The Ska was originated in the late 1950’s or some say the 1960’s in the Jamaican music industry. This was after the Mento which was in the early 1950’s. Ska was a combination of Mento, American jazz and the Rhythm and Blues elements. The Ska was of fast tempo with upbeat rhythms.
The Jamaica ska was very popular with the British mods, as they copied the style of the Jamaicans. History shown that there was three periods of the Ska, the first wave which was the original Jamaican scene in the 60’s, the second wave, which is the English revival in the late 70’s and the third wave in the 80’s which was the Ska movement.
The term Ska has different stories as to its origin, each with their own theories as you will see with most of the Jamaican names, someone wants to claim the fame of naming the music.
The history of the Ska was that after the World War II, numerous radios were purchased and the Jamaicans were able to listen to the rhythm and blues from the United States. At that time artist such as Louis Jordan and Fats Domino were the hits, this created a big demand for that type of music.
The music entrepreneurs in Jamaica at this time, namely Clement Dodd, Prince Buster and Duke Reid started sound systems to play music for crowds of people that would gather in the streets of Kingston. The R&B music was the popular music been played at this time, but it was not Jamaican, the Jamaica artists soon began their own genres.
One story of the origin of the Ska, was that Prince Buster created it during his recording of his new label. He was said to have done this by flipping the R&B shuffle beat and stressed the off beats with the guitar to and then the Ska beat was created.
Ska was first recorded at the facilities at WIRL and Studio One records in Kingston, the producers were Edward Seaga, Prince Buster and Dodd Reid. The Ska music was well celebrated as it corresponds with the celebration of the Jamaica’s Independence in 1962. Some of the songs that were played were “Forward March” by Derrick Morgan and “Freedom Sound” by The Skatalites.
The Jamaicans artist used to do cover songs and the Skatalites recorded songs from popular British and American music to songs such as the Motown and Atlantic soul hits, and the Beatles songs. Bob Marley and the Wailers also did cover songs; they copied the Beatles song that that was “And I Love Her”.
Prince Buster and Byron Lee and the Dragonaires performed at a fair that was held in New York in 1964. As the music changed around in the United States, the Ska also changed in Jamaica, in 1965 and 1966 and became a slower and smoother beat. This was how the music started its transition into Rock Steady.
The Jamaica Ska music went through a lot of reworks and in some of these cases the reworking turned some of the originals into big hits again in the UK. |