ABSTRACT
Dancehall sessions, or bashments, are held every night of the week on the streets of downtown Kingston. These open-air events have been key to the popular cultural and social life of the inner city since the 1950s. From then on, the apparatus of the 'sound system' – the social, cultural, economic and technological apparatus of amplifiers and speaker boxes – has exercised a considerable influence on Jamaican music, as well as hip hop, for example. The sound system has also been instrumental in DJs' 'performance' techniques, and in the social practices around enjoying recorded music, in clubs and elsewhere. The commercial aspect of the sound system has been critical to its operations in Jamaica from the very beginning. In addition to their followers, sounds like Stone Love also have a heartland of support in the downtown inner city communities where they often originate and operate.
