THE ALPHA BOYS’ SCHOOL – CRADLE OF JAMAICAN MUSIC
by Heather Augustyn and Adam Reeves
WITH FOREWORD by David ‘Ram Jam’ Rodigan MBE OD (RADIO 1XTRA DJ)
CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT THIS BOOK AND READ AN EXCERPT 
The true story of the school that started a musical revolution.
Ska and reggae music has reverbarated around the planet but without the musical brilliance of the graduates of Jamaica’s Alpha Boys’ School it might never have been that way.
From the Jamaican big band swing of the 1940s and ’50s through the ska and rocksteady of the 1960s, the global roots reggae explosion of the 1970s and the rise of the new dancehall style in the 1980s, graduates of Alpha Boys’ School have been right at the heart of the musical action, composing, arranging and playing on thousands of the most beloved Jamaican records of all time.
Facing a life of poverty, neglect, abandonment and even homelessness, young boys from the most deprived parts of Kingston were placed at Alpha, a residential home run by a strict order of Roman Catholic nuns. Alongside industrial trade apprenticeships, boys would fight for a prestigous place in the Alpha school band, overseen for an astonishing 64 years by the jazz-loving Sister Mary Ignatius – the true Godmother of Ska and Reggae.
From early Jamaican jazz giants like Joe Harriott and Dizzy Reece to the greatest ska band of all time, The Skatalites, and some of reggae’s most inspirational artists such as Cedric Brooks, Rico Rodriguez, Johnny Osbourne, Leroy Smart and Yellowman, the Alpha story is the untold history of Jamaican music.
Join Heather Augustyn and Adam Reeves as they shed light on this remarkable institution and the life and works of over 40 of its most influential graduates.
The culmination of many combined years of work, using musicians’ personal recollections and a wealth of rarely seen photographs,Alpha Boys’ School: Cradle of Jamaican Music is a must for all lovers of original ska, rocksteady, roots reggae, dub and dancehall.
Here’s a little film made by Adam Reeves in 2008, about Alpha Boys School. It includes footage from an Alpha Boys reunion concert that filmed in London in 2007.
What the critics say:
The book’s two authors have gleaned a wealth of new information and insights via their detailed interviews with the school’s former pupils, making this volume not only a fine tribute to the school but also a significant contribution to the ongoing documentation of Jamaica’s musical heritage. Steve Barker, Wire Magazine.
If you’re interested in the development of ska and reggae music, this is well worth seeking out. John Masouri, Echoes Magazine.
This engaging book ultimately heightens Alpha’s perpetual contribution to the evolution of Jamaican popular music. David Katz, Mojo magazine.
A very welcome reference book who’s lightness of touch serves the weight of its subject. Kevin Le Gendre, Jazzwize magazine.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY PAPERBACK BOOK £16.99
Alpha Boys School: Cradle Of Jamaican Music by Heather Augustyn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
INVALUABLE CONTRIBUTION TO MUSIC HISTORY
The Alpha Boys’ School was founded in Jamaica in the year 1880. “Cradle of Jamaican Music”, includes a little of the early history of this shelter for orphans, but Heather Augustyn and Adam Reeves have focused on the school’s history under the care and discipline of the Sisters of Mercy, an order of Catholic nuns.
The school had a tradition of producing first class musicians who had been trained in the school band. The authors have included many photos of the school band from the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s, but the musicians who have been interviewed for this book attended the school during 1940’s onwards.
By the 1940s when Jamaica suffered severe shortages caused by the Battle for the Caribbean, the Alpha Boys’ School became a home for wayward boys as well as orphans. Food was in short supply but the boys were kept occupied with their academic studies and training in skills which would equip them for employment when they left the school.
One nun in particular, young, pretty and devoted to bringing out the best in the boys was Sister Ignatius. An avid fan of football, cricket and boxing, she encouraged all the boys to engage in competitive sports.
Sister Ignatius is most well known for her great love of music.
She shared her passion for all music with the boys and had a great collection of records which she played for them on her
little record player. Her collection contained classical, jazz,
pop and international music which stirred a musical passion in
the boys.
This introduction to such a great mix of musical styles is often
credited with the broadening of the musical talent of the boys
she taught in the Alpha School Band.
The most remarkable result of this education in music is the
unbelievable number of musicians, employed in orchestras and
recording studios over the following seventy plus years.
The dance halls of Jamaica were filled with people dancing
the nights away to Ska music they developed during the
1950’s and 60’s. As people gained access to personal record
players, these former pupils became recording artists, were
signed up by international bands and orchestras taking them
around the world, playing to distinguished audiences as well
as the masses.
“Alpha Boys’ School: Cradle of Jamaican Music” by Heather
Augustyn and Adam Reeves is a brilliantly comprehensive
Tribute to the remarkable dedication of the Sisters of Mercy
Nuns, the ethos of the school and former pupils who supported
the school’s musical tradition by visiting whenever possible to
Pass on their experience to the musicians of the future.
Heather and Adam interviewed as many former pupils as they
were able to make contact with and have filled the book with
photos which give mention of many more former pupils who’s
names and reputations may have been forgotten without this
book.
Music, history and Jamaican history scholars will find this
book to be a treasure of information which could never again
be written with such first-hand knowledge of the people and
the times.
