Important points about Ska!
- During WWII, American armed forces were stationed in Jamaica. While in the country, the Americans also brought their radio, sharing American R&B and Soul music to the people of Jamaica. (1960’s)
- Jamaicans were fascinated with the music and quickly combined it with their own folk/Calypso music to create “Ska”.
- The independence of Jamaica in 1962, provided a tremendous opportunity to create a unique and national sound for a new country. Ska becomes a huge success, accompanied by its own jagged, hyperactive type of dancing: Skank.
- With two subsequent and important ska-revivals (abroad), skank also receives an overhaul and gets picked up later by Hardcore Punk. For the sake of clarity, this genre is therefore pinpointed as the first wave of Ska or Jamaican Ska.
- Ska music, is often titled “the original reggae”, laying the groundwork for other Jamaican subgenres to take shape.
- Ska music if often characterized by having an upbeat guitar rhythm, horns (trumpets, saxophones, etc), “Rock band set up” bass, drums, guitar, vocals), piano/keyboards (sometimes even a B3 organ).
- Ska music was created out of clubs in Jamaica for dancing purposes, mixing genres and creating new sounds with Jamaican technology and “sound systems”.
- Ska made a comeback in the 80’s and ’90s through Ska Punk, which is a mixture of faster tempos, in your face attitude and frontline horn lines.
Artists listed below
– Ska (First Wave/Jamaican Ska): The Skatalites, Toots & The Maytals
– Two Tone/Second Wave (The UK): The English Beat, The Specials
– Third Wave (The US): The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, No Doubt
Sites to reference…