The VP Music Group calendar for 2021 features images from the series "The Story Of The Jamaican Soundsystem," illustrated by Cyprus-based artist Costantinos Pissourios. Pissourios has illustrated recent VP projects including Xterminator: Earth Feel It and Strictly The Best 61.
THE SOUND SYSTEM
The voice of the Jamaican people
In the late 50s and early 60s, soundsystem owners like Duke Reid, Sir Coxsone and Prince Buster pioneered a collective cultural and social structure that still stands today. Years before formal independence, the 'Big Three' and their successors established a community-based cultural aristocracy which has since ruled much of Jamaican national identity and entertainment trends.
Sound systems today still are linked to geographic communities that form a constituency of fans. Klassique Disco is closely associated with the Rae Town community of Kingston, Bass Odyssey is today's 'country sound' in reference to it's rural roots and Jammy's Hi Powa is synonymous with the Waterhouse area of Kingston. The successful sound systems is followed by it's fans from event to event.
