REGGAE

By Connor Holmes
 BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Reggae is a music style that originated in Jamaica in the late 60s, mostly around
Kingston, and it shows the popular music in Jamaica and the diaspora surrounding it.
Reggae music is heavily influenced by African music due to African immigration
through the slave trade up to the 20th Century. There were a lot of visits in Africa from
Bob Marley and this has influenced his music. In 1968, a song by Toots and The Maytals
was released called “Do the Reggay” and was the fist popular song to use the word
“reggae”. This influenced the name of the genre and the music was shown to a
global audience. Reggae went on to influence popular music up to the present day
in songs such as Unknown Soldier by Rootz Underground and Cheerleader by Omi.
Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding made February 2008 the first annual Reggae
Month in Jamaica. To celebrate, the Recording Industry Association of Jamaica
(RIAJam) held its first Reggae Academy Awards on February 24, 2008. Reggae Month
included a six-day Global Reggae conference, a film festival about reggae, two radio
station award functions, and a concert tribute to the late Dennis Brown, who Bob
Marley said was his favorite singer. On the business side, RIAJam held events focused
on reggae's employment opportunities and potential international revenue.
 FEATURES OF REGGAE MUSIC
• Off-beat chords
• Syncopation
• Common instruments e.g. drums, trumpets
• Clear bass-line
• Jamaican accent vocals
• Brass section
• Bass riff
• Simple chord pattern
• Backing chorus
• Call and response
 TIMELINE OF ARTISTS
• February 6, 1945: Bob Marley is born
He was the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for the ska, rocksteady and reggae bands The Wailers (1964 – 1974) and Bob Marley & The
Wailers (1974 – 1981). Marley is most widely known performer of reggae music, and helped spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari
movement to a worldwide audience.
• 1960s: Bob Marley and the Wailers were formed consisting of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. By late 1963 other singers had joined
and they went on to release many successful albums.
• January 1, 1967: The roots of reggae music begin to develop
Reggae is based on a rhythmic style characterised by accents on the off-beat, known as the skank. Reggae is normally slower than ska.
Reggae usually accents the second and forth beat in each bar.
• July 28, 1968: Trojan records – The history of
Since its creation in 1968, Trojan Records has led the way in presenting the very best in classic Jamaican sounds, from the Rocksteady and early
Reggae sounds that dominated in the years of its launch, up to the modern styles of Dancehall and Jungle. The output of the leading producers
who have been instrumental in the developing sound of Jamaican music has also received due attention, with the works of such legendary
figures as Arthur ‘Duke’ Reid, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd and Leslie Kong all featuring prominently on Trojan releases.
• November 2, 1978 – June 1, 1983: The Police release 5 albums
The albums, in order of release, are Outlandos d’Amour, Reggatta de Blanc, Zenyattà Mondatta, Ghost in the Machine and Synchronicity. They
weren’t released in the same year and wear the only five popular albums that they released.
 4 KEY REGGAE ARTISTS
• Bob Marley
Bob Marley is one of, if not, the most recognisable reggae artists, although he wasn’t the first one. He
brought reggae to a worldwide stage and is the most influential artist ever.
• Peter Tosh
He is considered to be the most rebellious of all reggae artists and he wanted to legalise marijuana
and black freedom. Like Bob Marley, Peter was an original member in The Wailers before becoming a
solo act.
• Marcia Griffiths
Nicknamed “Queen (Empress) of Reggae”, Marcia was one of the many women who influenced the
sound and music of Jamaica. She began he pursuit in music in 1964 and sang back up for Byron Lee
and The Dragonaires band and even Bob Marley.
• Jimmy Cliff
Jimmy started out in Kingston, Jamaica in the 1960’s and was responsible for the soundtrack in the
1972 movie, The Harder They Come. He is still performing today and has been awarded both a place
in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and The Order of Merit from the Jamaican government 2003.
 KEY TRACKS WHICH INFLUENCED
THE EVOLUTION OF REGGAE
There are five tracks in particular that changed the way people were
governed which are:
• No More Weapons by Steel Pulse
• One Blood by Junior Reid
• Revolution by Dennis Brown
• Vietnam by Jimmy Cliff
• Get Up, Stand Up by Bob Marley and the Wailers
It expressed concern through the music industry about nuclear
weapons/warfare, racism, revolutions, wars with other countries and political
and social change in countries. This forever changed the way countries act
and negotiate.
