LITITZ MENTO BAND - Dance Music and Working Songs from Jamaica - ZEROSOUNDS [+ Stanley Beckford]

 Rare as hen's teeth compilations exist but whole albums dedicated to one band of Mento masters are pretty few and far between. I think I posted some Stanley Beckford (earworms and then some people) a while ago but this is fun too . . . . . . 

here at Zerosounds

For anyone unfamiliar with Mento the notes over at Zero G are worth a read . . .:

Though often erroneously regarded as simply a variation of Calypso, Jamaican Mento is a distinct musical style that developed independently from its similarly styled Trinidadian cousin. The genre remained Jamaica’s most popular form of indigenous music from the post war years up until the development of Shuffle Blues and its immediate successor, Ska, in the early sixties.

As late as the 1960s the cheerfully elated rhythms of mento would be found at every village festival. In the age of modern and Afro-American pop music, however, the most important and oldest folk tradition of Jamaica - which developed from the displaced Africans’ contact with European music - has fallen increasingly into the shadows. With violin, banjo, guitar, and rumba box this famous Jamaican group presents a piquant potpourri of mentos, folk tunes, religious songs, and American hits. The songs are not infrequently lewd, and they treat daily life with humor and satire.

The album was recorded on July 16th 1992 at the studios of Sender Freies Berlin with Gerald Myers(banjo), Clement Smalling and Sonny Borriel (guitar), Theodore Miller (violin), Cleveland Salmon (rumba box) and Jerome Williams on vocals.

Tracklist: 

1 Quadrille (Instrumental) 17:00 

2 Born Jamaican 4:46 

3 Rivers Of Babylon / Lion Of Judah 6:02 

4 Man Of Montego Bay 4:01 

5 Island In The Sun 2:20 

6 Day Oh! 3:52 

7 Fan Me Soldier Man 2:12 

8 Linstead Market 3:24 

9 Shaving Cream (Instrumental) 2:23 

10 Little Girl In Kingston Town 3:06 

11 Grader Man 2:57 

12 Revival Man 2:32 

13 Tennessee Waltz 4:08 

14 Weel An' Tune (Instrumental) 3:41

and mostly for my daughter's partner, Rob! . . . . . . 

The legendary Stanley Beckford sings Big Bamboo! live on Euro TV

what can he be singing about . . . . . . .!??

Stanley Beckford - New Jamaica!

In 1980 Beckford won the prestigious Jamaica festival song contest with Dreaming of a New Jamaica (A Land of Peace and Love), which he wrote during a bloody election year in which more than 900 citizens lost their lives to politically motivated violence.