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17 - Rhythm, Rasta, Rock, and “Electric Avenue”: The Electric Guitar in Anglo-Caribbean Popular Music

from Part V - The Global Instrument

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2024

By
Mike Alleyne
Edited by
Jan-Peter Herbst  and
Steve Waksman
Jan-Peter Herbst
Affiliation:
University of Huddersfield
Steve Waksman
Affiliation:
Smith College, Massachusetts
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Summary

The secondary status of the electric guitar in Anglo-Caribbean popular music is explored with an emphasis on recordings from the 1970s and 1980s, and reggae as the region’s most widely globalized music. Early guitarists in Jamaican popular music, Ernest Ranglin and Lynn Taitt, are referenced, alongside analyses of the instrument in the reggae recordings of The Wailers, and the works of Bob Marley and Peter Tosh featuring other players such as Donald Kinsey in lead guitar roles. The chapter utilizes first-hand interviews with key figures and also focuses on Eddy Grant as one of the most visible Caribbean guitarists through his international pop star career spanning several decades. The twenty-first-century emergence of the Trinidad-based metal act Orange Sky, fusing rock and reggae influences, is also discussed.

Keywords

ReggaeCaribbeanhistoryErnest RanglinLynn TaittBob MarleyPeter ToshDonald Kinseyand Eddy Grant
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar , pp. 306 - 324
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Selected Bibliography

Alleyne, Mike, The Encyclopedia of Reggae: The Golden Age of Roots Reggae (Sterling, 2012).Google Scholar
Alleyne, Mike “Marketing Marley: Cultural & Commercial Consequences,” in Anales Del Caribe (Casa de las Americas, 2018), pp. 190–206.Google Scholar
Alleyne, Mike “Tracks and Transformations in The Wailers’ ‘Concrete Jungle,’” in Analyzing Recorded Music: Collected Perspectives on Popular Music Tracks, edited by Moylan, William, Burns, Lori, and Alleyne, Mike (Routledge, 2023), pp. 386–402.Google Scholar
Blackwell, Chris, The Islander: My Life in Music and Beyond (Gallery, 2022).Google Scholar
Katz, David, Solid Foundation: An Oral History of Reggae (Bloomsbury, 2003).Google Scholar
Masouri, John, The Story of Bob Marley’s Wailers: Wailing Blues (Omnibus, 2008).Google Scholar
Masouri, John The Life of Peter Tosh: Steppin’ Razor (Omnibus, 2013).Google Scholar
Masouri, John Simmer Down: The Early Wailers’ Story (Jook Joint, 2015).Google Scholar
Salewicz, Chris and Boot, Adrian, Reggae Explosion: The Story of Jamaican Music (Abrams, 2001).Google Scholar
Steffens, Roger, So Much Things to Say: The Oral History of Bob Marley (W.W. Norton, 2017).Google Scholar

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