reggae history, reggae songs, reggae artists
For the Mega Man character, see Reggae (disambiguation).Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s.While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae usually has accents on the 3rd beat in each bar, there being four beats in a bar; most people think it's accentuated on the 2nd and 4th because of the rhythm guitar.Reggae is often associated with the Rastafari movement, an influence on many prominent reggae musicians from its inception.Reggae song lyrics deal with many subjects, including faith, love, relationships, poverty, injustice and other broad social issues.The 1967 edition of the Dictionary of Jamaican English lists reggae as "a recently estab.The word as a musical term first appeared in print with the 1968 rocksteady hit "Do the Reggay" by the vocal group the Maytals, but it was already being used in Kingston as the name of a slower dance and style of rocksteady."We didn't like the name rock steady, so I tried a different version of "Fat Man".It changed the beat again, it used the organ to creep."There's a word we used to use in Jamaica called 'streggae'.If a girl is walking and the guys look at her and say 'Man, she's streggae' it means she don't dress well, she look raggedy.So we just start singing 'Do the reggay, do the reggay' and created a beat.People tell me later that we had given the sound it's name.Reggae historian Steve Barrow credits producer Clancy Eccles with altering the word streggae into reggae."JAH Throne music" in Rastafarian contexts.In the Caribbean, Reggae in general is also sometimes known as Rockers music.Although strongly influenced both by traditional African and Caribbean music and by American rhythm and blues, Reggae owes its direct origins to the progressive development of ska and rocksteady in 1960s Jamaica.Aside from its massive popularity amidst Jamaican "rude boy" fashion, it had gained a large following among "mods" in Britain by 1964.The slower sound had a new name: Rocksteady, taken from a single of the new genre by Alton Ellis.This phase of Jamaican music lasted only until 1968, when the musicians began to slow the tempo of rocksteady into yet another gear, and add still other effects.Early in 1968 was when the first bona fide reggae records came into being; both "Nanny Goat" by Larry Marshall, and the Beltones' "No More Heartaches" have been claimed for this honour.The Wailers, started by Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer in 1963, are generally agreed to be the most easily recognised group worldwide that made the transition through all three stages: from ska hits like "Simmer Down", through slower rocksteady; and they are also among the significant pioneers who can be called the literal roots of reggae, along with Prince Buster, Desmond Dekker, Jackie Mittoo, and several others.Some of the many notable Jamaican producers who were highly influential in the development of ska into rocksteady and reggae in the 1960s include Coxsone Dodd, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Leslie Kong, Duke Reid, Joe Gibbs and King Tubby.Trojan continued to produce reggae artists in the UK until 1974, when it was bought by Saga.By the mid 1970s, reggae was getting radio play in the UK on John Peel's radio show, and Peel continued to play much reggae during his career.What is called the first "Golden Age of Reggae" corresponds roughly to the heyday of roots reggae.In the second half of the 1970s, the UK punk rock scene was starting to take off, and some punk DJs played reggae records during their DJ sets.Some punk bands, such as The Clash, The Slits, and The Ruts, incorporated reggae influences into their music.At the same time, reggae began to enjoy a revival in the UK that continued into the 1980s, exemplified by groups like Steel Pulse, Aswad, UB40, and Musical Youth.Other artists who enjoyed international appeal in the early 80s include Third World, Black Uhuru and Sugar Minott.The Grammy Awards introduced the "Best Reggae Album" category in 1985, which was won that year by Black Uhuru's Anthem LP.Winners for subsequent years have included albums by Jimmy Cliff, Steel Pulse, Peter Tosh, Ziggy Marley (four times), Bunny Wailer (three times), Shabba Ranks (twice), Inner Circle, Shaggy, Sly and Robbie, Beenie Man, Damian Marley (twice), Lee "Scratch" Perry, Sean Paul, and Toots and the Maytals.Harmonically, the music is often very simple, and sometimes a whole song will have no more than one or two chords.These simple repetitious chord structures add to reggae's sometimes hypnotic effect.Reggae drumbeats fall into three main categories: One drop, Rockers and Steppers.Beat one is completely empty, which is extremely unusual in popular music.There is some controversy about whether reggae should be counted so that this beat falls on the 3, or whether