Mento music is essentially Jamaican folk music. According to lead singer Minott it is “country folk music”. The Mento instruments are the banjo, rumba box, saxophone, and the bongo. The mento sound had African roots with European and Celtic aspects. Jamaican slaves were forced to serenade their masters with the mento sound they created. As the slaves played and heard this music, they would reclaim it by singing the songs in the sugar cane fields as they worked. Mento music has since been phased out with the emergence of musical technology. Mento music is the foundation of the Jamaican music we appreciate today, such as Reggae, Dancehall, and Calypso. But there is much controversy surrounding Mento’s appreciation as a genre. Some believe that the purpose of mento celebrates the enslavement of blacks. Others such as the Jolly Boys are one of mento’s only pioneers struggling to continue its legacy. On the left you can hear traditional mento music, and on the right is traditional mento music by the Jolly Boys.