AS Unit 2 - Reggae - Redborne Music Department

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To know the cultural background of Reggae music
To learn about the instruments and musical
devices found in Reggae
To be able to recognise Reggae influences in music
Set out research required for homework
While the rock 'n' roll revolution was happening in the US, the British
colonial government was preparing to leave Jamaica (the island gained
its independence in 1962).
In Jamaica, music was enjoyed either by listening to live bands or to
sound systems. Sound systems were a culture onto themselves - they
were both mobile PA rigs, but also the main form of recording
industry on the island - records were cut specifically for the sound
systems, with great competition between soundmen to have the next
new thing. The soundmen/DJs ran their own dances with their sound
systems, keeping a close contact with their audience, and giving the
music a sense of immediacy. Such a close relationship with the
audience meant that there was a will to promote home-grown music.
By keeping the disks they had cut for their own sound system for
their own audience for a few months before they would let it be
released to the general public, deejays built up a sense of loyalty and
a certain hype for when the song was eventually released!
To begin with, in the 1950s, the music that was popular on the island
was the American R&B from American radio stations
By the start of the 1960s, R&B quickly fused with the rhythms of
mento - a Jamaican folk music style similar to calypso - and the big
band jazz style line up to form a new style, indigenous to Jamaica
called 'skà.
Ska was very popular in the nightclubs, with lots of horn players in
the bands, where they would try to out-solo each other.
There wasn't a lot of room for vocals in ska, although songs did
feature vocalists from time to time, but it was mainly an energetic,
instrumental music.
The mood of independence and freedom on the island at the time
worked its way into the joyful sound of ska. The Skatalites were one
of the fìrst bands to be a successful recorded.
By the mid 1960s, the influence of American soul music was felt in
Jamaica. The vocal-oriented music soon fused with ska to form a
more commercial sound called 'rock steady'. Rock steady was
especially influenced by the soul bands featuring close harmony work
(such as The Impressions), so three-part vocal harmony is one of the
features of the new, radio-friendly style.
DJs would always boast about how good their sound system was.
During the 1960s, this boasting took on a rhythmic function, with DJs
'bigging up' their sound systems at the start of the record, speaking
in time to the music. Talking over the music developed into a form
called 'toasting' where the DJ would interact with the lyrics on the
record, or toast rhythmically over the song to hype up the audience.
The act of recycling music was a trait much loved by DJs. They would
take a song and fade the vocal in and out (or remove it altogether),
playing the studio like an instrument, adding echo, reverbs and any
other effect they could find to the instrumental mix and snippets of
the original vocal lines. If they reduced the amount of vocal on the
record, it gave them much more space to toast over without having to
compete with the original vocal line. This remixing culture grew into a
musical style in its own right called 'Dub'. The widely acknowledged
king of dub was King Tubby, a genius with electronics, who would
customise his studio equipment so he could achieve completely original
effects. His skills were always in great demand.
By the end of the 1960s, rock steady had taken on many of the
American soul and R&B traits, with some Jamaicans concerned that it
had lost its identity. The time was ripe for change, so the sound
systems connected with the public again playing bass-heavy, more uptempo music featuring rhythmic stabs from the electric organ and
choppy guitar chords, reminiscent of the banjo in mento. The electric
bass had been used before but it was now made into a feature of the
new music that was to become known as reggae.
Rude-boy culture sprang up in the late 1960s, with gang culture
beginning to dominate the music scene and the rude-boys upped the
ante by bringing weapons and running protection rackets.
Rastafarianism had been present in Jamaica for a long time, but the
social climate of the early 1970s made it grow all the quicker. Into
this scene came artists such as Bob Marley, The Mighty Diamonds and
Burning Spear.
They introduced a new reggae style known as 'roots reggae',
preaching the evils of Babylon (white dominance) and bringing a
heightened political awareness to their song lyrics. Marley was to
become reggae's main export to the rest of the world, with many of
his songs covered by artists in different styles. His untimely death in
1981 was heralded as the end of reggae, but actually it just served to
boost his reputation to that of a legend, with Marley selling
considerably more albums after his death than in his lifetime.
Write a revision guide to Reggae in easy bullet
points. You should include the following:
 Influences of Sound System, Ska, DJ, Soul and R&B
 Instrumentation and how it develops
 Performers
 Music technology used in a Dub style