My 2011 love affair with all things reggae continues unabated (and thanks for the various Trojan, dub etc. recommendations I've picked up here).

It has struck me though just how astonishing the whole genre is. The population of Jamaica was under 2 million until 1975 - roughly the population of Northern Ireland. And yet - what an explosion of creativity!

Just think about it - a unique style of music (albeit with definite local antecedents) giving rise to hundreds - thousands - of quality releases, on a wide variety of local labels.

And then there's dub - music like nothing else that had been heard on this planet before.

All on one small island.

It really is rather remarkable.

Are my rose-tinted specs clouding my judgement or does reggae really represent an unparalleled burst of musical creativity? If not, what do you think, can compare?