1.10: What about reggae? (Ska)
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This article is from the Ska FAQ, by Tomas Willis tomas@twillis.com with numerous contributions by others.
1.10: What about reggae? (Ska)
Reggae music is an offshoot of ska that developed in the late 1960s.
Reggae was developed out of rocksteady music, a music developed by
early ska vocalists (e.g. Laurel Aitken, Derrick Morgan, Desmond
Dekker) as audiences demanded a more *steady* beat `[TKS]' and perhaps
less all-instrumental music. (see ) Note that many reggae stars got
their start as ska musicians. Notable examples are Bob Marley, Bunny
Wailer, Peter Tosh, Rita Marley Anderson, Toots and the Maytals,
Desmond Dekker. As the fast beat of ska mellowed through rocksteady, it
gradually led to the creation of reggae.
As Horace Cambell wrote in `Rasta and Resistance',
"The transition from rock steady to reggae was, like the
transition from ska to rock steady, an impreceptible process which
was both a response to and a reflection of the changing social
conditions of the society. Where rock steady had the legacy of
singing the sex and romance songs of Jackie Opel and Lord Creator,
reggae laid emphasis on Africa, black deliverance and redemption."
`[RAR]'
Note that reggae has not always been inextricably linked to
Rastafarian culture. See .
The British band UB40, loosely associated with second-wave ska,
offers the following thoughts about the origins of reggae in their all-
cover tribute album, `Labour of Love':(1)
"This is a selection of songs. They represent an era. An era,
after the first skinhead wave, when black boys were still rude
boys and only hippies wore their hair long. They represent reggae
when it was first called by that name. Reggae before it was
discovered by cops, sociologists and TV producers. Before it was
claimed by lefties, liberals, punks and rastas. Reggae was just
another dance music and most D.J.' still sniggered at it.
In those days, reggae appealed not to the intellect or the social
conscience, but to the heart and hips."
`[LL]'
For more reggae info, check out the rec.music.reggae Usenet group.
Usenet rec.music.reggae
The rec.music.reggae-related Jammin Reggae Archive is accessable on
the WWW from the Jammin home page, which has *moved* from the older
`jammin.nosc.mil' site and the old `orpheus.ucsd.edu' site to the new
site at www.arrowweb.com/jammin You can access the Jammin archive by
ftp, too: ftp://spectra.math.uga.edu/
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) Side note for UB40 fans: UB40 covers Tony Tribe's 1969 version
of "Red, Red Wine," but this song was written by Neil Diamond!
Rastafarianism and Ska Music
............................
The Wailers, for example, were not to embrace Rastafarianism until
after the 1965 visit of Jamaica by the Ethiopian emperor Selassie I,
and did not cut their first song with Rasta lyrics until 1966, with
"Rasta Ship Them Up." In fact, Reggae's early popularity in England
was due mainly to the "Skinheads" and "skinhead reggae". (see .)
For more on Rastafarianism:
`"Rastafari: The Birth and Development of Cultural and Religious Resistance in Jamaica and Throughout the Rasta Migration", by Bush Doktor'
http://ebhon.jnst.uor.edu/Users/doktor/rastapaper.html.
`"A SKETCH OF RASTAFARI HISTORY", by Norman Hugh Redington'
http://paradigm.uor.edu/users/doktor/norman2
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