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Die kanadische Fotografin Beth Lesser reiste in den 80ern mehr oder minder konstant zwischen Jamaica, New York und Kanada. Während dieser Zeit dokumentierte sie die Dancehall Szene mit ihren Bildern und veröffentlichte mehrere Fotobücher. Das wohl bekannteste Dancehall: The Rise of Jamaican Dancehall Culture ist eine Rarität und wird bei Amazon zu absurden Preisen angeboten.

Mit ihren Fotografien gewährt sie einen schönen Blick auf die Dancehall Kultur der 80er Jahre. Man könnte sagen, sie ist so etwas wie die Martha Cooper des Dancehall.

Lesser first visited Kingston in 1981 as a wide-eyed 28-year-old Canadian reggae fan. She found the big new thing, the scene everyone wanted to be involved in, was dancehall. “You wouldn’t have known this was going on,” Lesser says, “looking at Jamaica from the perspective of Canada or the US, but when we got there, it was so huge you couldn’t possibly avoid it.” She spent most of the decade travelling to Jamaica and back.


Klick auf’s Bild für die große Ansicht.
1983_DelroyWilson_ChanceryLane_BethLesser

“Until you go to the live dances, you can’t imagine what it’s like,” she continues. “You never knew what would happen. I remember the dance in 1985 when [the producer] King Jammy was playing the Sleng Teng versions, and just when it was getting exciting the police came, looking for guns, and closed it down.” There was one night even more memorable than that, though. “My husband and I got married at a dance,” Lesser says. “[The DJ] Major Stitch played the Michael Prophet record Here Comes the Bride.”

1984_FlickWilson_ChannelOne_BethLesser

1984_FrankieJones_TrevorLynn_BethKingston

1984_GoldieLocks_ChannelOne_BethLesser

1984_RolandBurrell_and_Friends_BethKingston

1984_SquingeneFranicis_ChannelOne_BethLesser

1984_Taco_ChannelOne_BethLLesser

1984_Youth_ChannelOne_BethLesser

1985_AdmiralTibet_Bethlesser

1985_AshantiWaugh_BethLesser

1985_BobbyMelody_ModernizePrinting_BethLesser

1985_JunjoLawes_Soldier_Truck_BethLesser

1985_Ken_Minott_Youth_Promotion_Studio_BethLesser

1985_MicaelJahson_EchoMinott_Tenorsaw_WayneSmith_BethLesser

1985_PapaScrew_BlackScorpioSound_BethLesser

1985_Shadowman_DirtyHarry_BillyBoyo_BethLesser

1986_Childen_TigersYard_BethLesser

1986_Toulouse_YouthPromotion_BethLesser

1986_Youth_GraySuit_YouthPromotionYard_BethLesser

1987_Tonics_Babymother_BethLesser

Alle Bilder mit freundlicher Genehmigung von Beth Lesser.