Sonic Bodies: Reggae Sound Systems, Performance Techniques, and Ways of Knowing

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The reggae sound system has exerted a major influence on music and popular culture. Out on the streets of inner city Kingston, Jamaica, every night, sound systems stage dancehall sessions for the crowd to share the immediate, intensive and immersive visceral pleasures of sonic dominance. Sonic Bodies concentrates on the skilled performance of the crewmembers responsible for this signature sound of Jamaican music: the audio engineers designing, building and fine-tuning the hugely powerful "sets" of equipment; the selectors choosing the music tracks to play; and MCs(DJs) on the mic hyping up the crowd. Julian Henriques proposes that these dancehall "vibes" are taken literally as the periodic motion of vibrations. He offers an analysis of how a sound system operates - at auditory, corporeal and sociocultural frequencies. Sonic Bodies formulates a fascinating critique of visual dominance and the dualities inherent in ideas of image, text or discourse. This innovative book questions the assumptions that reason resides only in a disembodied mind, that communication is an exchange of information, and that meaning is only ever representation.

Reviews

[Sonic Bodies] offers a fresh and illuminating exploration of Jamaican auditory culture through the reggae sound system, making a significant contribution to an aspect of Caribbean and Jamaican culture that is in dire need of interrogation ... Henriques demonstrates an extensive understanding of the literature of auditory theory, cultural studies and philosophy which is very enriching for a variety of disciplines ... An outstanding cross-/multi-disciplinary work. * Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture *
"Sonic Bodies" is Julian Henriques' new study of the 'sound system' - the performative technology of choice that made Jamaican reggae and 'dancehall' into a great world music. This book takes us, conceptually, into altogether new and little known territory, exploring in depth the relation between popular music, its modes of transmission and the bodies it resonates with and 'colonizes'. This is a complex terrain and he navigates it in an exciting text that is thoroughly grounded in Jamaican 'sonic' cultures, technically sophisticated, full of original insights, and theoretically bold and adventurous... - Stuart Hall, Professor Emeritus, Open University , UK
Henriquess ambition is to attempt 'a mode of Cultural Studies that is itself auditory, as distinct to one that has audition as its object of investigation'. This is an intriguing challenge for a book that is meant to be read, not heard ... he raises important questions in the process. -- Shannon Dudley, University of Washington, USA * New West Indian Guide *

Author Bio

Julian Henriques is currently senior lecturer in the Department of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London. He was previously senior lecturer for Film and Television at CARIMAC, at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. His previous publications include the joint authorship of Changing the Subject: Psychology, Social Regulation and Subjectivity. He also wrote and directed the feature film "Babymother," a reggae musical.