SOUTH FLORIDA – A favorite among lovers of folk music, mento is the Jamaican version of Trinidadian calypso or American bluegrass. It retains a modest following in a country where dancehall is king.
Tad’s International Record, a company based in Jamaica and South Florida, are scheduled to re-release Jamaica Farewell, an album by Larry and The Mento Boys. Tad Dawkins, head of that label, expects it to be out this summer.
The 18-song set was produced by the three-piece band who are from St. Ann parish in Jamaica. First released by Tad’s International Record in 2013, it contains folk standards like the title song and Island in The Sun, which have been recorded by greats such as Harry Belafonte.
The hilarious Shame And Scandal, risque Big Bamboo, and interpretations of Bob Marley’s No Woman No Cry and Three Little Birds, are also on Jamaica Farewell.
Mento was popular in Jamaica throughout the 1940s when the country was under British rule. It lost favor during the 1960s when ska, rocksteady and reggae became the sound of choice for the country’s youth.
It has enjoyed mini revivals thanks to artists like Stanley Beckford, who can be likened to Bill Monroe, the man who kept bluegrass alive in the United States by playing regional festivals.
The latest mento resurgence comes in the form of producer Stephen “Di Genius” McGregor’s Hill And Gully ‘riddim’. That beat has songs by dancehall acts like Masicka (Slip & Slide) and (Mr. Vegas (Sharon).
Hill And Gully is a mento standard played by bands like Larry and The Mento Boys and The Jolly Boys. The latter, from Portland parish, were minor celebrities in 2010 when their album, Great Expectation, earned them tours of the United Kingdom and United States.
