New Jamaican Music Fusion Album Launched in London

A new album, ‘Two Culture Clash’, which combines the best of Jamaican music ranging from dance hall to classic reggae sounds with electronic dance music that is popular in clubs across the world, was launched recently in London at the Jamaican High Commission.
The album pairs some of Jamaica’s top musicians, vocalists and Dancehall stars with top electronic music producers from the United Kingdom, the United States and France. It was made in Jamaica at Port Antonio’s Gee Jam Studio of music producer Jon Baker.
‘Two Culture Clash’ was the brainchild of Mr. Baker and Mark Jones of the London based Wall of Sound recordings.
“We wanted to make an album that brought together the cultural combination and musical combination of the producers from around the world who make electronic dance music and Jamaican culture and Jamaican music, reggae and dance hall and classical reggae music. They (musicians and producers) met in studio face-to-face and worked together, wrote the tracks together for a period of about four days (per record) and we combined the music and they come up with something new. It’s really exciting,” Mr. Jones told JIS News.
Mr. Baker said the idea was to merge the two forms of music to reach a wider audience.
“We also had an idea of merging two forms of music to reach a wider audience. Jamaican music (Dancehall, reggae) has always been an integral part of popular culture and so has dance (electronic) music, so I linked up with a premier dance music impresario who has Wall of Sound,” he said. Mr. Jones said there was no contraction in linking Jamaican music with electronic dance music.
“For me the two musical forms have been intrinsically linked for years The first people who experimented with electronics (in music) were the dub experimentalists of the past. When you think about the classic studio experimentalists, there are Lee Perry and the people in the sound system culture who were designing and making their own boxes and effecting sound. They really played a big part in influencing people making electronic music,” he said.
The Executive Producer, Jamaican Jade Lee said the album has come at a time when Jamaican culture was very popular internationally.
“It’s definitely brilliant timing for something like this. The whole culture and vibe of Jamaica is so out there. We have infiltrated all the popular culture.
This project is sort of a love project, it’s also a passion for us to bring the two cultures together and the best of the best of the UK, American and French producers and best Jamaican artistes, like Nadine Sutherland, Big Youth, Spragga Benz and Ernest Ranglin,” she said.
A similar launch in Jamaica is planned for later this year as well as one in New York and perhaps Paris.