Sound System Carnival

Last weekend the University had their annual Carnival -- a 3-day bash which proved to me that UWI could hang with even the rowdiest US schools. Friday night was a party on campus at the Student Union. I didn't attend because I was out sightseeing at Port Royal, but when Andy and I got home that night we could hear the music playing until around 4AM ... and campus is over a mile away.

Saturday was the official Carnival Parade and Dance Competition. There were a half dozen "floats" that paraded through campus, starting around 5PM.

As you can see they weren't so much floats as rolling noise machines. Welcome to the "Jamaican Sound System," one of the island's more notable contributions to world culture. A sound system is essentially an enormous collection of speakers -- sometimes on wheels -- assembled in an outdoor location so that party people can dance till dawn.

Each of the trucks had between 20-30 speakers thumping bass at max volume. Each sound system is operated by a different "selecta," (aka a DJ/MC) who plays a hand-picked collage of the latest carnival hits, while also using his own mic to hype up the crowd. Each selecta was competing to get the most people dancing around their particular rig ... hence volume was key. Even outdoors, it was still louder than most indoor concerts I've ever attended. So loud you could watch the whole tractor-trailer literally vibrate to the beats. This is why we could hear last night's party over a mile away.

Aside from the stacks, Carnival consists of throngs of people, organized and otherwise, dancing along the rolling sound systems. The "official" Carnival participants are groups in matching costume, have a semi-organized routine, and compete against each other for judges stationed along the route. The rest of the people are in the parade the public ... who join in the fun. I'd say more about the kind of dancing that goes on, but this is G-rated blog. Google it if you're really that curious.


The parade took a couple hours to roll through campus and then stopped near the library for the final dance-off and awards competition. By then it was dark and the rigs then rolled off to the student center again, for another 4AM blast. Because Andy and I are old, we left at this point for home.

Sunday night was a third party at the Hellshire beach. Hey, a beach-themed party at a real beach! Quite a novelty for this Minnesotan. Hellshire is a suburb of Kingston and about a 45 min drive from campus. The area also has the honor of having the only beach in the Kingston metro. Andy and I caught a ride from our neighbor Satchi for more sound system fun.

These pics are from Satchi's camera ... and turned out surprisingly well. No live music here ... and no reggae either, which went out of style in Jamaica over 20 years ago. These days, parties are strictly sound system based and feature dancehall, the Jamaican musical form which has dominated since the late 80s. I spent some time near the selecta booth and in front of the stacks to get a sense of it all. Until this weekend, I always thought "bone-rattling loud" was only an expression...

Ha! Two swinging white guys doing their best to fit in...

That's the lights of Kingston in the background. Like previous nights I'm sure this bash went until the wee hours of the dawn, but we left earlier because our ride didn't want to make the long drive back after too many hours of surf and thump. (Roads are narrow, bumpy, and not well-lit here.) Still, good times were had by all. Monday morning, campus was noticeably emptier than usual...