions. Although there is virtually no literature on

their concern for the survival of the art form, the question of how working class Jamaicans may

feel about the use of folk melodies melded into classical music is one worth asking. One may

only speculate regarding such opinions. With the ever-growing appeal of popular music on the

island and with some art music composers also turning to popular music as source material for

their classical works, the survival of folk music continues to be threatened. The hybridization of

African and European music ensures the survival of Jamaica’s folk culture in that it creates an

outlet in which the folksong may thrive regardless of the changing times.

Some may say that the “sophisticating” process that the folksong underwent during early

publications of Jamaican folk music still exists today and may desire to look to the hybrid works

80 Emma Sharp Dalton-Brown, “Only You Alone Can Free Your Mind: An Insight Into The Life Of Artist Laura
Facey.” Made in Jamaica Catalogue: the gold edition (2012), p.32.

98
as evidence. There may be those who feel that the hybrid works are the feeble attempts of

Jamaica’s art music composers to somehow validate Jamaica’s indigenous music by pairing it

with the ‘sophisticated’ Euro-classical music, deeming it unworthy to stand on its own on the

concert stage. Some may suggest that Jamaican art music composers, in their efforts to

“sophisticate” the folksong, are creating music that does not truly reflect their roots. Lewin

describes the perceptions of society with regard to folk music versus European musical

expression on the island, and how European culture is often equated with “sophistication” in

Jamaica,

In Jamaica, many types of traditional music are still vibrant and

alive, but until recently only the more European forms of music

were socially acceptable. There is no denying that Jamaican folk

music has been in the island for over 400 years, but the acceptance

of these influences has been quite out of proportion to their

significance. Quadrille dances, waltzes, some children's play songs,

and adaptations of Christian hymns and choruses have been

considered higher on the social ladder than Jonkunnu, Mento, or

Kumina music.81

Even with efforts to elevate the folk tradition on the island, lingering perceptions from Jamaica’s

colonial past cause European music to continue to receive greater esteem than Jamaican folk

music. Composers such as Dexter, Ashbourne and Marshall do not seek however, to bury the

folk culture in their works but rather present both the folk and classical styles on equal levels,

81Lewin, p. 48.

99
allowing each to have a clear voice within the composition yet simultaneously work together as a

whole.

Rex Nettleford presents the danger of the Jamaican artist who in his/her effort to explore

the traditions of other cultures, abandons his/her own Jamaican roots:

But when a Caribbean person, in the exercise of his creative

imagination, shuts out his own indigenous experience rooted in the

soil of the Caribbean, what he produces is not likely to earn him

the status of prophet, visionary, guide or “artist” to the Caribbean

of today or to any other people at anytime.

Nettleford’s remarks convey that in order for the Jamaican composer to gain respect among

Jamaica’s working class citizens, the preservers of the folksong, he or she must acknowledge his

or her roots in the works being produced. Recalling Dexter’s advice to “make it [the
an
composition] as Jamaican as possible,” we observe that Jamaicans are a proud people and

refuse to applaud the efforts of one who neglects his or her indigenous culture. Lewin notes that

this social hierarchy created by Jamaican society valuing European music above the country’s

indigenous music has in past years contributed to the decline of the folk style:

This, among other things, has helped to cause the decline of the

exciting and brilliant improvisatory folk style of instrumental

music in favor of a more "learned and sophisticated" style. The

words of songs have suffered, too, from being tidied and made

"respectable." In "raising" the level of the language, subtle

meanings and symbolisms are often ruined, the emotional content

82 Nettleford, p. 48.
83 N. Dexter, personal communication - November 2011.

100
lessened, and the harmony between speech and musical rhythm

destroyed. Early attempts to publish Jamaican folk music often

suffered from the desire to make it socially acceptable in the

English drawing room. Within the school system, children were

taught European folksongs and only rarely were allowed to indulge

o4
themselves in singing songs from their own grassroots.

Lewin’s observations beg the question of whether the same pattern is being perpetuated in the

hybrid works of Dexter, Ashbourne and Marshall. Is the hybrid claiming to unite Jamaican

society, but is rather further alienating Jamaica’s working class, since they may not wish to see

their music paired with the music of their colonizers, but would prefer to hear it in its pure form?

