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Fifty years in the making, one of the world's wrongs has been set right, as
www.mentomusic.com has created three mento t-shirt designs (and other
necessary Jamaican music designs as well).
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About the "Chin's Calypso
Sextet" Design
Celebrate one of the greatest early Jamaican music groups: the wonderful
rural mento band Chin’s Calypso Sextet.
Graphics salute the original mid-1950s Chin’s 78 RPM record releases. Lead
singer Alerth Bedasse, lyricist Everard Williams and producer Ivan Chin (who
gave his permission for this shirt) are all named. The same
design appears on the front and the
back. Looks great on the new dark t-shirt option.
Purchase a Chins Calypso Sextet Shirt
  Click the
button, left, for the zazzle.com page featuring the "Chin's Calypso
Sextet" design. Then proceed to the Select and Buy button.
You will be taken to a screen where you can choose a shirt type (t-shirt,
sweatshirt, ladies shirt, sports shirt, etc), a style, color and
size, and then see a preview before you order.
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About the "Calypsos
From Jamaica" Design
The Calypsos From
Jamaica design features a rare illustration of mento musicians from a
vintage 1950s Jamaican album jacket. The smaller
version of the design is seen on the from and a large version is seen on
the back.
Purchase a Chins Calypso Sextet Shirt
Click the
button, left, for the zazzle.com page featuring the "Chin's Calypso
Sextet" design. Then proceed to the Select and Buy button.
You will be taken to a screen where you can choose a shirt type (t-shirt,
sweatshirt, ladies shirt, sports shirt, etc), a style, color and
size, and then see a preview before you order.
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About the "I
Love Mento" Design
"I Love Mento" painted on a rumba box. (The same
design appears on the front and back.)
Purchase a I Love Mento Shirt
Click the
button, left, for the zazzle.com page featuring the "I Love Mento. Then proceed to the Select and Buy button.
You will be taken to a screen where you can choose a shirt type (t-shirt,
sweatshirt, ladies shirt, sports shirt, etc), a style, color and
size, and then see a preview before you order.
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About the "Mento Poster" Design
A faux concert poster, circa 1957, for "Mento
Time" the greatest mento concert that never really happened. The poster
featured on the back lists all the top
stars of that era. The front has the legend "Mento Time" in the
graphic style from the poster. The thumbnails below do not do justice. Click
on one to see a bigger preview.
Purchase a Mento Poster Shirt
Click the
button, left, for the zazzle.com page featuring the "Mento Poster" design. Then proceed to the Select and Buy button.
You will be taken to a screen where you can choose a shirt type (t-shirt,
sweatshirt, ladies shirt, sports shirt, etc), a style, color and
size, and then see a preview before you order.
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About the "Mento Trio" Design
Vintage 1950s art of a mento trio (guitar,
rumba box and maracas players) with the legend "Mento". The background is
horizontal bands of blue (sky), yellow (sun) and green (grass). The same
design is on the
front and back of this shirt.
Purchase a Mento Trio Shirt
Click the
button, left, for the zazzle.com page featuring the "Mento Trio" design. Then proceed to the Select and Buy button.
You will be taken to a screen where you can choose a shirt type (t-shirt,
sweatshirt, ladies shirt, sports shirt, etc), a style, color and
size, and then see a preview before you order.
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About the "Mento Logos" Design
The front of the shirt features the
logo from the
Kalypso label, along with the legend, "Jamaican Mento Music". The
back of the shirt features a larger
and more complex image, featuring the legend and graphic elements from the
five crucial golden age mento record labels: in addition to the Kalypso
logo, there's the notes and star from the M. R. S. label, the drummer
from the Caribou label, the guitar and note from the Lasher Disc
label, and the speaker and music from the Chin's label. (To see
examples of the labels where these graphics came from, visit the
More Golden Age Single Scans page.) This
design is also available as a screen background
for download.)
Purchase a Mento Logo Shirt
Click the
button, left, for the zazzle.com page featuring the "Mento Logo" design. Then proceed to the Select and Buy button.
You will be taken to a screen where you can choose a shirt type (t-shirt,
sweatshirt, ladies shirt, sports shirt, etc), a style, color and
size, and then see a preview before you order.
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About the "Mento Fruit Crate" Design
The front of the shirt features a logo in vintage fruit-crate label style, with the legend, "Mento, Product
of Jamaica". The back
depicts the entire crate, with the lid consisting of the logo from the
front, plus vintage mento records, photos and album art. (An alternate
version of this design is also available as a screen background
for download.)
Purchase a Mento Fruit Crate Shirt
Click the
button, left, for the zazzle.com page featuring the "Mento Fruit Crate" design. Then proceed to the Select and Buy button.
You will be taken to a screen where you can choose a shirt type (t-shirt,
sweatshirt, ladies shirt, sports shirt, etc), a style, color and
size, and then see a preview before you order.
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About Zazzle and The Transaction
All shirt
printing, financial
transactions and shipping are done through Zazzle's secure web site. My only
involvement was to create the design. Using Zazzle will result in higher
quality, faster
shipping, lower prices and more secure financial transactions than if I had produced the shirts and sold them from my
home. They produce high quality goods and provide great service.
About The Apparel
These designs
are
available on t-shirts, sweatshirts, ladies shirts and sports shirts, in a variety of
styles, sizes and colors.
Orders can mix and match shirt types and sizes. Single shirt orders are no
problem. Prices are very reasonable and the quality is high. Look for Zazzle
to add additional shirt styles in the near future.
About Zazzle
Use this link to
visit Zazzle's web site for any purpose other than buying the shirts above.
Other (non-mento) Jamaican Music Shirt Designs
Visit my site, Mike's Reggae Shirts at
www.mikesreggaeshirts.com,
for reggae, dub, ska, mento and Jamaican Music shirt designs, as previewed below. Click
on any image to see detail.
Roots Reggae:
Ride The Riddim:
Reggae 45s:
I
Love Ska:
I
Love Reggae:
Club
Dub (black logo):
Club
Dub (color logo):
Club
Dub (colorful teardrop logo):
Reggae Sun:
Reggae Montage:
Reggae in burlap:
Don Dada:
"Wake The Town
And Tell The People":
Rock Steady:
Jamaica, Music
Island:
Dancehall Reggae
Speaker:
Ska:
Strictly Reggae
Music I Mon Play:
Reggae Inna
Rub-A-Dub Style:
Jamusica
(Jamaican Music):
Dub:
Reggae Stripe:
Reggae Lion:
Dancehall Reggae
Hot Sauce:
Ska, Greek
Fraternity shirt style:
Mike's Reggae
Shirts:
50th Anniversary
of Jamaica's Recording Industry:
Visit Mike's Reggae Shirts at
www.mikesreggaeshirts.com, to
purchase any of the above.
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