 RASTAFARIANISM
• Rastafari is a religion which developed in Jamaica in the 1930s, after the
crowning of Haile Selassie I as Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930. Its followers
worship him in similar way as Jesus in his Second Advent, or as God the Son.
• Rastafarians believe Haile Selassie is God, and that he will return to Africa
members of the black community who are abandoned because of
colonisation and the slave trade.
• Rastafari holds many Christian beliefs like the existence of a triune God,
called Jah, who had sent his divine incarnate son to Earth in the form of
Jesus (Yeshua as they referred to him as in the Hebrew bible) and made
himself manifest as the divine person of Haile Selassie I.
• Rastafarians had a specific fashion style which can be seen in many reggae
artists.
TIMELINE OF REGGAE AND ITS SUBGENRES
 PRE-REGGAE STYLES
Reggae grew out of earlier musical styles such as mento, ska and rocksteady.
• Mento
Reggae grew out of earlier musical styles such as mento, ska and rocksteady. Mento is a Jamaican folk music based on traditions brought to
Jamaica by West African slaves which blended with later influences such as the quadrille. Mento reached its peak of popularity in the 1950s
with the success of acts such as Louise Bennett, Count Lasher, Lord Flea, Laurel Aitken, and Harry Belafonte, but is sometimes confused with
calypso, a similar style from Trinidad. The Jolly Boys – Take Me Back To Jamaica is a good example of mento.
• Ska
Ska began in the 1950s, coinciding with Jamaica's independence from Great Britain. By the 1950s, musicians began to absorb the influences
R&B and jazz from the United states, resulting in the development of ska. It incorporates elements of mento and calypso, as well as American
Jazz and R&B, which were popular on Jamaican radio. The style is characterized chord chops on the offbeat, sometimes called "upstrokes". The
tempo is usually upbeat and often features horns, usually trumpets, saxophones, and trombones, as well and pianos and keyboards, bass, and
drums. In the early-to-mid 1960s, ska became the most popular form of music in Jamaica and set the stage for rocksteady and reggae. Many of
ska's popular acts such as Desmond Dekker & the Aces, Bob Marley and the Wailers, the Skatalites, Toots & the Maytals, Byron Lee & the
Dragonaires, and the Melodians, later beame associated with reggae. The Specials – Too Much, Too young is a good example of ska.
• Rocksteady
In 1966, many ska musicians began to favour slower rhythms and beats, and the form began to evolve into rocksteady. A successor of ska and
a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was performed by Jamaican vocal harmony groups such as the Gaylads, Toots & the Maytals, the Heptones
and the Paragons. Here is a playlist of rocksteady.
 EARLY REGGAE
The "early reggae" era can be traced as starting in roughly 1968. More emphasis was put on the
groove of the music, and there was a growing trend of recording a "version" on the B-side of a
single. The mass popularity of instrumental music in the ska and rocksteady eras continued in
reggae, producing some of the most memorable recordings of the early reggae era. Cover
versions of Motown, Stax and Atlantic Records soul songs remained popular in early reggae,
often helping Jamaican artists gain a foothold in foreign markets such as the UK. As a testament
to its far reaching impact in other markets, this era and sound of reggae is sometimes referred
to in retrospect as "skinhead reggae" because of its popularity among the working class
skinhead subculture in the UK during the late 1960s and early 1970s. One Caribbean band
based in London, The Pyramids, even released an entire album dedicated to the unruly English
youth culture under the name Symarip which featured songs such as "Skinhead Moonstomp"
and "Skinhead Girl". Eventually the, often experimental, sounds of early reggae gave way to the
more refined sound made popular by Bob Marley's most famous recordings. Indeed, this era
seems fittingly capped off by the 1973 release of Catch a Fire. Notable artists from this era
include John Holt, Toots & the Maytals and The Pioneers.
 EARLY REGGAE FEATURES
• The guitar "skanks" on the second and fourth beat of the bar began to be
replaced by a strumming pattern similar to mento and the so-called double
chop that can be heard so audibly in the introduction of Bob Marley's "Stir It
Up" was developed during this time.