Working class Jamaicans might argue that the island’s folk music needs no validation and that it

is beautiful and strong in its bare, unaltered form. Lewin inserts however, that modem trends are

working to eradicate this issue of authenticity in the folk song:

At this time, serious musicians with professional training are also

being drawn to Jamaican folk music. Songs are arranged in

sophisticated styles, which strive to preserve the essence and

indigenous aspects of Jamaican character; harmonies are dictated

by those found in the field; melodies are no longer 'corrected';

rhythms are preserved and singers even aim at using the vocal

timbre associated with the particular type of song; guitars, piccolos

and drums are appearing, where a few years ago the piano would

have reigned supreme. These instruments touch Jamaicans at all

84 Lewin, p. 190.

101
levels, and are truly from our past. Guitars grew out of our old
or
merrywangs, and piccolos have evolved from our bamboo fifes.

According to Lewin, art composers in Jamaica today are creating authentic works, striving to

preserve the culture, while presenting it in “sophisticated” packages.

Suppression with Hybridization

With such concern for hybridization’s suppressive effect (the collision of two forces

resulting in a simplified version of each force in order to unify the whole), Lewin’s sentiments

on Jamaica’s pre-independence lifestyle seems to mirror sentiments being expressed today. She

remarks of the wide acceptance of all things European and the country’s rejection of its own

indigenous culture, due to perceptions fostered during the slavery era:

The more European the folk music sounded the less taboo would it
be. Quadrille, waltzes, children play songs, adaptations of
Christian hymns and choruses flourished. Gradually the exciting
and brilliant improvisatory folk style of instrumental playing began
to give way to a more learned style imported from abroad, and
inevitably shorn of our innate syncopation and inherent harmonies.
Words of songs were tidied and made respectable, thus completely
changing the meaning and emotional content, ruining the harmony
between speech and song rhythm. Even so, the bulk of our folk
music was considered so unfit for decent ears that it was not even
investigated or subjected to this "cleansing". European and
American folksongs, West Indian Calypsos, no less earthy, at times
obviously so, were accepted without murmur, where beautiful and
completely inoffensive local songs could not even get a hearing.86

Some may feel that the above account aptly describes the practice of hybridization, since in the

hybrid works, some aspects of the folksong become lost in its fusion with classical music. While

there may be some level of suppression of the folksong’s characteristics in the hybridization

85 Lewin, pp.21-22.
86 Ibid.

102
process, Jamaica’s art music composers seek to ensure that the distinguishing characteristics of

the folksong are communicated.

The Necessity of the H ybrid

One cannot ignore the fact that folk music may not have survived had it not been for

initiatives such as hybridization. Jamaica’s professional folk music ensembles, The Carifolk

Singers, the Jamaican Folk Singers, the National Dance Theatre Company and the University

Singers, have each couched folk music in their classical expressions in order to preserve the

tradition. Since the voice of the nation may be found in its folk culture, the early work since

independence to discover the “Jamaican voice” is being continued in the works of Dexter,

Ashbourne and Marshall today.

It is no longer the case that one must travel to Jamaica to hear the music of Jamaica.

Pairing folk music with European music has put Jamaican culture on the world’s stages, in the

mainstream sectors, in schools, and this accessibility will cause it to live on as all people may

gain access to it. People from all walks of life can enjoy the music and relate to this music that

often speaks so well of the human condition.

While blending styles, post-colonial trends like hybridization work to ensure the survival

of an authentic folk tradition, keeping the Jamaican spirit alive by carefully maintaining the

folksong’s most prominent features. Lewin remarks that although the early years saw the

prevalence of “tidying up” the Jamaican folksong by Europeanizing it, modern-day arrangements

present it in its authentic form, “Today, however, material is in print that preserves for all the

103
authentic character and variety of Jamaican traditional music-music that conveys the courageous,
an

humorous, and creative spirit of the Jamaican people.”

Not only are Jamaicans now rediscovering their true identity, but also current trends are

prompting them to explore all facets of this identity. In post-colonial Jamaica, Jamaica’s art

music composers are exploring such facets through their works. The insertion of Jamaican folk

elements in the works of this study perpetuates a sense of identity for the listening Jamaican

public, allowing the tradition of the Jamaican folksong to continue.

In 1968, Pamela O’Gorman posed the question, “How far away are we from having
OO
Jamaican opera or musical theatre that treats Jamaican subjects seriously?” O’Gorman’s

poignant question has finally been answered by Jamaica’s twenty-first century art music

composers, creating operas whose subject matter is organically Jamaican. With libretti based on

various socio-political issues in Jamaica, in the year 2012 alone there were performances and

premieres of the Jamaican operas of Father Ho Lung, Franklin Halliburton, Peter Ashbourne, and

Andrew Marshall. Jam Reggae Opera, 1865, Mikey and Hardtalk, respectively, works that

infused the nation with an alternate voice, a new sound on the Jamaican music scene. Jamaica’s

value of hybridization is evidenced by the number of composers currently writing hybridized

works. Rex Nettleford’s view of the essence of Jamaican culture aptly describes this Jamaican

value, “.. .things ‘Jamaican’ comprise the texture of unity in diversity and of reconciling

differences to form distinctive and integrated wholes.”89 Unity in diversity is the essence of

Jamaican culture.

