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Walshy Fire has been an unstoppable force in the world of music for more than two decades. As a Grammy-nominated artiste, producer, DJ, MC, and one-third of the critically acclaimed Major Lazer, he has played a significant role in introducing Caribbean music to a global audience. With his upcoming book – Art of Dancehall – Walshy Fire, whose given name is Leighton Paul Walsh, is now concentrating on another aspect of dancehall culture: its colourful, electrifying, and captivating visual language.
“It is a definitive celebration of the distinctive art of poster and flyer design in the highly influential culture of Jamaican dancehall music. This book is a window into the colourful and effervescent world of dancehall,” Walshy Fire told The Sunday Gleaner.
A true labour of love, Art of Dancehall is a definitive celebration of the posters and flyers that have long served as an integral part of Jamaica’s dancehall and sound system culture. The book, published by Rizzoli Universe, marks a major milestone in the documentation of dancehall, making it the first Rizzoli release dedicated entirely to the genre.
Walshy Fire, whose roots in dancehall run deep, has spent years collecting, curating, and researching these visual artefacts, and is determined to share this story with the world. For him, the Art of Dancehall is more than just a book – it’s a personal mission to showcase the creativity and ingenuity of Caribbean people.
When asked about the reason behind pursuing this project, Walshy Fire shared, “I collected flyers myself [and] I would always come across the box of flyers that I had collected, sit, reminisce with them, and be, like, ‘Somebody needs to see these’.
The spark for the project was further ignited when he saw Maxine Walters release her book on Jamaican billboard posters. That moment, he says, solidified his decision to embark on this journey.
“Eventually, I saw Maxine Walters put out her book on the posters, the Jamaican billboards that are for the events. That’s when I was, like, okay, I need to really think about putting something together and began to call the people that I knew collected, and we put our collections together,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.
Walter’s Jamaican Dancehall Signs From the Collection of Maxine Walters is a coffee-table collection of hand-painted advertisements gathered from public spaces across Jamaica. It was released by Miss Lily’s Variety.
Fellow collectors – Lee Major DeBoss (New York), Sheldon ‘Muscle’ Bruce (Toronto), Mark Professor (London), and StranJah – bring together an extensive commentary of dancehall history through visual design in Art of Dancehall. The book brings together a collection of dancehall posters and flyers from around the world, drawing on unrivalled private collections from Jamaica, London, New York, Toronto, and Tokyo.
Through the pages of Art of Dancehall, Walshy Fire seeks to illuminate the unique artistry of dancehall’s promotional visuals. “By publishing this book, I hope to achieve an understanding of how creative dancehall culture is and how creative Caribbean people are,” he explains.
“The uniqueness of the flyers and the artwork, in my opinion, rivals any other genre, and, I would even argue, tops it. These flyers are absolutely incredible” he said.
With the cover of the book designed by noted contemporary Jamaican poster artist Nurse Signs, Art of Dancehall charts the global spread of dancehall and sound system culture through visual artefacts advertising legendary sound clashes in Brooklyn, London, Washington, DC, and Toronto to the formation of the first Jamaican-style sound systems in Japan. The book includes rare and little-seen flyers from the late Denzil ‘Sassafrass’ Naar, Jamaica’s original celebrity poster artist, as well as contemporaries like New York’s Errol ‘Irie’ Myrie.
Interestingly, Art of Dancehall is not just the title of Walshy Fire’s book, it is also the name of his forthcoming solo album — a strictly dancehall-focused follow-up to Abeng (Mad Decent), his groundbreaking 2019 debut album that paired dancehall, reggae, and soca artistes from the Caribbean with the emerging stars of Africa’s Afrobeats movement.
For those eager to get their hands on Art of Dancehall, the book will be available for purchase directly from the publisher as well as through major US-based retailers such as Alibris, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, IndieBound, and Powells. In the UK, it will –Foyles, Amazon UK, Waterstones, and Hatchards.
Efforts are also under way to bring the book to brick-and-mortar retailers in Jamaica.
While the DJ and producer is focused on the book’s release and was tight-lipped about future musical plans, fans of Major Lazer can still expect fresh material soon.
“Yeah, Major Lazer has some new stuff dropping soon for sure,” he told The Sunday Gleaner. “Probably drop an Art of Dancehall album,” he further teased.
“This book has been three years in the making,” Walshy Fire stated. It’s a culmination of his lifelong dedication to dancehall culture.
Art of Dancehall is set to be a landmark publication, offering a vibrant and insightful journey through one of the most influential musical movements in history. For those who love dancehall – its music, energy, and unmistakable visual aesthetic.
English (US) ·