it should be counted half as fast so that it falls on the 2 and 4.An example played by Barrett can be heard in the Bob Marley and the Wailers song "One Drop".An emphasis on beat three is in all reggae drumbeats, but with the Rockers (pronounced like "raucous") beat, the emphasis is also on beat one (usually on bass drum).An example of the Rockers beat is in "Night Nurse" by Gregory Isaacs.The Rockers beat is not always straightforward, and various syncopations are often included.An example of this is the Black Uhuru song "Sponji Reggae."In Steppers, the bass drum plays four solid beats to the bar, giving the beat an insistent drive.An example is "Exodus" by Bob Marley and the Wailers.Another common name for the Steppers beat is the "four on the floor".The Steppers beat was also adopted (at a much higher tempo) by some of the 2 Tone ska revival bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s.An unusual characteristic of reggae drumming is that the drum fills often do not end with a climactic cymbal.Bass
The bass guitar often plays a very dominant role in reggae, and the drum and bass is often called the riddim.Several reggae singers have released different songs recorded over the same riddim.Guitars
The rhythm guitar in reggae usually plays the chords on beats two and four, a musical figure known as skank or the 'bang'.It has a very dampened, short and scratchy chop sound, almost like a percussion instrument.Keyboards
From the late 1960s through to the early 1980s, a piano was generally used in reggae to double the rhythm guitar's skank, playing the chords in a staccato style to add body, and playing occasional extra beats, runs and riffs.The piano part was widely taken over by synthesizers during the 1980s, although synthesizers have been used in a peripheral role since the 1970s to play incidental melodies and countermelodies.Larger bands may include either an additional keyboardist, to cover or replace horn and melody lines, or the main keyboardist filling these roles on two or more keyboards.The latter has become increasingly popular as keyboard technology improves.This is known as the bubble.There are specific drawbar settings used on a Hammond console to get the correct sound.This may be the most difficult reggae keyboard rhythm.It makes the music sound faster than it really is.The organ often also plays melodic runs and extra beats.In more recent times, real horns are sometimes replaced in reggae by synthesizers or recorded samples.The first horn is usually accompanied by the second horn playing the same melodic phrase in unision, one octave higher.Vocals
The vocals in reggae are less of a defining characteristic of the genre than the instrumentation and rhythm.Almost any song can be performed in a reggae style.The British reggae band Steel Pulse used particularly complex backing vocals.An unusual aspect of reggae singing is that many singers use tremolo (volume oscillation) rather than vibrato (pitch oscillation).Notable exponents of this technique include Dennis Brown and Horace Andy.The toasting vocal style is unique to reggae, originating when DJs improvised along to dub tracks, and it is generally considered to be a precursor to rap.Lyrical themes
Reggae is noted for its tradition of social criticism, although many reggae songs discuss lighter, more personal subjects, such as love, sex and socializing.Some reggae lyrics attempt to raise the political consciousness of the audience, such as by criticizing materialism, or by informing the listener about controversial subjects such as Apartheid.Many reggae songs promote the use of cannabis (also known as marijuana or ganja), considered a sacrament in the Rastafari movement."Babylon", and promotion of caring for needs of the younger generation.Reggae includes several subgenres, such as roots reggae, dub, lovers rock, and dancehall.Roots reggae is the name given to a spiritual type of music whose lyrics are predominantly in praise of Jah (God).Many of Bob Marley's and Peter Tosh's songs can be called roots reggae.The creative pinnacle of roots reggae was in the late 1970s, with singers such as Burning Spear, Gregory Isaacs, Freddie McGregor, Johnny Clarke, Horace Andy, Ijahman Levi, Barrington Levy, Big Youth, and Linval Thompson, and bands like Culture, Israel Vibration, and Misty in Roots, teaming up with various studio producers including Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Coxsone Dodd.Dub is a genre of reggae that was pioneered in the early days by studio producers Lee 'Scratch' Perry and King Tubby.Augustus Pablo and Mikey Dread were two of the early notable proponents of this music style, which continues today.This style greatly influenced Jamaican DJ Kool Herc, who used the style in New York City in the late 1970s to pioneer a new genre that became known as hip hop or rap.Mixing techniques employed in dub music have also influenced hip hop and drum and bass.The style is characterized by a deejay singing and rapping or toasting over raw and fast rhythms.Notable ragga artists include Shinehead and Buju Banton.Reggaeton is a form of dance music that first became popular with Latino youths in the early 1990s.It blends reggae and dancehall with Latin American genres such as bomba and plena, as well as hip hop.Reggae rock is a fusion genre that combines elements of reggae and rock music.Matisyahu, who also blends it with traditional Jewish music.Reggae Riversplash, Tolmin, Slovenia
