Jamaica -- especially Kingston -- supports a lively community of musicians. For starters there's reggae, popularized by the late Bob Marley and the Wailers and performed today by son Ziggy Marley, Jimmy Tosh (the late Peter Tosh's son), Gregory Isaacs, Jimmy Cliff, and many others. If your experience of Caribbean music has been limited to steel drums and Harry Belafonte, then the political, racial, and religious messages of reggae may set you on your ear; listen closely and you just might hear the heartbeat of the people.

Those who know and love reggae should visit between mid-July and August for the Reggae Sumfest. This four-night concert -- at the Bob Marley Performing Center (a field set up with a temporary stage), in the Freeport area of MoBay -- showcases local talent and attracts such big-name performers as Third World and Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers.