Today Jamaica, and particularly Kingston, is a centre of Caribbean art, its vital cultural energy having flourished tremendously since independence in 1962. Edna Manley, wife of Norman Manley, Jamaica's first prime minister, was instrumental in the unshackling of Jamaican art from European aesthetic prescriptions. No collective visual style defines Jamaican artworks, but many emphasise historical roots in their works. The international success of reggae music has had a profound effect on Jamaican visual arts. Rastafarians are common subjects, as are market higglers, animals, and religious symbols merged with the myths of Africa.
Music is everywhere.
Officially English is the spoken language but, in reality, Jamaica is a bilingual country and English is far more widely understood than spoken. The unofficial lingo is patois - a musical dialect with a uniquely Jamaican rhythm and cadence. Patois evolved from the Creole English and a twisted alchemy of the mother tongue peppered with African, Portuguese and Spanish terms, and Rastafarian slang. Jamaica's homegrown cuisine is a fusion of many ethnic traditions, with Arawak Indian, Spanish, African, Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese and British influences all detectable. A typical Jamaican breakfast is ackee , a tree-grown fruit which bears an uncanny resemblance to scrambled eggs when cooked.