Splash!The Independent Jun 4, 2004; cf."Sean Paul, Matisyahu reggae's top acts in '06" Todd Martens for Reuters.Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae (2nd edition).Reggae Routes: The Story of Jamaican Music.The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae.Dalton, Peter (2004 for the 3rd edition).Stir It Up: Reggae Cover Art.Reggae Island: Jamaican Music in the Digital Age.Reggae, Rasta, Revolution: Jamaican Music from Ska to Dub.Dancehall Explosion, Reggae Music Into the Next Millennium.Reggae Bloodlines: In Search of the Music and Culture of Jamaica.An Oral history of Reggae.The Story of Trojan Records.The History of Reggae in the UK.The Story of Jamica's Music.All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.The term reggae, in a proper sense, only covers the period in Jamaican music from 1969 to 1979 (or 1985 depending on opinion).However in today's vernacular, the term has come to refer to all Jamaican music from the development of ska in the early 1960s up until today.Mento article, it is pertinent to keep everything under the reggae name whether it warrants it or not.The following genres are listed in roughly chronological order.Ska is the first major local Jamaican genre, flourishing from 1961 or 1962 to around 1966.Major ska artists include Laurel Aitken, Derrick Morgan, Prince Buster and The Skatalites.The style influenced the 1980s British 2 Tone ska revival, which was a mixture of ska, punk rock and pop music.Rocksteady is a slower musical style, with a tempo in between ska and early reggae (between 1966 and 1968).Besides the slower pace, its main feature is the electric bass, which takes on the position of lead instrument with intricate melodies and a high position in the mix.Major artists include Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, The Paragons and Desmond Dekker.Early reggae (or skinhead reggae), is generally considered to be the period before the Rastafari movement entered mainstream Jamaican music from 1968 to 1970.It met great success in the UK, especially with the skinhead subculture.Dub is an instrumental genre built around the application of electronic equipment on existing recorded tracks.Major artists include King Tubby, Lee "Scratch" Perry and Scientist.Toasting is the Jamaican precursor to hip hop, based on Deejays (Jamaica's emcees) toasting (talking) over instrumental tracks or riddims.Early reggae production is further developed with electronics and influences from contemporary western music.Although largely supplanted in the popular imagination by Dancehall in 1979, the style continues even today as a minority underground genre.Robbie, who at the time were the rhythm section of The Revolutionaries.Rockers is described as a militant, mechanical, and aggressive style of playing reggae music.This genre of reggae began in the UK but spread out quickly; reaching popularity in Jamaica as well.Janet Kay, Audrey Hall and Maxi Priest are some examples of Lover's Rock performers.Beginning under producer Prince Jammy in 1985, the genre originally was produced on simple casio keyboards but eventually other synthesisers have been added.Reggae singers or Reggae culture are modern terms for Roots Reggae reggae.This genre of reggae uses many of the same techniques that modern dancehall reggae uses as far as instrumentatation and presentation.Notable performers include Capleton, Sizzla, Morgan Heritage, Tony Rebel, Lucky Dube and Freddie McGregor.All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.Ras John Ultimate Reggae Mix...Roots, Culture, Marley and Reggae Picks at .Internet was still young and Reggae.Reggae Music and Jah Creation.Reggae Music does not stop with Bob though.Listen to Lance O's Reggae Vibes, Reggae news and charts for Jan 14.Tanya Stephen's tears win recognition.Mackie Conscious comes with conscious production.The return of ladies in reggae.Al Campbell interview at Reggae Vibes NL.JA PM announces february as first ever 'Reggae Month'.Friends,
Nuborn Tribe, Seefari, Wayne Wonder and many many more.Get a cool Jammin Reggae Archives sticker!He was declared dead at the scene.Check out the
latest reggae videos from the Virgin Islands on YouTube.
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