87 Lewin, p.48.
88 Pamela O’Gorman, “Let Folksong Live”, Jamaica Journal (Kingston: June 1968), 2/2, p. 48, online at
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00090030/00002.
89 Rex Nettleford, “Celebrating Tolerance, Peace and Understanding: Jamaica’s National Dance.” Jamaica Journal,
25/3, (1995).

104
Art music in Jamaica continues to be among the lesser studied, lesser appreciated art

forms in Jamaica. Even with the art music institutions, performing ensembles and local

performances and lectures, the island continues to veer away from its British connection in favor

of its own popular music practices and artistic expression. These hybrid works bridge the gap

between the lovers of Jamaican folk music and the lovers of Euro-classical music in Jamaica.

Not only does hybridization allow the Jamaican folksong to live on, but it also fosters a

sense of unity. With a plethora of cultures and classes on the island, the quest for unity is an

ever-present concern. Attempts to establish a sense of unity on the island have caused some to

choose one culture over the other as the desired ideal, asking society to conform to that particular

culture’s ways. The definition of unity however, is not so much the conforming of many

individual customs into one set of customs, but rather the choice, although varying in views, to

share a common experience with a common goal in mind. Webster’s dictionary defines unity as

“Singleness or constancy of purpose or action; the state or quality of being in accord;

harmony90.” With this definition, unity can indeed be achieved in Jamaica by the combination of

diverse elements, in that they may share a common purpose despite their differences - a sense of

togetherness for Jamaican society and a lasting global impact for the country.

Jamaica’s historic background reveals the catalyst for the current opinions and traditions

in existence on the island. With the present demographic of over 90% of Jamaica being of

African descent, and other races in Jamaica marginalized, some question the validity of the

country’s motto, “out of many, one people”. Wendell Bell perceives the motto to be a false

representation of the island:

90 “Unity.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2011. Web 17 March 2013.

105
Jamaica's national motto, "Out of Many, One People," symbolizes

the ideal of a harmonious multi-racial society and, certainly,

Jamaican society is racially harmonious compared to racial

antagonism in England or the United States, not to mention the

conflict in Rhodesia or South Africa. Yet there is racial

discrimination in Jamaica too, though of a subtler sort, and the

"many" are black and the "one" they are supposed to become, at

least in the minds of some leaders, has fewer African features than

the numerical dominance of blacks in Jamaica would suggest.91

The idea of Jamaica’s black people being one people united by their African roots appears to be

a concept not yet fully realized in the nation. Division in Jamaica lies not only among different

races, but also in the black community itself. With such discrimination and division in Jamaica, it

is vital for artists to use their works as unifiers of the people. Music makes a strong unifier.

The individual impact of the two musical genres found in the hybrid is great, and their

collision makes a notable impact on both Jamaican society and on all listeners of these works.

With only a surface knowledge of the two genres, it is easy to miss the impact that the

synchronization of the two can make on the listener. While combining the individual strengths of

each genre, these hybrid works have a particular power that each individual genre may not be

able to achieve on its own. O’Gorman notes the inherent power found in Jamaica’s folk music,

.. .as well as providing a distillation of national character, it [folk

music] provides a focus of identification for the people of a

nation... .moreover, it provides a meeting ground for people of

widely different tastes and backgrounds for it comes from the soil,

91 Bell and Robinson, p. 254.

106
and speaks a language whose very simplicity allows it go directly
09
to the hearts of all men.

The power of Western art music is evidenced by its longevity. Although it may be forever

regarded as an elitist genre of music, there is enough listenership of classical music in order for it

to thrive. Classical music has the power to evoke deep emotions in the listener, often without

words, but merely by the sound of its instruments and the fervor with which they are played. Not

known as music for the masses, classical music often evokes an “otherworldliness”, providing a

portal of escape from everyday life, where for a moment one may find solace and joy.

When fused together, the strength of these two genres of music create such powerful

musical expressions. Nettleford’s thought rings true about Jamaicans desiring everything within

their reach, rather than narrowing their view to one particular thing.

