Previous Page: Suddenly, R&B record package became quite slim; sound men was returning almost empty handed from their record buying trips to the USA and there was not enough old Rhythm & Blues in the record sack to go around. Enterprising dance organisers greatly favoured the sound systems because to have sound playing the music was far cheaper than hiring musicians of a big band. Although in the early days sound were somewhat primitive with only one record deck, a sound system could keep the music in constant flow and the dance revellers dancing all night. Inevitable gaps between sounds were bridged by slick talking disc jockeys pitter-patter copied from the New Orleans Djs whose radio shows. These New Orleans radio shows was beamed across the Caribbean island to eager Jamaicans listeners. A sound sound had to be quite powerful as most dance scenes in Jamaica took place out-doors where the dance arena was either a lawn bound to temporary or provisionally rough corrugated iron fencing. The sound system was important to the working class of Jamaica. The mainly white ruling and upper class of the Jamaican society had always choose to swing to a different kind of musical beat; they favoured the more refined sound and did not like the voyaging to the seedier parts of the city and yet a few would venture into the no-go areas just
to satisfy their yearning desires to get a bit of rough stuff. | 
