During rehearsal, the music is spiritually uplifting for members of the Jamaican Folk Revue. In the church meeting room, they tell stories through lyrics, about love and marriage, dance and games, ...

Mento is a style of Jamaican music that predates and has heavily influenced ska and reggae. The Jolly Boys is a mento band from Port Antonio, Jamaica that has been playing these folksy Jamaican tunes ...

A dozen years ago, finding Jamaican mento music from the 1950s was nearly impossible. The pre-ska, acoustic calypso music -- which can still be heard on the island's resorts and tourist spots -- was ...

The Jolly Boys' members play mento, a bawdy style of party music that preceded Jamaica's more famous musical export, reggae. The band enjoyed some international success in the late '80s and early '90s ...

In a country where dancehall and reggae are dominant, Stanley Beckford single-handedly kept mento music on the front burner of Jamaica’s popular culture. The singer’s breakthrough song came in 1975 ...

A connoisseur of Jamaican culture, Colin Smith never tires of hearing a Miss Lou poem or the folksy ‘twang’ of a mento band. It is a passion he has carried since his years at Cornwall College. A ...

Chris Nickson reviews the CD Mento Madness: Motta's Jamaican Mento 1951-56. The disc is a compilation of material from the Jamaican "MRS" label founded by Kingston business man Stanley Motta. The CD ...