Mixture is at the heart of the Jamaican people. The concept of the “Pepperpot”- a popular

Jamaican soup, where various foods are mixed together to form a flavorful blend - is a prevalent

concept. This value of blending elements may be seen in the Jamaican Folk Singers album

released in 2006, entitled “Pepperpot”, reflecting a wide range of folk music from lullabies, to

Christmas songs to play songs and revival songs. Jamaican Director of Culture Sidney Bartley, in

speaking of this album commented that the album expresses the essence of the Jamaican brand

and acts as the manifestation of the nation’s motto - “out of many, one people”. He further notes,

“It [the pepperpot] is who we are and it is what we do best,”93 Bartley recognizes hybridization

as being the very nature of the Jamaican. Similarly the Heritage Singers (a Jamaican folk music

ensemble) of Toronto, Canada, present an annual concert entitled “Hallelujah Pepperpot”, a

O’Gorman, p. 71.
93Hazel Mcclune, ‘“Pepperpot”’: Jamaican Folk Singers launch second CD”, The Jamaica Gleaner (September 7,
2006), online at http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060907/ent/entl.html.

107
program of songs representing the many facets of Jamaican music. This value of hybridization is

prevalent in the arts and particularly in music, a primary source of self expression for many.

Colonialism has had a significant impact on the current music of Jamaica. The very

presence and quantity of art music composers in Jamaica reveals its impact on Jamaican society.

The survival of classical music in Jamaica has been the result of Jamaicans adopting their

colonial past and perpetuating its ways even in post-colonial society. Taught to suppress and

eventually replace their African identity during the years of slavery with a British way of life, the

Jamaican’s adoption of various aspects of European culture still lingers on the island. British

culture, once forced upon Afro-Jamaicans, has now become, by choice, a rich source of material

for the Jamaican composer from which to draw when writing music.

Marilyn Rouse notes the behavior patterns among slaves in the early nineteenth century,

“...dating from 1816 to 1838 it would appear that the slave population was divided into two

groups: those that remained true to their West African upbringing, and those which emulated the

European society of their masters.”94 Today, those who are devout followers of African

traditions in Jamaica may feel that the hybridization process erases the nuances of African

cultural expression as it is now paired with a form of music different in communicative

approach. Without such nuances, the music stands to lose an element of its impact on its

audience. Without its main characteristics being communicated in their purest form, can the

hybrid truly be considered a mixture of Euro-classical elements with authentic representation of

a Jamaican folksong or might it be something new altogether? The choice by each art music

composer of this study to incorporate Jamaican folk music in his works demonstrates his desire

94 Marilyn Rouse, Jamaican Folk Music: a Synthesis of Many Cultures (Lewiston: Mellen Press, 2000), p.15.

108
to pay tribute to their indigenous roots. Regardless of how far each chooses to experiment with

Euro-classical styles of music, these composers may not be accused of abandoning their culture,

but must rather be seen as those experimenting with their culture, causing it to evolve and thrive

in the modem world. With this evolution of the folk tradition, the function of the folksong has

changed. No longer required to assist one in establishing a rhythm to one’s work, or sung as a

lament to express one’s sorrow, the folksong now acts a sonic expression of Jamaica’s history

and also as entertainment on the concert stage, requiring active participation from the audience.

The function of Jamaican folk music is to evoke an immediate response from its

audience, whether in body movement or a verbal response. The “rawness” of the Jamaican

folksong - the dialect, rhythmic drive, subject matter - with its humorous wit, instrumentation

used, and the fervor with which the folksong is delivered, each contribute to eliciting such

responses. Often philosophical, humorous, playful, and emotional, the Jamaican folksong carries

with it the essence of the Jamaican people. Whether at work, in mourning, in celebration, or at

play, there is a Jamaican folksong for every occasion. Music to the Jamaican is life. It is in the

foreground of all of life’s activities. Beverley Anderson notes the different purposes music serves

in the lives of Caribbean people versus European people,

Many writers on Caribbean music have observed “the extent to

which [its] musical traditions are closely integrated with social and

religious activities,” as distinct from the Eurocentric tradition that

views music as an autonomous art form.. ..it is clear that music in

the lives of Caribbean people is part of a larger struggle to create

communities and societies, a struggle to determine whose voices

109
will be heard and whose will be silenced, and a struggle over who

will determine social values95.

