Important points about Reggae & Dancehall!
- Reggae started in Jamaican “dancehalls” or club. Reggae was down-tempo rock music that Jamaicans danced to in the hot weather. Reggae was influenced by traditional folk music of Jamaica and American jazz and R&B.
- The first form of reggae was ska music, which became popular later in the 80’s and 90’s.
- Reggae has a slower tempo and an upbeat guitar rhythm. Reggae content consists of stories of Jamaica and political movements.
- Reggae artists: Bob Marley & The Wailers, Ziggy Marley, Chronixx, Jimmy Cliff, The Slickers, Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs
- Instrumentation: Rock band set up: (bass, drums, guitar, vocals), horns (trumpets, saxophones, etc), piano/keyboards.
Dancehall
- Just like the start of hip-hop, with a reflection on what it was like to live in low socioeconomic pockets of urban America, Jamaica was facing it’s own version with rampant drug presence.
- Excessive violence, gang wars and passive governance coerced many Jamaicans to flee into escapist party music: welcome to Dancehall
- Similar to Disco, Jamaican DJ’s were trying to create an escape from the world. The difference was the Jamaican DJ’s stayed true to the native music. They took the rhythm from Ska records (because Reggae’s rhythm was too slow to dance to), the bass and sound of Reggae and influences from Dance/Rock such as the addition of rock drums.
- Similar to Miami Bass, this was in-your-face, aggressive party music.
- Dancehall also brought back the concept of toasting, which Reggae had abandoned.
- Similar to American Hip-Hop, Dancehall created a new type of fashion, more of a culture, to go along with the party phenomenon of Dancehall
Sites to reference…
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