Jamaican Reggae

The country of Jamaica has so many different types of music and is such a diverse culture. Reggae music originated in Jamaica, reggae music ties back to the late 1940s, but this type of music became very popular in the 1960s. Reggae music consists of many different music elements all combined into one genre of music. It consists of rhythm and blues (R&B), jazz, mento, calypso, African, and Latin American music, and so many more. “Reggae scenes consist of two guitars, one for rhythm and one for lead—drums, congas, and keyboards, with a couple of vocalists.” Even though reggae music is like a little sub-genre of all the other different types of music combined, it is still its own type of music. For example, reggae music is classified as having a slower tempo, offbeats, melodic bass lines, etc. 

 

 

Background of Reggae Music

The word “reggae” was invented around the 1960s, when this word was invented, it was to classify a “ragged” style of dance music. When you compare rock music to reggae music it “basically inverted the role of bass and guitar: the former was the lead, the latter beat the typical hiccuping pattern. The paradox of reggae, of course, is that this music "unique to Jamaica" is not Jamaican at all, having its foundations in the USA and Africa." This is why Jamaica has a very diverse culture, this whole new genre of music was created that does not even represent Jamaica’s existing music. The founder of Reggae music was Toots and the Maytals “a founder of reggae who coined the term for the music genre and helped build it into an international movement” There were a lot of things that made reggae music popular, but the main thing that popularized reggae music was Bob Marley. He was first the co-leader of the band The Wailers, when The Wailers disbanded Bob Marley decided to pursue being a solo reggae artist. During his time making music with The Wailers as well as a solo artist, he was a big influence on a lot of other artists such as Sublime. The song added here is called No Woman, No Cry.

 

 

 

 

 

More About Reggae Music

There are many different bands that tie into reggae music for starters there's Bob Marley, Sublime, Alton Ellis, Wayne Smith, Sizzla, Freddie McKay, etc. As we've already discussed Bob Marley and the bands behind him. Sublime is another reggae band, but they are more of a reggae meets the punk-alternative type of band, they differ a little bit from reggae in the sense that when you listen to sublime you can tell they use more rock instruments which turns this band into more of a reggae alternative band.

Alton Smith is another reggae artist; he is a solo reggae artist and was classified as “The Godfather of Rocksteady”. The second song linked here is by Alton Ellis called Hurting Me which came out in 1995 under the album Sunday Coming. A little background on Alton Ellis, he was one of the first vocalists to go into making Jamaican music. He was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1938. When he was growing up, he was learning how to sing and play piano which was what started him out on his route of wanting to make music. During the early 60s, “Ellis recorded for Dodd's Studio One label but made little money.” When he was not happy with this, he wound up going from band to band until he became a solo artist.

Sizzla is another reggae solo artist who made 56 solo artist albums within his musical career. He started making music in the late 90s, he was heavily influenced by the Rastafarian movement and wanted to have an impact on the music industry. The song added here is called Guide Over Us which is on his Black Woman & Child album.

The last band I want to touch a little more on is sublime I would just like to add one of their songs here since sublime is classified as reggae, but more of a punk-alternative reggae, I don't want to say much about them, the song I added here is Waiting for my Ruca. when you listen to the other songs listed above and listen to them compared to sublime you can see the difference between strictly reggae music and another band that has conjoined two different genres into one. 

 

 

 

 

 

Fashion behind reggae

Reggae had a huge influence on The Rastafarian movement, which promoted the relocation of the African diaspora to Africa and developed a connection with reggae during this time. Reggae clothing features Ethiopian symbols and colors and is more influenced by African culture. These kinds of clothing and accessories frequently feature pan-African hues like red, yellow, and green. Due to its African roots, it is also known as Rastafarian fashion. In 2016 Tommy Hilfiger put his models on the runway all wearing Rasta colors. Doing this not only celebrated Bob Marley, but it also was a statement in the fashion industry showing others how there is a wide range of clothing, colors, and meaning behind fashion that can make a statement.

 

Overall, when it comes to reggae there are so many different things that tie into this genre and so many different genres that have been inspired by this genre. This genre started a wave and movement to make a statement on a lot of different things, but this is just a little preview of reggae music.

 

 

 

 

 

References  

https://www.scaruffi.com/history/reggae.html

“basically inverted the role of bass and guitar: the former was the lead, the latter beat the typical hiccupping pattern. The paradox of reggae, of course, is that this music "unique to Jamaica" is actually not Jamaican at all, having its foundations in the USA and Africa.”

 

 

https://www.kiro7.com/news/trending/toots-hibbert-founder-reggae-dead-77/SDFTZGRAZJBYPONKWOY3HPWLQA/

“a founder of reggae who coined the term for the music genre and helped build it into an international movement”

 

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/alton-ellis-mn0000178889/biography

“Ellis recorded for Dodd's Studio One label, but made little money.”