With folk music playing such an integral role in Jamaican life, it is imperative that Jamaicans

fight to preserve it. Conversely, the function of Euro-classical music is to provide entertainment,

apart from life’s daily activities, often expecting the audience to critique the work being

presented based on its artistic qualities. In direct contrast to the audience listening to Jamaican

folk music, the classical audience is expected to remain silent while listening. Some may feel

that the combination of such different styles of music will withdraw a vital quality of each one,

reducing the authenticity of each style and blurring its intended function. Furthermore, the

appeal of each style may be lessened by this fusion, as what we have come to expect from each

individual style may no longer be present in the hybrid, and a completely new response from the

audience will be required.

The works of Dexter, Ashbourne, and Marshall seem to have avoided this potential

diminishing of audience appeal as they share the common value of communicating a sense of

Jamaican identity and convey a typically “Jamaican voice.” The “Jamaican voice” once silenced

by years of colonization now emerges in the works of Jamaican artists who continue to express

their rediscovered pride in their nation. Finding the “Jamaican voice” appears to be a difficult

task as no one definition can summarize the music of the country. Although Jamaican folk

music has had a history of being rejected, devalued and underappreciated, Jamaican art

composers, now recognize its value and merit as part of the “Jamaican voice,” and have chosen

to hold it in high esteem, not pitting it against Euro-classical music, but rather pairing it with

Western art music as an equal partner in their works. Professor of History Hollis Urban Lester

95Anderson and Langley, p. 8.

110
Liverpool, better known as “The Mighty Chalkdust” explains the dangers of prizing one genre

over another:

For today when children are taught that classical music is that
which has European sources, and that the term “classics” is
especially reserved for selected work of European composers, then
the music of the Caribbean needs to be re-appraised. Today, when
the Caribbean’s youth are led to believe, by way of the media and
by the lack of classroom teaching, that European music has the
stamp of class and genius, whilst Caribbean music is meant for
Carnival players and the satisfaction of tourists only, then there is
need to comprehend the scope of Caribbean music. And today too,
when so little West Indian music is taught in our schools, there is
need for greater stress on the subject. It is a fact that the majority
of West Indian music teachers are not versed in West Indian
musical traditions, nor are they au courant with West Indian
folksongs, calypsos etc. A good reflection of this attitude can be
seen from the fact that at Arts and Music Festivals throughout the
Caribbean, Europeanism is the order of the day. In 1981, neither
Reggae, Calypso nor Steelband music have found a place in the
National Music Festivals.96

The small amount of Caribbean music taught in Jamaican schools is due to Jamaica’s known

history of revering European music over Caribbean music. This historic view has left Jamaica at

a disadvantage as the country now struggles to maintain the reinstatement of its folk traditions

into its culture. The hybrid works aid greatly in this effort as these works reintroduce not only

the Jamaican public to the folksongs but also the world.

More than preserving the folksong and uniting Jamaican society, the hybrid further takes

the folksong to the world’s concert stages, fostering a sense of national pride among Jamaicans.

Acting as a cultural ambassador, forging a way for a Jamaican voice to be heard internationally,

the hybrid has become an asset to the socio-political aura that surrounds Jamaica. What the

JCDC and some Jamaican citizens have attempted to do - to take Jamaican music to

international stages, the hybrid is continuing to achieve. While the JCDC and Jamaican citizens

96 John Sealy and Krister Malm, “Music in the Caribbean” (Hodder & Stoughton, 1983), p. iii.

I ll
have largely aided in preserving and promoting the folk culture, the hybrid, however, not only

preserves the culture but exposures the world to its riches. Global icons like Bob Marley have

long blazed the trail for Jamaican music on the world’s stage, with his album “Exodus” given the

title “best album of the century” in 1999 by Time Magazine and in the same year his song, “One

Love” voted the “best song of the Millenium,” by the BBC. Now art music composers are

joining the performers and composers of popular music in introducing the world to Jamaica’s

rich folk traditions. Placing folk music alongside classical music in one work makes the work

competitive in the global sphere, and gives the folksong the global exposure it would never have

if left in its original state - sung and played by working-class Jamaican citizens in their homes

and at work and play. This hybrid music is a rising star, and is quickly becoming another source

of national pride for the Jamaican people. If given room to blossom, the hybrid will cause

Jamaica to stand out in the international scene and will gain recognition for its creativity as a

new art form.

Hybridization fearlessly combines two cultures that have a shared history of resistance.

