Aiding Poor and Disadvantaged Children

Alpha Boys Association for PDC

Go Yorkie Go! Again at Brixton Town Hall in Oct 03

Yorkie

It all started way back in the early Fifties as a schoolboy down in Jamaica. We used to gather around the Radiofusion listening to music. There were all kinds of music being played and broadcast at that time from classical, jazz, Latin, R&B to calypso.

 

Most of these sounds came out of Europe, America and Africa, all of which helped to create the unique sounds of mento and later calypso. During that time, the most popular venues for entertainment were the rum bars that were strictly out of bounds for young people of school going age. Now all bars had jukeboxes that were strategically placed near the door to attract customers. These jukeboxes were always belting out the imported R&B music from America.

 

The next popular venues were the cinemas, where all the old standard marches from the U.K. were being played at news time and before the movie. The British Military Bands on their posting on the island used to play a lot of marches. The Jamaican Military Band, The Alpha Boys School Band, The Police Band played them too. However, the arrangements of these marches are full of syncopation for the brass section and so these different sounds were all around us. There was no television then and so when

To contact us:abapdc@blueyonder.co.uk —07932 332064