AMERICANWAY

We found Tally, who'd gone to search for a place that serves the local vegetarian Rastafarian food referred to as "Ital," and traversed to the Trench Town Culture Yard in the compound where '50s pop standards were converted to the signature beats by Marley and his group, the Wailers. Left largely in its original state and supported by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust, the Wailers' fi rst Volkswagen bus still sits in the central square of the Culture Yard. Marley's fi rst guitar sits in a glass case, and historical images hang on the walls of his cramped quarters. The Trench Town Culture Yard o ers insight into the hardscrab- ble beginning of Marley's career. The Bob Marley Museum, founded by wife Rita in the family's uptown mansion, projects all the ameni- ties of a world-class music museum. Tally suggests we forgo the slicker property and embark to Port Royal, one of Jamaica's most storied (and often overlooked) cultural centers. Port Royal sits at the terminus of the Palisadoes, a narrow sand peninsula that yawns into Kingston Bay. Ideally situated to police and inf luence Caribbean trade routes, the strategic outpost was taken from the indigenous Taino by Spain in the late 15th century. Privateers wrested possession in the 16th and 17th centuries, pilfer- ing Spain's ships with great relish and earning Port Royal its title as "The Wickedest City in the World." The notorious 18th-century pirate Blackbeard was a temporary resident who, legend has it, fl ed because of the harsh weather. Before Blackbeard's time, a devastat- ing earthquake struck Port Royal in the late 17th century followed later by tsunamis, hurricanes and other earthquakes. Those storms diminished the stature of this former commercial rival to other Caribbean ports. We enter Port Royal to enjoy an outdoor fish fr y on a Friday evening. The featured fare is a spiced tilapia and soft-shelled crab, which Andrea excitedly informs us "is da best fi sh fry in southeast Jamaica, mon." A "selector," colloquial for disc jockey, tugs his little red wagon cargo of speakers, turntable and amplifier to a perch above the smokers, where he plugs in and laces the piquant steam with island rhythms. We gather our fi sh in aluminum wrappers and step into the Old Gaol, a roofl ess, brick-walled bar occupying a 17th-century jail that has somehow withstood the earth's shudder and wind's howl. Dub step music, a derivative of reggae, saturates the streets as we continue to blow through Port Royal, headed inland to an urban dance party on a public plaza just o Michael Manley Boulevard. Selectors begin to kick it up around 11 p.m., revelers fi ll the plaza at midnight, and the party pulses heav y until dawn. We depart at 3 a.m. Several other sound systems bounce back and forth among buildings as we drive through the city. "Twelve hundred sound systems come alive every night in Jamaica," beams Tally, who is also a music producer and DJ, though he prefers the term "turntablist." The study of global DJ culture forms the principal component of his Watson Fellowship, a funded odyssey that mandates study outside the United States for a calendar year. Kingston teems with life at every hour, whether folks visit one another on the stoop or cheer when native son Usain Bolt, the fastest AMERICAN offers 50 flights a week to Jamaica from CHICAGO (ORD), DALLAS/FORT WORTH (DFW) and MIAMI (MIA) to MONTEGO BAY (MBJ) and from MIAMI (MIA) to KINGSTON (KIN). US AIRWAYS offers 20 flights a week from CHARLOTTE (CLT) and PHILADELPHIA (PHL) to MONTEGO BAY (MBJ). THE RHYTHMS OF JAMAICA: (Clockwise from left) Bob Marley's former bedroom; Bob Marley statue at the Trench Town Culture Yard; Tally pausing for fried salt fish and ackee near Port Antonio; a view from Strawberry Hill resort overlooking Harbour of Kingston; coffee Jamaicans tout as "the best in the world"; a salute to Jamaica's legendary musicians; Tally enjoying a fresh coconut from a roadside stand above Innes Bay AMERICAN 50 flights a week A A .CO M/A M E R I C A NWAY N OV E M B E R 2 01 4 79

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