In examining Pamela O’Gorman’s ways of transforming music education in Jamaica, Anne

Hickling-Hudson notes the tension that exists in Jamaica between the Euro-classical and

Jamaican folk and popular music styles. Hickling-Hudson credits O’Gorman’s work as she was

able to fuse these styles and help to change the attitudes of the Jamaican public toward both the

country’s indigenous music and the music of its colonial past. She notes her personal dilemma in

dealing with such tensions as an artist:

An interesting question from a postcolonial perspective is how far

classically-trained musicians in such an environment can develop
transferability. Can they use their formal, European-taught skills to
add further dynamism to their home environment of Caribbean
music, or is the tension so great that they can only juxtapose the
two traditions but not use them to cross-fertilize each other? My

112
own musical hybridity expresses itself in my classical training in
the piano and violin together with my deep absorption of Jamaican
folk and popular music. However, the tensions between these
strands made me reluctant to pursue music any further than the
Grade 8 exams in both instruments, unwilling to specialize in
European music as a career (the only option up to the mid -1970s),
yet feeling incapable of transferring my instrumental skills to
composition or performance in Caribbean genres. This unresolved
dilemma of my musical education gives me a particular interest in
exploring, in this article, how Pamela achieved a transferability
which led her to surmount and utilize her classical training to help
create a new era for music education in Jamaica. 97

There is no doubt that tensions exist between the two genres of music, and others like Hickling-

Hudson may feel compelled to specialize in one style of music over the other. Hybridization

however, does not fear such tensions but rather fully explores the melding of them. This stance

taken by the hybrid works suggests that all music is equal, as art and society must strive to break

down the stereotypes associated with particular genres so that music will not belong to any one

people, but rather that it may be accessible to all.

By fusing two styles of varied social status, Jamaican art music composers are

demolishing pre-conceived notions and class associations. The significance of hybridization is

more far-reaching than some may perceive. As a model for society, the hybrid musical work

communicates social ideals. If Jamaica is to achieve the full manifestation of its motto, “out of

many, one people,” the hybrid must continue to be a visible model of a socio-political progress.

Hybridization is a not only a visible value in Jamaica, but it is also a necessary force in

establishing a sense of national pride and unity among the Jamaican people.

This hybrid music, although originating on a small island has such global impact. It has

the ability to unify people from all walks of life with its both jovial and heart-wrenching stories

of the human experience. It has the power to move the soul, mind and body through its witty and

97 Hickling-Hudson, pp. 36-55.

113
humorous tales and its rhythmic pulse that evokes a dancing spirit in the listener. Paired with

rich harmonies that enhance the text, forms that give a sense of structure to the stories being told,

and presented with a technique that allows the voice to soar, the hybrid stands as a powerful

medium through which Jamaican life is communicated.

Olive Lewin remains hopeful that the folksong will continue to live long in Jamaica,

Jamaican folk music has not grown horizontally and in easily

recognized compartments of past and present, but rather like a tree

with vigorous roots spreading wide and deep into the soil of

Africa. The branches may for a time have appeared to grow unruly

and confused, but under the not too characteristic bark, the life

giving sap has been flowing all the time. The tree is in good health.

Everyday new shoots, new discoveries, new possibilities seem to

appear. We cannot know what tomorrow will bring, but our hopes

are high that in the not too distant future Jamaica will make a
go
notable contribution to the world's music.

Lewin’s prediction for Jamaica’s impact on the world’s music appears to have already

come true. Not only is Jamaica internationally known for its creation of reggae music but

Jamaican folk culture has departed the fields from which it came and has travelled to the world’s

most prestigious concert stages and professional music venues. Through an opera, a song cycle

and an anthem, the Jamaican spirit is being kept alive and well.

Beverley Anderson’s sentiments seem to ring true, that music to the Caribbean people is

part of a larger issue to create communities and societies and to determine whose voice will be

98 Lewin, p.48.

114
heard and whose will be silenced. Perhaps no one voice must dictate Jamaican culture, but rather

everyone must add their unique voice to the society, creating a wonderful mixture and sharing in

a common experience. As author John Storm Roberts so aptly puts it, Jamaican music may be

described as “not one music, certainly but one musical family.”99

99
Anderson and Langley, p.3.

115
APPENDIX A

LIST OF COMPOSERS WORKS

Dexter

WORKS

I come to the cross (for choir, piano & percussion)

The Lord is my shepherd (for choir, piano & percussion)
Lord, make us one (for choir, piano & percussion)
O praise ye the Lord (for choir, piano & percussion)
Psalm 27 (The Lord is My Light and My Salvation) (for choir, piano & percussion)
The official university song (University of the West Indies)
The right hand o f God

SCORES:

