Search - Various Artists :: Boogu Yagga Gal: Jamaican Mento 1950s

Excellent!!!

Megan Romer | Ithaca, NY | 12/16/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mento is traditional Jamaican Folk Music, it came about before reggae, dancehall or ska. It's played on simple folk instruments, usually a guitar, a banjo or fiddle, hand drums or shakers and a rumba box (a very large mbira or thumb piano in the low bass register). The songs are traditionally chock-full of bawdy double entendres and poorly veiled sexual humor, which makes them rowdy and fun. Some people refer to this music as Jamaican Calypso, but its different in rhythm, instrumentation and lyrical content than Trinidadian Calypso.



This collection is a wonderful mix of some of the mento greats of yesteryear... and realistically, there aren't really any mento greats of today, The Jolly Boys and The Overtakers are about all that there is left. The songs included here are well-chosen and present a really nice picture of the mento sound, feel and, very importantly, the humor of this almost-lost genre of folk music."

It's Mento-riffic!

Mike F. | Seattle, WA | 08/16/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An excellent selection of songs, but what really blew me away was the sound quality! Whoever performed the audio restoration really knew what they were doing. The incredibly-detailed liner notes were a nice surprise, too."