Ska, Rock Steady & Reggae - A Brief History
 From Time Before
-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 1950s 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.
The Blazing Fire - Ska combines the catchy backbeat of New Orleans-
style R & B, and mento. Many early Ska songs were covers of popular
American songs. Typically Ska drums stress beats 2 & 4 over a
"walking" quarter-note bass, with the guitar or piano striking the
offbeats in a syncopated mento style. Ska's tempo was especially appealing
to the restless Jamaican youth, and was always the music of the poor.
Some reggae historians identify the R & B song that fathered the
Ska beat as "No More Doggin'" (1952) by Roscoe Gordon, a Memphis piano
player. The "one and two and three and four" beat had been around
since the 1940s, and was used by Rhythm & Blues artists like Louis
Jordan & Big Joe Turner. Theophilus Beckford is considered by
many to have recorded the first Ska tune, "Easy Snapping", in 1959.
The recording was produced by Lloyd "Matador" Daley, and arranged
by Ernest Ranglin.
Cluet Johnson AKA "Clue J" was important to the development of Clement
"Coxsone" Dodd's desire in the late 1950s to establish a distinctive
Jamaican musical sound. Clue J's distinctive stage greeting - skavoovie,
lead some to define this as the root of the term Ska.
 The first Ska song to hit outside of Jamaica
was Millie Small's "My Boy Lollipop" (1964 Island). Sir Lord Comic's
"The Great Wuga Wuga" (1967 WIRL(JA)), a musical advertisement for
his sound system, was one of the last great Ska tunes.
 The Skatalites, who truly defined the various Ska-era
styles, were ubiquitous in the mid-60s, but only held together for
about 14 months (1964-65). The original Skatalites were jazzmen in
the 1940s & 1950s, bringing the influence of big-band, bebop &
the Blue Note sound to the new Jamaican dance sound. Reforming in
the 1980s they continue to excite audiences worldwide even though
some of the original members have recently passed on.
Since the 1960s Ska has been adapted and revived in many forms, and
continues to be popular around the world.
Steady Rocking - 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.
Say What You're Saying - By 1969 the new, enduring sound of Reggae
(often spelled Reggay in the early years) 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.
Reggae Recipe - 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!
Credit is given to Winston Grennan, "Master Drummer Of Jamaica", the
true originator of the "one-drop" reggae rhythm. 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 "drop"ped. 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-1970s.
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 probably influenced the sound of disco music.
The term Rockers came to be a generic term for 1970s 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.
Liveth and Reigneth - 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 1930s, but came to the world's
notice in the 1970s 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.
Version City - Jamaican music has changed considerably over the past
40 or so years, stretching forth in many directions, absorbing other
sounds, and influencing many.
Dub It - 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.
Inna De Dance - 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.
Movement of Jah People - 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 a relatively small nation - The Loudest Island
in the World.
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