Women in Jamaican Music

Product Description

As the ubiquitous Jamaican musician Bob Marley once famously sang, “half the story has never been told.” This rings particularly true for the little-known women in Jamaican music who comprise significantly less than half of the Caribbean nation’s musical landscape. This book covers the female contribution to Jamaican music and its subgenres through dozens of interviews with vocalists, instrumentalists, bandleaders, producers, deejays and supporters of the arts. Relegated to marginalized spaces, these pioneering women fought for their claim to the spotlight amid oppressive conditions to help create and shape Jamaica’s musical heritage.

Review

“Augustyn looks at the myriad contributions of several generations of women in Jamaican popular music styles…The volume is exhaustively researched, and direct quotes provide firsthand accounts of the impact of these historically undervalued musicians. Augustyn did the foundational research necessary to bring this overlooked output into the canon….recommended”―
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About the Author

Heather Augustyn is a continuing lecturer in the English department at Purdue Northwest. She has written seven books on ska and Jamaican music and lives in Northwest Indiana.