Dolan, M. (Ed.). (2002). Let the peoples sing: Sacred choral music o f the Caribbean.
Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress.
[Includes I come to the cross; The Lord is my shepherd; Lord, make us one; Opraise ye the
Lord]

The Right Hand o f God. (1981). Bridgetown, Barbados: Caribbean Conference of Churches.
Retrieved from http://www.oikoumene.org/fileadmin/files/wcc-
main/2007pdfs/WoPCUsongs/The_right_hand_of_God_Eng.pdf

RECORDINGS / SOUND FILES:

See it Ya (CD, the University Singers)

[Includes Psalm 27]

Lift Every Voice and Sing (CD, the University Singers)

The Kingston Singers (LP, the Kingston Singers)

[Includes Jamaican Folk Mass]

Available at http://www.uwi.edu/uwiofficialsong.aspx?sflang=en
[The Official University Song (University of the West Indies)]

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Ashbourne

WORKS

Alleluia (1995; choral concert, with drums)

Avia (1986; for wind ensemble)
Carib colours (2002; for orchestra)
Elena and her variations (1985; with soprano recorder solo)
Five songs (2005; for high voice & piano)
The fly, the bell and the bicycle (1984; for chamber orchestra)
Folk suite (1996; for string quartet)
The hidden garden (2010; for oboe & strings)
Jamaica folk (1985; for string quartet)
Jamaican suite (1981; for symphonic wind ensemble)
Little prelude (1984; for flute & string quartet)
Mapadua (2010; for chamber orchestra)
Medley o f Jamaican fo lk tunes (1963; for violin & piano)
Mikey (2011; reggae opera)
0 ’er our Blue Mountain (2009; for string quartet)
Parakeet in de garden (2003; for soprano, clarinet & piano; or tenor, flute & piano)
Ring games and jubilee (2003; for chamber orchestra)

Marshall

WORKS

Secular Choral Arrangements:

Sambo Gyal (Jamaican Folk Song, Satb Div. A Cappella)

Evening Time (Jamaican Folk Song, Satb Div. A Cappella)
Jackass A Jump An' Bray (Jamaican Folk Song, Satb Div. A Cappella)
Liza (Jamaican Folk Song, Satb Div. A Cappella)
Mi Cerassie (Jamaican Folk Song, Satb Div. A Cappella)
Day Oh! (Jamaican Folk Song, Satb Div. A Cappella)
Zion (Jamaican Rasta Song, Satb Div. A Cappella)
Deck The Halls (Christmas Carol, Satb Accompanied)
Jingle Bells (Christmas Carol, Satb Accompanied)
Jamaica Serenade (Jamaican Song, Satb Div. A Cappella)
Jamaica Arise (Jamaican National Song, Satb Div. With Orchestra)
1 Saw My Land In The Morning (Jamaican Patriotic Song, Satb Div. Accompanied)
Brawta Christmus (Jamaican Christmas Folk Song, Satb Div., A Cappella)
Kibba Yu Mout' (Jamaican Folk Song, Ttbb, A Cappella)
Hoi 'Im Joe, Jamaican Folk Song, Satb Div., A Cappella

Secular Choral/Orchestral Compositions:

One More Fi L ef (Satb Div., A Cappella)

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Love Kyaan Done (Jamaican Anthem, Satb Div. A Cappella)
Champions Of Gold (Jamaican Anthem, Satb Div. With Orchestra)
National Pledge Of Jamaica (Jamaican Anthem, Satb Div. With Orchestra)
I Shall Return (Satb Unaccompanied)
Love's Philosophy (Satb Unaccompanied)
One More Fi L e f (Satb Div., A Cappella*Run-A-Boat Symphony, Orchestra And Satb Chorus)
Jamaica Hardtalk (Jamaican Opera)
Nocturne In G Major (Serenity)

Sacred Choral Arrangements:

Jesus Is Mine (Jamaican Spiritual, Satb Div. Unaccompanied)