• One of the developments which separated early reggae from rocksteady
was the "bubble" organ pattern, a percussive style of playing that
showcased the eighth-note subdivision within the groove.
• The influence of funk music from American record labels such as Stax began
to permeate the music style of studio musicians and the slowing in tempo
that occurred with the development of rocksteady had allowed musicians
more space to experiment with different rhythmic patterns.
• A good example is Lord Tanamo – Iron Bar because its got a slow tempo
and you can hear the bubble organ pattern in the background.
 LOVERS ROCK
Lovers rock is a style of reggae music that had a romantic
sound and contents. While love songs had been an
important part of reggae since the late 1960s, the style was
given a greater focus and a name in London in the mid-
1970s. Subsequently, numerous well-established Jamaican
artist came to the UK to try their hand at the new style. Most
successful among these were Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown,
Sugar Minott, and later Freddie McGregor. Brown's "Money In
My Pocket" (#14 in 1979) and Minott's "Good Thing Going" (#4
in 1981) were both big hits in the UK Singles Chart.
 LOVERS ROCK FEATURES
• Noted for its romantic sound and content.
• The roots of lovers rock stared during the last days of the rocksteady era and
early days of reggae, with Jamaican and American singers such as Ken
Boothe, Johnny Nash and John Holt enjoying international hits with versions
of well-known love songs.
• The typical instruments in this style are bass guitar, guitar and drums.
• What separates this style from the reggae itself is that the lyrics are mainly
about love and peace.
• A good example of this is Gregory Isaac – Not the Way because you can
hear that the lyrics are mainly about loving someone and you can hear
drums, a bass guitar and a guitar.
 DUB
Dub is a genre of reggae that was pioneered in the early
days by studio producers Lee 'Scratch' Perry and King Tubby.
The techniques used resulted in an even more visceral feel
described by King Tubby as sounding "jus’ like a volcano in
yuh head." Augustus Pablo and Mikey Dread were two of the
early notable proponents of this music style, which continues
today.
 DUB FEATURES
• It involves extensive remixing of recorded material, and particular emphasis is
placed on the drum and bass line.
• Dub has become the guideline for jungle and drum and bass music.
• The instrumental tracks are typically drenched in sound effects such as
echo, reverberation, with instruments and vocals dropping in and out of the
mix.
• Dub music is characterized by a "version" or "double" of an existing song,
often instrumental, using B-sides of 45 RPM records and typically emphasizing
the drums and bass for a sound popular in local sound systems.
• There is usually a distinctly organic feel to the music, even though the effects
are electronically created.
• Rasta Love ft. Ky-Mani Marley is an good example of dub because you can
hear a little rap part which isn’t typically in reggae and you can hear the
sound effects like echo and distortion.
 NEWER STYLES AND SPIN OFFS
• Reggae fusion
Reggae fusion is a fusion genre of reggae that mixes reggae or dancehall with other genres, such as pop, rock,
R&B, jazz & drum and bass. Although artists have been mixing reggae with other genres from as early as the early
1970s, no official term had been used to describe this style. Shaggy – It Wasn’t Me is a popular example of reggae
fusion.
• Dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more
sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. Vybz Kartel – Yuh Love is a
good example of dancehall music.
• Raggamuffin
Raggamuffin music, usually abbreviated as ragga, is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The
instrumentation primarily consists of electronic music. Similar to hip hop, sampling often serves a prominent role in
raggamuffin music. Here is a playlist of raggamuffin songs.
• Reggaeton
Reggaeton (also known as reggaetón and reguetón) is a musical genre which originated in Puerto Rico during the
late 1990s. It is influenced by hip hop and Latin American and Caribbean music. Vocals include rapping and
singing, typically in Spanish. The Police are a good example of this style. Dandy Yankee – Rompe is a good
example of reggaeton.
 CONCLUSION
Reggae is one of, if not the most, recognisable song styles in the
world. Its history is similar to the history of the blues as it involved
the slave trade and it has changed the way we see music forever.
Bob Marley is the most creditable since he visited Africa and
shared his music which had very political points. However, most
people believe that all reggae artists sing about is drugs and
politics but that isn’t true, as some have made a big impact on
the way people are governed and stopped quite a bit of violence
around the world. It even involves the religion of many people
throughout Jamaica and Africa and makes light of many
situations and what ordinary people can do to help.