Henriques, Julian F.. 2011. Sonic Bodies: Reggae Sound Systems, Performance Techniques and Ways of Knowing. New York: Continuum. ISBN 978-1-441-14429-4 [Book]

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Abstract or Description

The reggae sound system has exerted a major influence on music, popular culture - and with Sonic Bodies - the idea that sound itself could provide a conceptual framework and research tool. Every night Dancehall sessions stage a visceral, immersive and immensely pleasurable experience of sonic dominance for the participating crowd - out on the streets of inner city Kingston, Jamaica. Sonic Bodies concentrates on the skilled performance of the three crewmembers responsible for this auditory signature of Jamaican music: the audio engineers designing, building and fine-tuning the hugely powerful “set” of equipment; the selectors choosing the music tracks played; and MCs (DJs) on the mic hyping up the crowd.

Sonic Bodies proposes that these dancehall "vibes" are taken literally as the periodic movement of vibrations. These provide the basis for an analysis of how a sound system operates - not only at auditory, but also at corporeal and sociocultural frequencies. Sonic Bodies establishes the basis for a vibrational cultural studies, as distinct from a cultural study of vibrations. It formulates a fascinating auditory 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 the mind, communication is an exchange of information and meaning is only ever representation.

Item Type:	Book
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Media, Communications and Cultural Studies > Topology Research Unit Research Office > REF2014 Media, Communications and Cultural Studies > Centre for Sound, Technology & Culture (CSTC)
Date:	2011
Item ID:	4257
Date Deposited:	04 Nov 2010 15:51
Last Modified:	05 Oct 2021 08:30
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/4257

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