Be Ob Little Fait' (Jamaican Spiritual, Satb Div. Unaccompanied)
Sen' Di Powah Jus' Now (Jamaican Spiritual, Satb Div. Unaccompanied)
Cyaa Ketch Mi Again (Jamaican Spiritual, Satb Div. Unaccompanied)
Go On, Jamaican Spiritual (Satb Div. Unaccompanied)
Peace An' Love (Jamaican Spiritual, Satb Div. Unaccompanied)
Couldn't Keep It To Myself (Traditional Gospel Song, Satb Div. Unaccompanied)
Walk All Over God's Heaven, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. Unaccompanied
Roll Jordan Roll, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. Unaccompanied
Ezekiel Saw De Wheel, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. Unaccompanied
Go Tell It On The Mountain, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. Unaccompanied
You Can Tell De Worl’, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Give Me Jesus, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
De Virgin Mary, Traditional West Indian Song, Satb Div. A Cappella With Percussion
Go Down Moses, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Ev'ry Time I Feel De Spirit, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Mumblin' Word, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Hold On, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
My Lawd, What A Mawning, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
City Called Heaven, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Steal Away, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Great Day, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Were You There? Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Christmas Carol, Satb Div. Accompanied
Precious Lord, Take My Hand, Religious Hymn, Satb Div. A Cappella
Balm In Gilead, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Soon A Wid Be Done, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Lemons On De Tree, Jamaican Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Maasa God A God, Jamaican Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Journey Along Wid Me, Jamaican Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Yes, Tis Heab'n, Jamaican Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Sing An' Pray, Jamaican Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Abide With Me, Religious Hymn, Satb Div. A Cappella
My Jesus I Love Thee, Religious Hymn, Satb Div. A Cappella
O World Of God, Religious Hymn, Mixed Voices, Soprano Descant With Organ.

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Get On Board, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Once To Every Man And Nation, Religious Hymn, Satb Div. With Orchestra
Exorior! Classical Anthem, Satb Div. Accompanied
Emmanuel, Classical Anthem, Satb Div. Accompanied
The Declaration, Classical Anthem, Satb Div. Accompanied
My Faith Looks Up To Thee, Religious Hymn, Satb Div. Accompanied
Eternal Life, Religious Anthem, Satb Div. Accompanied
Jamaica Land Of Beauty, Jamaican Patriotic Song (Lloyd Hall, Composer), Satb Div.

Accompanied:

Sanctus, Classical Anthem, Satb Div. With Accompanied

0 Sacred Head Thou Wounded, Classical Anthem, Satb Div. Accompanied
Jesus Is Mine, Jamaican Spiritual, Satb Div. Unaccompanied
Jesus Alone Cannot Bear De Cross, Satb Div. Accompanied
I've Been 'Buked, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, Traditional Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Wichita Ghost Song I, Satb Div. A Cappella
Wichita Ghost Song Ii, Satb Div. A Cappella
First Jamaican Mento Mass, (Complete) Satb Div. With Folk Orchestra

Choral Compositions:

Psalm 1, Classical Anthem, Satb Div. A Cappella

Psalm 15, Classical Anthem, Satb Div. A Cappella
Psalm 23, Classical Anthem, Satb Div. A Cappella
Psalm 24, Classical Anthem, Satb Div. A Cappella
Psalm 43, Classical Anthem, Satb Div. A Cappella
Psalm 100, Classical Anthem, Satb Div. With Orchestra
Jamaican Folk Cantata, Satb Accompanied
T'ank God, Jamaican Anthem, Satb Div. Accompanied
Mi A Go Worship Im, Jamaican Hymn, Satb A Cappella
Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled, Harp, Violin, Satb
Prayer Of Thanksgiving, Classical Anthem, Satb With Orchestra
Turn Ye, Classical Anthem, Satb A Cappella
Alleluia, Classical Anthem, Satb A Cappella
The Upper Room, Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
1 Just Want To Be With My Lord, Spiritual, Satb Div. A Cappella
Listen, Lord—A Prayer, Anthem, Satb Div. A Cappella
My Answer, Gospel Anthem, Satb Accompanied
Here To Praise, Gospel Anthem, Sat Accompanied
Wait On The Lord, Gospel Anthem, Sat Accompanied
All The Way, Gospel Anthem, Sat A Cappella
He Loves Me, Gospel Anthem, Satb Accompanied
Abba Father, Worship Anthem, Sat Accompanied
We Worship You, Worship Anthem, Sat Accompanied

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Eat, Drink, And Be Merry, Soprano And Piano
A Fine Season: Soprano, Choir And Piano
Dis Is My Word, Soprano And Piano
Ruth, Short Musical In One Act, Soprano And Piano
Black, Green, And Gold, Mezzo-Soprano And Harp
I Neva Get Weary Yet, Jamaican Spiritual; Soprano, Tenor And Piano
We Are Rolling On, Jamaican Spiritual; Soprano, Tenor And Piano
Climbing De Hills Of Zion, Jamaican Spiritual, Bass And Piano
Heab'n Do' Gwine To Be Close', Jamaican Spiritual, Tenor And Piano
Blow De Double Note, Jamaican Spiritual; Mezzo-Soprano, Trumpet And Piano

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