Reggae Music’s Evolution: From Ska to Dancehall
The Influence of Reggae Music
Through the last few decades, reggae music has been influential the world as a serious instrument to bring about change. Reggae music songs blow a cultural wind from the African people to highlight the struggles of the marginalized
Jamaican Reggae music, developed from the combination of African, jazz, and R&B amongst other influences, became especially popular
In this article, the history of reggae music is explained, from the birth of Ska, to Rocksteady, the classic roots reggae, and finally to modern day Dancehall.
Ska: Birth of a Jamaican Beat
Before reggae there was Ska. Ska is high energy dance music that started in the late 1950s. Derived from Caribbean mento and calypso, with influences from American Jazz and R&B, Ska’s characteristic have a high tempo and brass sections that are most prominent, ska was the rhythm of Jamaica’s dance halls.
Key Ska Artists:
Toots and the Maytals (before they became a reggae band).
Rocksteady: The Slow Dancer Comes In
From its inception in the 50s through to mid 1960s, the pace of Ska increased. Around 1966, Rocksteady, a softer and more soulful style of music, began to develop.
The Rocksteady era shifted focus onto the bass player. This new reggae style had a more solid one drop beat. This music groove also favored socially conscious lyrics blazing the path of resistance and unity which is now synonymous with Reggae,.
Key Rocksteady Artists:
Alton Ellis
The Paragons
The Melodians
Desmond Dekker (moving from ska).
The birth of Reggae: A global best seller
By the end of the 1960s, rocksteady had turned into reggae with more emphasis on the bass and off beat one drop rhythm. Reggae lyrics continued, and strengthened social message themes.
Toots and the Maytals made the word reggae popular with their 1968 song Do the Reggay. From the 1970s, Reggae was to become the voice of Jamaica’s Rastafarian movement and it’s message of peace, love and protest against injustice spread across the world.
Some of the most influential personalities in reggae music include Bob Marley who helped to take the genre to international acclaim and turn Reggae into a movement.
Other great singers who helped to sustain the reggae flag include Peter Tosh, Burning Spear, and Jimmy Cliff. By fusing roots reggae music with spiritual and political themes, these reveared musicians helped shape the reggae sound.
Key Reggae Artists:
Bob Marley and the Wailers
Peter Tosh
Burning Spear
Jimmy Cliff
Culture
Dancehall: The Digital Revolution
Reggae music took a different direction in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as Dancehall came to the fore, a newer, more energetic and digitally influenced sound.
Dancehall was faster, more rhythmically complex, and often had toasts that featured DJs rapping over riddims. With improvement in technology, electronic drum machines and synthesizers became an essential part of dancehall production.
Dancehall was more aggressive, more aggressive, and more real than reggae, and its topics ranged from street activities, party mood, to real life. Yellowman and Shabba Ranks were the first to take dancehall international.
Key Dancehall Artists:
Yellowman
Shabba Ranks
Buju Banton
Beenie Man
Reggae Rock: It is a combination of Jamaican music and rock music.
As reggae music began to get popular across the world it started to blend with Rock music, giving birth to Reggae Rock.
Emerging at the same time as Dancehall, Reggae Rock is the combination of a fast paced Reggae time signature blended with strong bass and rock guitar.
This sub-genre became popular in Britain and the United States and influenced further spurs of Alternative and Surf Rock.
Reggae rock bands take cues from ska, punk, and in some cases, hip hop which makes for a very lively and current sound yet still firmly rooted in reggae.
Key Reggae Rock Artists:
The Police
Sublime
Slightly Stoopid
Rebelution
SOJA (Soldiers of Jah Army)
The Dirty Heads
Vybz Kartel
Reggae Music’s Lasting Influence
Today, Reggae music is far from dead. It still holds its ground in the world’s stage and can be felt in other genres like Hip Hop, Reggae Pop, and mainstream Pop.
It is easy to hear Reggae influence from musicians like Bob Marley, while emerging sounds from Protoje, and Koffee, continue to advance the reggae genre while keeping it authentic.
From the upbeat tempo of Ska, through spiritual and influential mainstream Reggae, to Dancehall with digitized soundtracks, Reggae music is still felt and appreciated across the world, and its message of love, resistance and unity reign supreme.
What’s Your Favorite Reggae Era?
What kind of reggae are you into? Do you prefer the original roots reggae or are you more into the dancehall version?
Let us know in the comments below.
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