Mento

Before ska, rocksteady, reggae and dancehall there was mento, a rural Jamaican music that took shape in the nineteenth century from African rhythm and European melody: banjo, guitar, hand drum, bamboo saxophone and a rumba box, a large thumb piano the player sits on that supplies the bass. The songs are topical, often funny and frequently full of double meanings that pass over visitors' heads entirely. It was miscalled calypso for export in the 1950s, which confused its reputation for decades. A handful of veteran bands still play, and the form remains the acknowledged root of everything Jamaican music did afterwards.

What you actually see

• The rumba box - the sat-on thumb piano that carries the bass line.
• Banjo and bamboo sax - the instruments that define the sound.
• The lyrics - topical and full of double meaning.
• Veteran bands - a small number still performing across the island.

When to go

Year-round. Mento is most often heard at hotels and cultural events rather than at dedicated venues; the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission programme and heritage festivals in the summer are the more authentic settings. Ask locally rather than relying on listings.

Honest expectations

There is no reliable venue where you can simply turn up and hear it, and hotel mento is often a shortened tourist set. The remaining veteran players are elderly and the tradition is genuinely at risk. Much of what is sold to visitors as mento is calypso or reggae covers. Recordings are the most dependable way in.

Nearby

Montego Bay and Ocho Rios hotels programme it; heritage festivals move around the island.