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Introduction

Nothing has shaped Jamaican culture more than fact that so many various socities have used the island as a melting pot of cultures, as Jamaican culture now represents a unique blend of various cultures that came to the island. The native Arawak never rooted their culture on the island, as they were mostly wiped out.

Probably nothing has served as better ambassador to Jamaican culture than reggae music, a distinctively syncopated style of music that arose from ska, itself of Jamaican roots, with largely political lyrics. Bob Marley, from Kingston, is doubtlessly the best known performer of this style.

Derek Walcott, a Nobel prize laureate, attended college in Jamaica. Other significant writers from the island include Claude McKay and Louis Simpson. Plays and works in jamaican English, or patois, attract special attention. Louise Bennett, Andrew Salkey and Michael Smith have contributed to this phenomenon by writing works in patois.

See also

For more information on Jamaican music, see Music of Jamaica

For more information on the National Gallery of Jamaica, see National Gallery of Jamaica

For more information on Rastafarianism, see Rastafarianism

For more inofrmation on the patois, see Jamaican English

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