S K A

Although not many ska loving kids know it today, the music scene of the 1950s was Rockin. American pop was beginning to influence bands all around the world; America had many very powerful radio stations that carried the music over the waves of the caribbean; to the tiny island roughly 500 miles off the coast of Miami, 
Jamaica.

Many things were coming together at that time in Jamaica. Money was changing hands. A national indigenous music was on the verge of disappearing, and people were being influenced by what they heard on the radio. They all influenced the way that ska music sounds today. The big question now is where did all this start?

First of all in the 1920's and 30's the local band scene in Jamaica was Mento. Mento was mostly a rural music because most of the bands were local bands. Typically a Mento band would play at weddings, local dances, fairs and concerts. They were even employed on a more personal level as bands for house parties. As time passed by, the popularity of Mento was on a steady decline. By the late 1950's Mento started the slow transition into Ska music. The so called "society" bands were playing only token Mento numbers, but the bands on the road were getting more daring in how they applied their Mento craft. 

They called it the Jamaican mobile Disco. The DJs would travel from town to town. Sometimes playing in dancehalls, and sometimes setting up right in the street. The people would flock to these shows hungry for the sound coming out of America. Music from bands such as Fats Domino, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louie Jordan, and Ray Charles.They would party from Friday night to early Monday morning in the dancehalls thanks to DJs such as Tom the Great Sebastian, V Rocket, and Sir Coxsone's Downbeat.


There was a change happening in America though. Rock-n-Roll grew so popular in America that it almost killed R&B and Jazz which had been the kings so far. The Jamaicans could identify with, and dance to, American Rhythm and Blues and Jazz alike. But they could not deal with the new sounds of Rock-n-Roll. They did not like the dance steps either. It was also becoming harder to find good new rhythm and Jazz records to bring back to Jamaica. .

At the same time the number of practicing Mento musicians declined notably. They could find only a few places to play, but Mento did not die. Due to the international interest in calypso, some record producers decided to give the Mento musicians a chance. They started cutting more and more LP records. Due to the efforts of producers like Ken Kouri, Stanley Motta, and Chin, the birth of the modern Jamaican music industry was given birth. 

So Mento went national. The music which had grown unpopular with the local crowd started to grab people that hadn't heard it in their local bar. So now the situation is the middle class is still listening to big band jazz, and the middle to lower class was listening to the new natioal rage Mento. Something was bound to happen.

In a strict musical sense, Ska is a fusion. It combines a distinct Jamaican mento folk rhythm with R&B. Then the drums come in on the second and fourth beats. This is what carries the blues and swing beats of American music. The guitar then emphasizes the up of the second, third and fourth beats. This is what carries the Mento sound mentioned earlier.

Ska was an immediate hit with the Jamaicans. It was after all Jamiaca's first indiginous original music sound. Many names started to pop up in the forfront of this musical wave. Name like Rolond Alphonso with his tenor sax, and Don Drummund and Rico Rodriguez on the trombone; Drumbago and Lloyd Knibbs on drums; Jah Jerry Haynes on guitar; Dizzy Moore and Raymond Harper on trumpet. Lloyd Brevett, Clue J on bass; Aubry Adams on the keyboard. Then there were the singers like Laurel Aiken, Clancy Eccles,Owen Grey, Lascelles Perkins, Higgs and Wilson, and last but not least , Bunny and Skitter.

That was the beginning as I know it. The ska sound eventually evolved into rock steady, but not before great history was made.

If you have only gotten into the new stuff I suggest you do some digging in your local record shop and grab some of the old stuff. You will not believe your ears. Not only that, but once the music has started, you will not be able to stay still for long. You will find yourself moving. Maybe just your foot tapping or your finger twitching. Hell, you may even find youself skanking in the middle of the living room, like I do very often, but you will be moving. There is no way to stop it.

source: web.fccj.edu