REGGAE - SKA

Music has always been an important factor in the lives of Jamaicans and other West Indians. Jamaican music comes from an African foundation, influenced early on by the music of Europe, especially England & France, and later by American popular music. The great-great grandparent of Reggae is mento, a loose-sounding folk music, sometimes confused with calypso, a Trinidad-born music. Mento's lyrical food is topical issues. It draws on the fife and drum music of Jonkanoo, Pocomania church music, the quadrille, and work songs learned on plantations, and passed through generations. By the 50's Jamaican youth were more interested in listening to American music, popularized by radio stations in the US south, and sound systems - portable dance machines that were to change the face of Jamaican music. Soon dance halls would rock to the beat of Duke Reid's Trojan sound, Sir Coxsone's Downbeat, Prince Buster's Voice Of The People, V-Rocket and many others.

To protect the identity of the their music many sound system operators defaced or removed the labels from their records. In short order local musicians were called on to record music that emulated the sound of the imported American music. 'Jamaican Blues' or 'Blue Beat' was a shuffling Jamaican interpretation of R&B. As time wore on the prominence of the off-beat rhythm supplied by the horn section grew, as did that of the guitar or piano. By 1958 this style was fast transforming into a blazing fire - Ska! It is said that the sound of the off-beat horn riff inspired the term Ska. Cuban music also had its influence. Brought to Jamaica by immigrants like Rolando Alphonso it would play a key role in the development of Jamaican music. Trinidad, Barbados and other West Indian islands also exported singers and musicians to Jamaica (like Lynn Taitt and Jackie Opel). They too brought their musical influences to the birth and development of Ska, Rock Steady and Reggae.

Ska is a form of dance music created in Jamaica in the 60's. Ska was a Jamaican dance music that swept out of Jamaica and went on, via the West Indian immigrant connection, to the UK, and then on to the world. In the UK, ska was also known as 'blue beat' music. 'Rocksteady', and later, 'reggae' sprang from the loins of ska in the late 1960s. Mid 70's and 80's-90's revivals of this popular dance form have kept this music alive and fun through the present. The ska beat on drums and bass, rhythm guitar, lots of horns and maybe a Farfisa or Hammond organ - that's the (traditional) ska sound. Ska features a strong bass and drum rhythm section, guitars, keyboards and brass. Drawing on the influences of Carribbean music, largely Mento and Calypso, Rhythm and Blues, Jazz, and 'Ya-Ya', groups such as the Skatalites, Don Drummond, Ken Boothe, and the Jiving Juniors created the sound known as Ska. Ska quickly became popular in Jamaica, with such artists as Prince Buster, Derrick Morgan, Laurel Aitken, Phyllis Dillon, Desmond Dekker, and Bob Marley gaining nationwide popularity.

By the late sixties, the ska craze had died down, being replaced with dancehall, 'rocksteady' and reggae in the fast moving world of Jamaican culture. Throughout the 1970's, England received a large number of West Indian immigrants, many from Jamaica. With them came their music, which was heard by many of the youth of England. Known in the UK briefly as 'Jamaican Blues', ska inspired the formation of the Blue Beat record company, providing yet another name for the ska sound: blue beat. Ska gained popularity in the UK with the 'Mod' scene, leading to the residual association of small-brimmed trilby (hats) and scooters with ska music. About the time 'skinheads' in the UK were getting into ska, Trojan Records was still releasing ska hits into the UK top 10 (as late as 1969 or 1970), but by that time rock-steady and reggae were waxing as ska waned, for a while, at least. Roughly speaking, 'first wave' ska began in late 1960 in Jamaica and lasted until the late 1960s in Jamaica and England by which time its popularity had declined in favor of ska offspring rock-steady and reggae. By 1979, the punk and new wave movements had largely lost steam, and English youths were ready to absorb the Ska beat into their musical lexicon.

Combining the off-beat rhythms, driving rhythms, and catchy horn parts of Ska with the energy and speed of punk, these English youths formed a 'second wave' of Ska music. Much of this music was released on the Two Tone label, and it is by this name that this period of Ska is known. Such bands as The Specials, The Selecter, Madness and The Beat met with international success during the brief duration of this fad. Second-wave ska is strongly associated with the 2 Tone scene [1979-1981] in the UK, as shown in the movie 'Dance Craze', although American bands like Her Majesties Secret Service brought the Two Tone sound to the United States in the early Eighties. Two tone ska is faster, tighter and uses more horns than some older Jamaican ska, although certainly not as much as the Skatalites. Certainly, through the first and second waves, ska was a music for the man-in-street, the working people.

