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SOUTH FLORIDA -Many reggae fans in South Florida know only a limited version of the music’s history. But with the launch of the Jamaica Music Atlas, they can access records about reggae’s legacy in the Sunshine State.
That free public archive (jamaicamusicatlas.com) is the brainchild of Jamaican Johnathon Kelly, who meticulously gathered information on 12 countries with strong reggae communities. These countries include the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Canada, Japan, Nigeria and Brazil.
“In South Florida, there are more than 20 spots mapped across Miami-Dade and Broward (counties). Bayfront Park in Miami, Virginia Key Beach Park, Central Broward Park in Lauderhill, Miramar Regional Park where the Grace Jerk Festival lives now, Markham Park where it used to be, the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center, Sundays By The Bay on Miami Beach,” said Kelly.
“Each one tied to real people, real sounds, real shows that actually happened there.”
Sundays By The Bay in Key Biscayne was a popular spot for reggae fans during the 1980s, when Don Johnson and Miami Vice were the hottest ticket on television. Jamaican singer-songwriter Pluto Shervington was the featured act.
Kelly, a 50 year-old employed in the Information Technology sector, meticulously gathered information for Jamaica Music Atlas. It got off the ground in early August. The site has a catalog of 3,113 published records across nine eras. In addition, there are 129 stories, 202 mapped places and 728 videos.
A student of Jamaican pop culture, Kelly had the idea for a medium exposing its history for several years. Once he got serious about that concept, he used AI to gather data.
“That’s honestly the only way one person could get thousands of records researched and written up properly. But the vision, the direction, the standards I hold the research to, that’s all coming from me,” he said.
Kelly is aware that there are thousands of people around the world with Jamaican heritage eager to learn about the roots of reggae. They are one of the demographics he hopes to reach.
“It matters to the Diaspora, so a young person growing up in London or Toronto or Miami can trace exactly where their sound came from. And it matters to anybody around the world who’s curious, because for most people the story starts and ends with Bob Marley, and there is so much more to it than Bob Marley,” he stated. “We have a very rich heritage. But half of that story still hasn’t been told, and that’s the gap I’m here to fill.”
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