World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

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Jah9

Artist. Revival

Active
2009-present
Sunrise
May 23, 1983, Montego Bay, Jamaica

Jah9 (born Janine Elizabeth Cunningham) is a singer and yoga teacher who describes her style as jazz on dub. Kwanele Sosibo hears "free-ranging vocals" set against heavy riddims, and Justine Amadori Ketola vocals that "echo the heroines of American Jazz."

She was born in Montego Bay to a Baptist minister and a teacher and social worker, spent her early childhood in Falmouth, Trelawny, and moved with her family to Kingston in 1991. At university she encountered Rastafari and the dub poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson, and took up her childhood nickname. By 2009 she was a fixture of Kingston's poetry scene and had begun setting her writing to instrumental dub.

She recorded demos with the keyboardist and flautist Sheldon Bernard; these reached Beres Hammond, who worked with her on her recording technique, and through him she signed to Don Corleon Records and released "Warning" and "Keep Holding On" with the producer Donovan Bennett in 2010. Her debut album, New Name, produced by Rory "Stone Love" Gilligan, appeared in 2013, the same year her "Brothers" shared a single with Chronixx's "Smile Jamaica."

She signed to VP Records in 2016 and released the album 9 that year; Mad Professor reworked it as "Mad Professor Meets Jah9 in the Midst of a Storm" (2017). Note to Self (2020) features Chronixx, Tarrus Riley, and Pressure Busspipe. "Open Heart Project" followed in 2026. She has also spent three years living in Tanzania. She performs with a band called the Dub Treatment and incorporates breathing practice into her live shows.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. Her Reggaeville biography: "'Jazz on Dub' is the sound she has created." "Biography: Jah9," Reggaeville, accessed October 2, 2026, https://www.reggaeville.com/artist-details/jah9/about/. Wikipedia gives her birth name and date. "Jah9," Wikipedia, accessed October 2, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jah9.
  2. Kwanele Sosibo, "Jah9's Steaming Jazz on Dub," Mail & Guardian, September 5, 2013, https://mg.co.za/article/2013-09-05-jah9s-steaming-jazz-on-dub. Justine Amadori Ketola, review of Jah9, New Name, Reggaeville, February 26, 2013, https://www.reggaeville.com/artist-details/jah9/releases/mode/review/release/jah9-new-name.
  3. Wikipedia gives Montego Bay and her parents' work. "Jah9." Reggaeville says she "spent her first 9 years in Falmouth, Trelawny," before the move to Kingston in 1991. "Biography: Jah9."
  4. Reggaeville places her turn to Rastafari at the University of the West Indies and says she "eventually embraced her childhood nickname." "Biography: Jah9." In a 2013 interview she names Linton Kwesi Johnson, Oku Onuora, and Mutabaruka among the poets she admires. Angus Taylor, "Interview: Jah9 (Part 2: The Arrival)," United Reggae, April 29, 2013, https://unitedreggae.com/articles/n1337/042913/interview-jah9-part-2-the-arrival.
  5. Reggaeville calls her "a staple on Jamaica's underground poetry scene by 2009." "Biography: Jah9."
  6. Reggaeville says her demos with Sheldon Bernard "caught the attention of the legendary Beres Hammond, who then began helping to develop her recording technique." "Biography: Jah9." In the interview she says Bernard was Hammond's keyboard player and musical director and that the album they made with Hammond remained unreleased. Taylor, "Interview: Jah9 (Part 2)."
  7. Reggaeville says she released her first two singles with Bennett of Don Corleon Records "in late 2010." "Biography: Jah9." She mentions singing "Warning" at the Jamnesia sessions. Taylor, "Interview: Jah9 (Part 2)."
  8. Reggaeville names Rory "Stone Love" Gilligan as producer. "Biography: Jah9." Discogs lists the album on Gilligan's Rorystonelove label in 2013. "Jah9: New Name," Discogs, accessed October 2, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/4855577.
  9. Discogs lists the split 45 on Silly Walks Discotheque, released May 20, 2013. "Chronixx / Jah 9: Smile Jamaica / Brothers," Discogs, accessed October 2, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/4591868.
  10. Discogs lists 9 on VP Records in 2016. "Jah9: 9," Discogs, accessed October 2, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/master/1059215. Wikipedia, citing Billboard, counts New Name among her VP albums as well. "Jah9."
  11. Wikipedia's discography, citing Discogs. "Jah9."
  12. Discogs credits Chronixx on "Note To Self (Okay)," Pressure on "You And I," and Tarrus Riley on "Ready To Play," with Akala on "New Race (A Way)." "Jah9: Note To Self," Discogs, accessed October 2, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/14939955.
  13. John Masouri, "Echoes Magazine - May 2026," John Masouri (website), May 28, 2026, https://www.johnmasouri.com/single-post/echoes-magazine-may-2026, summarizing his Echoes interview with her, which covered the album "together with her memorable three year stay in Tanzania."
  14. Reggaeville says she has toured with the Dub Treatment since 2013 and, as a certified yoga instructor, "has been known to compel her audiences during her live set to pause, breathe deeply and feel empowered." "Biography: Jah9."

World of Jamaican Music: the whole map