In the late 80's/early 90's an energetic reintroduction of Ska into the musical universe has become known as 'third wave' ska. A number of bands, inspired by the Two Tone acts combined Ska with such diverse musical traditions as polka, heavy-metal, punk, hardcore, country, salsa, and mambo. Third-wave ska involves such bands as The Allstonians, the Voodoo Glow Skulls, The Toasters, and The Pietasters. In the last few years, some bands, like Hepcat, The Allstonians, Skavoovie and the Epitones, have reverted to a more roots ska sound When ska began its change into the more sophisticated-sounding Rock Steady during the mid-1960s singers came into their own. While the tempo remained about the same Rock Steady carried a relaxed rhythmic density. In Rock Steady the guitar only strums on beats 2 & 4, and the bass guitar emphasizes beats 1 & 3. Drums are less prominent in Rock Steady as their rhythmic role was being taken over by the bass guitar. Drums provided accents, or were inaudible. Less predominant horns and less-rigid beat offered more vocal possibilities. Rock Steady was perfect for romantic group vocals. The best examples of Rock Steady were recorded for producer Duke Reid.

The studio band at Reid's Bond Street studio, the famed Treasure Isle Studio, was made up of the best of the best. Led by Tommy McCook, The Supersonics featured drummers Arkland 'Drumbago' Parks and Hugh Malcolm, and guitarists Ernest Ranglin and Lynn Taitt. Rock Steady lived a far longer life than the three years usually attributed to it (1966-1968), and it still forms the foundation of new riddims. By 1969 the new, enduring sound of Reggae had established itself. Reggae is closer to the chanting, meditative Nyabinghi sound, and lends itself to musical meditiation. The Rock Steady years brought the bass to prominence. The strength of the booming bass line continues in Reggae. Jamaicans have always been fond of the bass sound, as seen in mento music. Reggae takes it to higher heights. It is the 'riddim' that makes the song, and results in the versions. Like most popular music of the western world, Reggae is played in 4/4 time - 4 beats to a bar of 4. The strongly felt beats, or downbeats, are beats 2 & 4, opposite to most pop music. Some claim that this has made Reggae's acceptance difficult in North America (leaden 1 & 3 feet?)! The One Drop style is defined by the drumming pattern. With the expectation of the bass drum hitting on beats 1 & 3, the 'one' is 'dropped. There's much more to it though. The snare may emphasize the 3rd beat. The bass may emphasize beat 1 with a strong note, but also often misses the first beat too. The high hat may emphasize the 1st beat. By this definition, Ska must be considered the original 'one drop' rhythm. Rockers is a style of Reggae beat that originated in the mid-70's. Unlike the earlier 'one drop' style which has the bass drum play on the 3rd beat of every measure, in a rockers beat the bass drum plays on all four beats of the measure, like the bass drum in a disco beat. In fact, this beat is probably influenced by the sound of disco music.

The term Rockers came to be a generic term for 70's reggae, partly due to the emphatic nature of the term. By 1970 the early, jumpy Reggae was replaced by slower rhythms that better suited the lyrics that were surfacing - lyrics of oppression and sufferation. Rastafari has always been strongly linked to Reggae, making the music important socio-politically as well as culturally. Rastafari have sighted Jah since the late 30's, but came to the world's notice in the 70's through Bob Marley's righteous music. Rastas share the belief that Africa is their homeland, and that, through repatriation, they will escape the Western Babylon. Rasta is not a church. It is more a core of spiritual and cultural beliefs open to a variety of interpretations. Jamaican music has changed considerably over the past 40 or so years, stretching forth in many directions, absorbing other sounds, and influencing many. Dub music is the result of the engineer restructuring the sound on the mixing board, melding soundboard effects with spacey blendings of large and small portions of the original track. Lovers rock, Deejays, and Dub Poetry all come from the root. Dancehall, Ragga and Jungle music are the latest trends in the everchanging Jamaican sound experience. The introduction of digital musical equipment in the mid 1980s drove some of these developments. The emigration of Jamaicans and other West Indians to Europe and North America has both spread the vibe and blended other musical ideas to Reggae. London, England; New York, USA and Toronto, Canada have been popular destinations for Jamaican emigrees since World War II. In these, and many other places over the years, Reggae has developed from a 'memory of Yard' to a musical form interpreted by singers and players from many roots. All in all, Reggae has exerted an international musical and social impact remarkable for relatively small nation.