Beth Lesser: The Roots Of Dancehall
4 June 2012
Photographer and reporter Beth Lesser has played a crucial role in documenting and spreading appreciation and knowledge for dancehall culture worldwide.
Together with partner David Kingston, Lesser got involved in reggae culture back in the early 80s, an interest that soon began to venture into dancehall territory . Between 1981 and 1988 Beth and David published 8 issues of Reggae Quarterly, a magazine that focused on the dancehall scene in Jamaica featuring iconic and celebrated images.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jamaican independence, Lesser is offering ‘Rub-a-Dub Style: The Roots of Modern Dancehall' as a free download as “an appreciation of Jamaica – its people and its culture”.
The book covers the origins of dancehall music in Jamaica in the 80s, an era that has often remained neglected in the history of reggae, however, this pivotal period set the stage for reggae music today and heavily influenced genres like hip-hop and rap. Rub-a-Dub Style takes off from Bob Marley’s death in 1981 and covers the dancehall explosion in the early 90s taking the reader on a journey through ten years of change that took dancehall music out of the ghetto and into the international spotlight.
Download a free PDF copy here
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Image Credit: Beth Lesser