ABSTRACT
As mentioned in the introduction, it is my intention to engage in a conversation between dancehall and church hall. Central to dancehall is the sound system and uppermost to African Caribbean Christianity is worship. One historical connection between these two traditions is audio culture. As explored previously, the music of the sound system and Christian worship share parts of sonic history in Jamaica. The rhizome that concerns me here is the relationship between dub and specific practices in African Caribbean Pentecostalism. To fully develop the intricacies of this linkage, it is my intention in the next two chapters to provide a historical context for this encounter. This chapter begins by locating the social and cultural origins of the dancehall and the church hall. I will identify the emergence of sound system and Pentecostalism in the Jamaican context and the transportation of these two traditions to Britain as a consequence of post-war Caribbean migration.
