Half the Story Has Never Been Told: The Importance of Oral Histories in Recording Jamaica s Music Heritage and Origins

This paper explores the lack of archival documentation on Jamaican music history, especially in the years prior to and surrounding Jamaican independence in 1962. Natural disasters, neglect, theft, and the social impacts of colonialism are discussed as barriers to proper record keeping. Oral history provides an opportunity for historians of the six major genres that Jamaica has given the world-mento, ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub, and dancehall- to both fill this void as well as supplement existing documentation. This tool, however, offers its own set of barriers including the death of the musicians, memory, accuracy, and perception. Examples are provided to demonstrate these challenges and remedies. The process of utilizing oral history to construct Jamaica s lost musical history preservation has been underway for more than a decade and continues into the future.