Jamaican Bars Serve More Than Refreshments

By: Charles H.E. Campbell

It is said that Jamaica has more churches and rum bars per square mile than any other country in the world. I cannot verify the accuracy of the above but they certainly both impact significantly on people’s lives. Recent surveys show the church with a registered membership of nearly 900,000 people and active worshippers of about 600.000 in number or 22% of the resident population. The church as a body therefore, retains the largest organisation of and influence on people’s lives.

I know that it may shock some people (my family included) to be comparing at all the positive contributions of both to the quality of life of our people. However, with the retreat somewhat of the church and state from the social lives of the masses, the rum bar has to a large extent taken over, in the main, the function of organizing and coordinating many social aspects of community activity, entertainment and recreation, originally executed by those institutions.

For instance, I know an ambitious, beautiful, sexy young lady in my community. But it would always surprise and bother me (moral scruples?) that often times, when I am passing by one of the village bars, I would see her there. This is not just weekends, not just night-time, so it seemed to me that she and her friends spent a lot of time there. One day I pondered aloud why this was so in the presence of my driver. I immediately got an important lesson in Jamaican anthropology.

He took me to her home, a neat single room board house- where she lived with her mother and common law husband, two sisters, her own two children and her sister’s two children. They were relatively lucky however. They lived in a family compound with four other houses where other members of the extended family resided including tradesmen, farmers, nurses, clerical and construction workers. This naturally provides some traditional values and mores. He patiently conjured up in my mind how the majority of Jamaican people lived today.

Firstly in this scenario there is no real privacy, no room or time for introspection, reflection or even meditation. For information/recreation, the home might have a stereo and cable/tv, but everyone is restricted to watching or listening to the same programme.

Recreation, entertainment and self-projection must be sought outside of the home environment. Other than the churches, rum bars and dancehalls have become the only recreational space in which most people express themselves; make a statement of who they are, through the rituals of music and dance. Dancehalls and rum bars have become the only real avenues of social interaction and entertainment for the working class.

In most Jamaican communities today, the social facilities- community centres, church and school halls- and clubs of my youth- the cricket clubs (now mostly comatose due to lack of members), the uniform corps (scouts, cadets, marching bands), the SDC and police youth clubs as well as the CYO (Christian Youth Organisation) are either non-existent or for one reason or another, are no longer accessible, present or relevant in most people’s lives.

People are looking for new leadership structures. While a lot of people may take exception to my saying so, this social vacuum is quite ably filled by the operators of a new breed of rum bars that has evolved. Today this is where many people get their values and learn behavioural norms. These days the operators of a good rum bar organize a wide array of activities for its patrons such as partner saving schemes and round robins, social outings and trips (to the beach/river, stage shows, street and name brand dances, night clubs), birthday parties, theme parties (all white, black, Kangol), costume parties (nurse, school uniform), anniversary sessions (Valentine, Halloween, Independence, New Year) and talent contests (hot gal, champion bubbler, DJ). They organize the purchase of costumes and become sub-groups within the Carnival costume bands. The bigger bars accommodate skittles and pool players, dominoes and cards games, played sometimes for a round of drinks or cash prizes. These bars usually have various types of slot and gaming machines for their patrons’ amusement. The majority of small dances held in Jamaica are in fact round robins, which in themselves guarantee their financial success.

The more traditional and some rural bars still own and operate juke boxes. Every good bar, however, must have a modest sound system and selector, either fulltime or on weekends and special days. They are at the core, the root of the local entertainment circuit, serving to facilitate the spread of and generate interest in pop music. A very important function of the bars in Jamaica is that, along with the dancehalls, this is where the most current releases in Dancehall music are introduced and played each week. Every event (especially dance) promoter worth his salt knows the bars which his/her target audience patronizes and ensures that promotional flyers are prominently posted on their walls. Likewise, when the routing of motorcades is being planned, stopping for a short time at strategic bars is mandatory.

A relatively recent additional service which the more popular bars provide to the entertainment business is their use as a video set, sometimes using its customers as extras for the shooting of scenes for the music videos of Dancehall acts. During the last year alone in my community, Elephant Man shot scenes for his single Too Bad Mind at one- Mavia’s Bar. The facade of another- Rotty’s Bar was twice used as a video set. In March 2005, Mr. Vegas for his single Buck A Browning Down A Constant Spring and Marcus I for Better Day in November 2004. On these occasions, it is incredible to see how quickly word spreads. Soon the street is full of people in a carnival type atmosphere.

This is not to say that all the features are present in every bar. Bars come in many forms and sizes, with various stock and programmes. From the stall on the corner, scrimmage field or construction site, to the lounge, go-go clubs and modern sports bars- the many, many bars may incorporate one or more of these characteristics. Has it ever struck you that some of the most scenic spots in Jamaica are occupied by bars? Furthermore, bars are not the exclusive enclaves of the poor and working class.

I have many friends who totally discount the social worth of a visit to the bar and certainly would never themselves, be seen “hanging out” there. I have often heard people criticize Mark Wignall for an over-reliance on ‘bar talk’ for his sociological analyses. I am however not ashamed to confirm that in the last three and a half decades, I have spent quality time in this social atmosphere. The folk wisdom of our people has never ceased to fascinate me. I am always intrigued by the depth of perception and interpretation of world and local affairs and events. I have shared some frolicking and joyous laughter too. Jamaican people are very witty and have a knack of making light of things to ease their stress or pain and that of others. The kaleidoscope of personalities that visit the bar usually make the experience rich and colorful for me.

The days when it was frowned upon for females to grace the bar with their presence is long gone. People no longer see any inherent contradiction in mutually socializing at the bar as well as worshipping in church on appropriate occasions.

This is a social space, mutually occupied by representatives of most classes. The working class, however, predominates in terms of numbers and behavioural norms.

This, on the face of it, is good healthy fun.

© 2005 C.H.E. Campbell