This article originally appeared in Reggae Report A REGGAE CHRISTMAS Lee O'Neill "Riding through King Street on a CB400 I fly my natty dread moving down the line I saw some bald heads who loved my natty dread Oh what fun it is to ride in a CB400 I'm gonna flash my dread flash my dread Flash my natty dread" -- Barrington Levy, sung to the tune of "Jingle Bells" There is a long history of Christmas music in Jamaica that stretches back to the earliest days of ska and the sound systems. Since Christmas releases were an important part of the American R&B, blues and country genres that were the foundation of the Kingston sound systems, it was only logical that they would become part of the Jamaican record industry as well. Every year, new releases join the old favorites to become part of the ongoing tradition but that tradition has stretched considerably over the years. Now we can add boughs of collie, CB400s and natty dreadlocks to the Santa Clauses, Christmas trees and mangers of your typical American/European celebration. Reggae Christmas music tends to take one of four approaches to the classic material. Some artists adopt a traditional approach and create more or less faithful renditions of familiar songs and others create something new. Some artists use Christmas songs as raw material for social/cultural commentary and some prefer a humorous approach, but whatever the style, Christmas (for me, anyway) just wouldn't be the same without Jacob Miller, Leroy Sibbles, Carlene Davis or Lovindeer. If anyone could have been expected to take a purely old-fashioned approach it would be Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd, but the group of releases on Studio One show a surprising amount of innovation. The first Coxsone Christmas album was Christmas in Jamaica and it features delightful originals like Alton Ellis' "Christmas Coming," the Cables "Christmas Is Not Just a Holiday" and the Wailers (!) "Sound the Trumpet." It was followed a few years later by Christmas Time, an album with more familiar tunes such as Lennie Hibbert's "Mary's Boy Child" and Tennessee Brown's "Jingle Bells" along with "Real Christmas Rock" and Dillinger's "Hi Fashion Christmas." Both are upbeat and pure fun. Christmas Stylee is more of a downer and features more poignant material such as the title track and "Lonely Christmas." The best of these three albums are collected on Heartbeat's Irie Christmas in Jamaica, released in 1992. Dodd released one more Christmas album, last year's Christmas Vibes, featuring new vocals from artists such as Johnny Osbourne, Half Pint and Charley Fresh (who?) laid over traditional Studio One riddims. This one isn't as essential as the first three. In a far more traditional vein are the Christmas albums coming from the studios of Byron Lee and Joe Gibbs. Christmas in the Tropics, produced by Lee for Dynamic is a very straightforward offering of ten well known songs performed with a mild reggae beat. However, the hilarious cover is well worth the price of the album. Gibbs made two collections, Reggae Christmas and Have a Rockin' Christmas and both feature extended medleys on the A side and a handful of songs on the B. The medleys are the highpoints, particularly if you like playing "guess the artist." Eddie Lovette's Merry Christmas, Jackie Edward's Christmas Feelings, Derrick Harriott's Original Christmas Reggae Songbook and Dobby Dobson's Sweet Christmas are perfect for snuggling up with someone special over eggnog. Carlene Davis' Christmas Reggae Rock (brand new on CD) and John Holt's Reggae Christmas Album successfully mimic (in a reggae style, of course) the crooning Christmas style of most American holiday releases. RAS Records' A Reggae Christmas and Wackies' Reggae Christmas update the traditional sound most effectively. Both feature topflight artists and strong performances. Special highlights would include Michigan and Smilie's "Little Drummer Boy" and Eek a Mouse's "Night Before Christmas" from the former and Judy Mowatt's "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and Desi Roots' "Christmas Song" from the latter. Both are highly recommended. The only album that takes a purely socio/cultural approach to Christmas music is Hortense Ellis and Trinity's collaboration African Christmas. It is very difficult to find these days but the manner in which Ellis and Trinity recast songs like "White Christmas" and "Joy to the World" is worth the search. It is powerful as well as beautiful. More typical are Jacob Miller and Ray I's outstanding Natty Christmas (RAS) and Yard Style Christmas. Both take very familiar songs and remake the lyrics in a Rasta fashion in a way that is both pointed and often brilliantly funny. On Yard Style Christmas we get "Sensimilla" (aka as Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus"), Barrington Levy's "I Saw Mommy Kiss a Dreadlocks" and Levy's "Flash Your Dread," quoted at the beginning of this article. Miller's set is even better and his vocals on songs like "12 Days of Ismas" are every bit as potent as on songs such as "All Night Till Daylight." Both have wicked rockers riddim tracks and both have become solid parts of this family's tradition! Whatever social content in Lovindeer's music is always couched in comedic terms and his Christmas albums are no exception. Caribbean Christmas Cheer is an OK set but Bright Christmas is simply wonderful, with one winner after another. Finally, we move to the world of dancehall Christmas where the very idea of tradition becomes relative. There are invariably several dancehall Christmas albums released every year and not all stand up to the test of time, but some certainly have. Blue Mountain's Christmas Party is a smooth collection featuring Freddie McGregor, Spanner Banner, Gregory Isaacs and Coco Tea, among others. It's a very pretty, likeable collection. King Jammy's Merry Xmas takes a harder approach but is still an entertaining effort full of bubbling good cheer. Wackies' Dancehall Christmas is a mixture of sweet'n'nice and ruff'n'tuff and succeeds admirably in creating a contemporary holiday offering. Most (but not all) of the lyrics are original and while many of the artists have faded from our consciousness (Governor Twos and Major Irie?) this still has the feel of a Christmas classic. There are dozens of other reggae Christmas albums that time and space don't permit me to mention. Sly & Robbie, Kashief Lindo, Ruddy Thomas, Ini Kamoze, Dennis Star, Sugar Minott, Mutabaruka, Kofi and the Fabulous Five are only some of the artists and producers who have made offerings for this special time of year. For them and everyone else, all I can say is: "An irie Christmas to all And to all a good life."