Mento

Mento is a style of Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It is Jamaica’s first commercially recorded music, born out of a fusion of African rhythmic elements and European elements. Mento typically features acoustic instruments, such as acoustic guitar, banjo, hand drums, and the rhumba box—a large mbira in the shape of a box that can be sat on while played. The rhumba box carries the bass part of the music. Mento is often confused with calypso, a musical form from Trinidad and Tobago. Although the two share many similarities, they are separate and distinct musical forms. The conflation of both genres by the 1950s, due to commercial practices during the international rise of some famous Jamaican mento artists, who helped to pioneer calypso, contributed to the confusion.