Reggae
The Reggae music genre is a distinctive style of music that evolved in the late 1960s with strong influence from mento, ska and rocksteady. Rocksteady had a slow and soft feel that was best demonstrated by bands like The Maytals and The Wailers. Ska, with a more disorganized, upbeat quality, fused styles like Caribbean calypso with American rhythm and blues. It is this Caribbean influence that gives reggae that island music feel, one that’s still going strong and today even fuses with punk rock in many instances.
Reggae features heavy bass and drum beats that early singers used to perform ballads with social and political commentary. The genre would gain international attention when Bob Marley and the Wailers Band released the Exodus album. Today, reggae music is a major influence for many newer genres with major artists releasing recordings with reggae undertones. The genre has a steady following on almost every continent with thousands attending reggae festivals every year.
Stylistically similar to funk, reggae is built from distinct musical “puzzle pieces” provided by multiple guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, percussion and vocals. These elements precisely fit together in the musical arrangements. In terms of the guitar work, one guitar often plays a “scratchy” rhythm part—like a percussion instrument, such as a washboard, snare drum or maracas—while another guitar provides a low, single-note melodic line that is similar to but differs from the bass line.
In sharp contrast to many styles of music, in reggae the bass often provides melodic content while the guitars lay a solid rhythmic grid underneath.
Ska initiated a very distinctive feature of Jamaican music that subsequently became the basis for reggae: heavily accenting the upbeat. The rhythm guitar in ska music plays all four upbeats, or the “and” of each beat. The drummer accents the 2 and 4 beats and the bass plays a cool walking line.
Noticeable reggae artists and producers
It was the famous hit single by Johnny Nash titled “Hold me tight” that is still to this day known as the song that introduced America to reggae music in 1968. Nash, along with The Wailers (formed by Bob Marley, Peter Tosch, and Bunny Wailer) are known as the genre’s pioneers, but many more lesser-known musicians also emerged as reggae artists, all of whom played the same way: by utilizing a 4/4 time signature, an uptempo “skank” guitar groove, and both accented and energized rhythms. Key early figures in the reggae movement included Toots and the Maytals, Burning Spear and Jimmy Cliff.
As with all genres of music, the producer, engineer and artist relationship is extremely important. A few key Jamaican producers that were directly involved in the transition of ska and rocksteady into reggae include, but are not limited to: King Tubby, Duke Reid, Leslie Kong, Lee ”Scratch” Perry , Joe Gibbs and Coxsone Dodd.
Ska music
Originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, Ska came before musical styles such as Rocksteady and Reggae. Ska is a combined musical element of Caribbean Mento and Calypso with a bit of American Jazz and also Rhythm and Blues. It separates itself from other musical genres due to its walking bass line accented with rhythms on the upbeat. In the early 1960s, Ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with the other communities as well, including the British Community.
Ska music was made for dancing. It stand out because the music is upbeat, quick and exciting. Musically, it can be characterized with a drumbeat on the 2nd and 4th beats (in 4/4 time) and with the guitar hitting the 2nd, 3rd and 4th beats. Traditional Ska bands generally featured bass, drums, guitars, keyboards, horns with sax, trombone and trumpet being most common.
Music historians typically divide the history of Ska into three periods: the original Jamaican scene of the 1960s (First Wave); the English 2 Tone Ska revival of the late 1970s (Second Wave); and the third wave Ska movement, which started in the 1980s and rose to popularity in the US in the 1990s. Without a doubt Ska has set a musical standard for genres that follow it such as Reggae and Rocksteady.
Rocksteady music
Rocksteady came about in Jamaica in the late 1960s. Though the rocksteady craze only lasted for a couple of years, it had a major influence on reggae music, which became the predominant music genre in Jamaica when rocksteady died out.
Like ska, rocksteady is music that was popular for street dances. However, unlike the wild ska dancing (called skanking), rocksteady provides a slower, mellower beat, allowing for more relaxed dancing. Rocksteady bands, such as Justin Hinds and the Dominoes, frequently performed without a horn section and with a strong electric bass line, paving the way for many reggae bands that did the same.
The History of Reggae and the influences it brought with it
Between the 1950s and the 1990s Reggae and Ska interchanged with one another as they broke out of Jamaica and into the wider world. Ska was first developed in the 1950s before being exported to the UK with some chart success ( e.g the Skatalites, Millie Small).
In the mid 1960’s the ‘hyper’ rhythms of Ska gave way to the slower, looping beats of Rocksteady.
By the end of the 1960’s, these two genres merged to form Reggae. Reggae ’embellished the bedrock rhythms of Ska and Rocksteady with political and social lyrics’. Common topics included Rastafarianism, Racial pride and the turbulent Jamaican political climate.
While the influences of ska and and reggae were evident in some western popular music, until the popularisation of Reggae through Bob Marley and the Wailers, the genre only had a cult following outside of Jamaica.
Reggae was subsequently influential on many ‘white’ performers including The police, The clash and UB40.
During the 1970’s in the UK, there was a ska revival in form of the Two Tone record label. Bands with both black and white members worked with elements of reggae,ska,dub and rock (eg. Madness, The specials,Selector etc). Their lyrics were socially and politically conscious often containing british working class themes and criticising the establishment.
During the 1980’s Reggae continued to evolve into Dub forms which demonstrated the importance of the record producer and the Jamaican sound system.