Mento merriness in Paris

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

After coordinating a visit to Paris, France, in early April for mento to have a presence at Festival de L'Imagimairie, Jamaica Music Museum curator Herbie Miller concludes that there is potential for a mento resurgence.

He spoke with persons of varying ages at Festival de L'Imagimairie and said "Most are in a mento mood. Whereas an old group like The Skatalites continues to be popular, they want to see more of what preceded reggae". So, there are signs that mento could be the next big thing - again. Mento was recorded and released at Jamaica's first recording studio, which Stanley Motta opened on Hanover Street, Kingston, in 1951. His first release was a Lord Fly medley.

The Blue Glaze mento band and Winston 'Merritone' Blake also participated in the festival, bringing the live and recorded mento music, respectively, in that order, to the two performances. Miller spoke before them, discussing 'From Mento to Ska' in an audio-visual presentation and fielding questions from the audience. He told The Sunday Gleaner, "my presentation attracted scholars, students and a general music audience".

Miller said that Festival de L'Imagimairie is an ethnomusicological event dealing with music which is endangered. The visit was sparked by a visit to the Institute of Jamaica and, by extension, the Jamaica Music Museum, by representatives of the festival who were exploring what Jamaica had to offer to the festival. They were advised about a range of music and, after exploring the options, expressed an interest in mento.

"They were familiar with Blue Glaze because they had been the backing band for Stanley (the late singer of Stanley and the Turbines). They also knew a recording. They had done their homework and realised that it was not just music for socialising, but was performed at wakes," Miller said. So the visitors knew the religious aspect in the performances at wakes, including sankeys.

The French embassy facilitated the venture significantly.

Representing a wake

That research may have pushed Blue Glaze beyond their expected fare, as Miller said "at the sound-check they felt that the band was basically going to present something that was too 'touristy'. They did not want that. They wanted in the repertoire things that would represent a nine night or a wake. They had some particular songs they wanted performed".

So it was 'wheel and come again', a revamping and reordering to good effect. Miller pointed out that others take our music much more seriously than we do and, as Jamaican music is taught and put into context, "they are prepared to take it much deeper than we care to or are prepared to. Few of us go where Marjorie Whylie and Olive Lewin are prepared to go with our music".

Miller puts the interest in mento at the two sold-out nights in the context of a revival of other music genres, including traditional jazz and the blues.

"What the audience is seeking is authenticity," he said. "We could tour four or five mento bands a year," he said, cautioning that these bands would have to move away from the tourist-oriented repertoire, which has been shaped by the opportunities they get to play, broaden their offering of songs and compose new ones.

"I think mento is so poised, if we can produce and put out there all the mento bands available to us, that we could see a whole new area of musical employment opening," said Miller.