ABOUT THE STUDY ABROAD COURSE:

IREMU-UT.1800    History & Criticism   4 Credits

Instructor(s): Vivien Goldman

Monday-Sunday | January 3-14, 2012

Please note: this course takes place on location in Jamaica

Jamaica has had more influence on American popular music than any other island, partly due to the unprecedented international impact of Bob Marley. His success was rooted in the rich traditions of Jamaican music, which fuse African retention from slavery days with re-interpretive absorption of African-American music and the quadrilles and classical music of the slave-owners, who relied on enslaved musicians for their entertainment. Today, the impact of Jamaican music is arguably broader than ever, as it has shaped contemporary sounds such as Hip Hop and Reggaeton, which dominate the vast Spanish-speaking market in the U.S, all across South America, and beyond.

In this course, students will have experiences that build their knowledge of Jamaican culture and its function in politics, society, art, and the community as well as stimulate their own creativity. To learn about Jamaican music’s past, present and future, students will be immersed in dynamic cultural and experiential activities such as: a tour of Studio One, experience a Rasta Grounation, a workshop on how to build a drum, visits to historical music studios and radio stations, guided tours around historical reggae sites, live concerts, museums, and much more. Students will meet key politicians (Minister of Culture and Youth, Olivia “Babsy” Grange), artists (leading dancehall producer, Steven ‘Di Genius’ and his father, Studio One veteran and reggae legend, Freddie McGregor, legendary guitarist Earl “Chinna” Smith), executives (Chris Blackwell, Founder Island Def Jam), and cultural advocates who have kept Jamaica at the forefront of music and whose job it is to nurture Jamaican culture in these challenging times for the entertainment industry.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:

Vivien Goldman is a London-born writer, broadcaster, adjunct professor and post-punk musician. She previously developed and taught courses in Reggae and Punk for the Clive Davis Institute. Her journalism appears in the New York Times, Black Book, the UK Observer and New Statesman. The most recent of her five books is “The Book of Exodus: The Making and Meaning of Bob Marley and the Wailers’ Album of the Century,” (Three Rivers Press/Random House) which was described as “vivid and intimate” by Rolling Stone. Her second book on Marley, it includes the brief period she spent as his PR at Island Records before the band was famous, right after her graduation from university in the early 1970s.

After quitting Bob’s PR to become a full-time journalist in the UK rock weeklies, Goldman continued a lengthy association with the label, covering many of their other artists such as Grace Jones, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Aswad, Burning Spear and U2. Combined with her connections with the early US hip-hop movement, as Def Jam was forming, Goldman’s course offers a unique and revealing insight into the progress of one indie label, an industry — and an entrée to parallel worlds that co-exist within popular music itself.

MORE INFORMATION:

This course is open to all NYU students and visiting students. If you would like to be considered for this study abroad course in Jamaica, you must fill out the program application. Winter session tuition will be available in October. Please visit the NYU Bursar’s website for details. *Note: In addition to the tuition, this course has a nonrefundable program fee of $1,965.