Ska. A True Artform

Ska is a form of Jamaican music combining elements of traditional mento and calypso with an American jazz and rhythm and blues. Originating in Jamaica, possibly in the 1950s, it was a precursor to rocksteady and later reggae. It was the predominant form of music listened to by rude boys, although many ska artists condemned the violent subculture.

The term rude boy came from Jamaican slang for cool or hip, and rude boys dressed in the latest fashions at dancehalls and on the streets. The term rude boy may have been associated with an extremely potent rum-based drink called Rude to Your Parents, which was served at sound system parties. It may also be related to the term rudeness, which was used in Jamaica in the 1950s and 1960s in reference to sexual intercourse. Ska was also popular with mods and skinheads, with artists such as Symarip, Laurel Aitken, Desmond Dekker and The Pioneers aiming songs at these groups as early as the 1960s. After World War II, Jamaicans purchased radios in increasing numbers, and were able to hear American R&B from southern cities like New Orleans, by artists such as Fats Domino and Louis Jordan. Moreover, the stationing of American military forces during the War and after meant that Jamaicans could listen to military broadcasts of American music, and that there was a constant influx of records from the US. To meet the demand for such music, entrepreneurs like Prince Buster, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, and Duke Reid formed sound systems, which were portable discotheques. Sound Systems would be set up in yards for outdoor dance parties.

These pioneers employed local youth known as "sound boys". Soon, a tradition of more than one sound system showing up to a yard party sprung up, creating a dueling DJs effect. Sound System operaters were judged by both the power of their systems and the quality of their records. Operators would obtain records from Miami and New Orleans, and these records were hot commodities in Jamaica. Sound system operators often removed labels from the most popular records in order to enjoy a monopoly on the best-liked tunes and draw the most customers.

As Jump blues and more traditional rhythm and blues began to ebb in popularity in the early 1960s, Jamaican artists began recording their own version of the genre. Record store owners and sound system operators began to inaugurate record labels. The ska sound is known for the placement of the accented guitar and piano rhythms on the upbeats. Some believe that the early jazz and rock 'n' roll broadcasts from American radio stations were misinterpreted by an eager Jamaican music audience, hence the off-beat rhythms that almost mimick the breakup of weak radio signals that hit the West Indian shores. Others consider ska not a misinterpretation, but its own response to American music. It has been argued that ska came from the combination of native and local musical idioms with those of American music. Likewise, the ska sound coincided with the celebratory feelings surrounding Jamaica's independence from the UK in 1962, an event commemorated by ska songs such as Derrick Morgan's "Forward March" and the Skatalites' "Freedom Sound". The first ska recordings were created at facilities like Studio One and WIRL Records in Kingston, Jamaica by producers like Dodd, Reid, Prince Buster, and Edward Seaga (later Jamaica's prime minister). Ska was showcased at the 1964 New York World's Fair. Byron Lee & the Dragonaires were selected as the band for the occasion, and Prince Buster, Eric "Monty" Morris, and Peter Tosh performed with them.

Prince Buster and U-Roy of Jamaica brought ska to the UK in the early 1960s. The word "ska" may have onomatopoeic origins in a tradition of poetic or possibly musical rhythms. Guitarist Ernest Ranglin said that the offbeat guitar scratching that he and other musicians played was referred to as "skat! skat! skat!" Some believe that Cluet Johnson coined the term. Bassist Johnson and the Blues Blasters were Coxsone Dodd's house band in the 1950s and early 1960s before the rise of the Skatalites.

As music changed in America, so did ska. In 1966 and 1967, when American soul became slower and smoother, ska changed its sound accordingly and evolved into rocksteady, with the bass playing more varied rhythms, more emphasis on the downbeat, and more soulful vocals. Some historians suggest that the popularity of rocksteady's slower tempo was a result of an exceptionally warm summer in 1966, during which dancers were physically too hot to dance to the uptempo numbers. It has also been suggested in some oral histories that the rise of rocksteady was likewise a response to the Jamaican rude boy subculture, as rudies valued keeping a cool, composed demeanor, and danced more slowly than others in the yard.

The rudeboy culture originated in the ghettos of Kingston, coinciding with the popular rise of dancehall celebrations and sound system dances. Disaffected unemployed urban youths sometimes found temporary employment from sound system operators to disrupt competitors' dances (leading to the term dancehall crasher). This - and other street violence - became an integral part of rudeboy lifestyle, and often gave rise to gangs. Many of these rudies started wearing sharp suits, thin ties, and pork-pie or Trilby hats, inspired by United States gangster movies and soul music groups. With growing emigration in the late 1960s, the rude boy culture and its music, ska and rocksteady, spread to the United Kingdom and other countries.

Some notable rocksteady musicians were the Supersonics (house band at the Treasure Isle recording studio) and the Soul Vendors (house band at Studio One). Some notable rocksteady vocalists were the Melodians, who scored a hit with Rivers of Babylon, the Paragons, the Heptones (one of the most popular vocal groups in Jamaica in the late 1960s), The Ethiopians, and Desmond Dekker, who did a number of rocksteady songs during the late 1960s. Toots & The Maytals, another popular vocal group, were the first to use the term "reggae" in a song title with their hit Do the Reggay. Rocksteady lasted until the emergence of reggae in 1968. The popularity of transistor radios and the rise of rastafarianism eventually transformed Reggae into a socio-economic and political movement. Roots reggae is the name given to explicitly Rastafarian reggae music. It is a spiritual type of music whose lyrics are predominantly in praise of "Jah" or Jahova (God). Recurrent lyrical themes include poverty and resistance to government oppression. The creative pinnacle of roots reggae may have been in the late 1970s, with artists such as Burning Spear, Barrington Levy and the Wailers. Ska has been the biggest influence in both my personal and professional life.