sound system

A sound system is a group of DJs and engineers contributing and working together, often playing and producing one particular kind of music.

The sound system concept originated in the 1950s in the ghettos of Kingston,in Jamaica. DJs would load up a truck with a generator, turntables, and huge speakers to set up street parties. The sound system scene is generally regarded as an important part of Jamaican cultural history and as being responsible for the rise of different style of Jamaican music such as ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub. When Jamaicans emigrated to the United Kingdom, the sound system culture followed and became firmly rooted there in the 1970s. It is still strongly linked with those Jamaican-originated music genres, and some bands or producers still call themselves sound systems, such as Dub Narcotic Sound System and the On-U Sound System. The term also has also become connected with sound reinforcement systems by DJs.

Today, a sound system generally refers to dub music, free party, rave, reggae, rocksteady, ska, sound system (Jamaican), or teknival.