1. Jamaican music (this include roots rock reggae, dancehall reggae, ska, rock steady, mento).
2. Gangsta (or bad boy) Style (Jamaica introduced the style conscious to wearing their shirts outside their pants.
3. The foundation for rap (Jamaica invented the concept for rap back in the late 1960s/early 1970s and called it "toasting". On Bob Marley’s "Put It On" he sings: ‘I’m not boasting…feel like toasting’…).
4. Dub (instrumental version of a track’s A side, usually spiced up with echo and other effects).
5. The Remix (we call it the version where you basically have the one rhythm and slight variation of content on it. For instance you could have a singer, a rapper, an instrumentalist, etc. all doing their own special performance on the one basic rhythm track).
6. The DiscoMix (long-playing 12" vinyl records, now largely obsolete.).
7. Bob Marley & the Wailers (Marley’s ability to unite opposing politicians and sensitise the world to the dynamics of Jamaica’s indigenous music, the beauty of our local woman in the form of a Jamaican Miss World and politics is still a landmark).
8. Personalities (Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Mary Seacole).
9. Rastafarianism.
10. Dreadlocks.
11. Bauxite (Jamaica is currently the world’s second largest exporter of Bauxite, falling short only to the much larger Australia. In an earlier decade it was the world’s biggest exporter of bauxite, the raw material for aluminium).
12. World, record breaking athletes (among them, of course, Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Donald Quarrie, Merlene Ottey, Herbert McKenley, just to name a few).
13. Inspiring Holiday Destination (home of author Ian Fleming, creator of the James Bond novels; through Sandals Jamaica invented the all-inclusive holiday resort concept.)
14. Jamaican patois (Ali G’s displacement of Jamaican language and style is what gave the character his quirky resonance).
15. Gold (at one point Jamaica was the gold capital of the world, attracting many pirates from all parts of the globe.).
16. Sugar.
17. Rum.
18. Liquor (Tia Maria and others).
19. Ganja (Jamaica’s term for marijuana; also called The Weed, among others.).
20. Blue Mountain Coffee.

Can you think of other ways Jamaica has impacted on the world?

Ground-breaking film The Harder They Come has come again! But this time it’s reincarnated as a colourful stage play which  kicked off its North American tour in Toronto on Tuesday.

Like the 1972 film on which it’s based, the musical was written by Jamaica’s Perry Henzell who died in 2006, but not before he’d written the script for a musical based on his tale of a would-be musician who becomes a wanted man in the mean streets of Kingston, Jamaica.

British producer Jan Ryan brought it to the stage and Theatre Royal Stratford East and UK Arts International have teamed with Mirvish Productions to premiere it in Toronto.

The film, with its track of famous songs such as The Harder They Come, You Can Get It If You Really Want and Many Rivers to Cross, brought lead player, singer and song-writer Jimmy Cliff to superstardom. Cliff’s character, based on a real-life Jamaican criminal, cannot negotiate the politics of the music industry and turns to crime. Many of the issues tackled in the film is still pertinent today so should resonate with audiences around the world.

The Toronto production, the first stop on an international tour, runs June 21 through Aug. 23 at the Canon Theatre.

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Wha’gwaan Jamaica?