Reggae Music: Origins and Evolution

Reggae Music

• Reggae, the heartbeat of newly independent Jamaica, originated in the 1960s.
• It's a blend of American and African musical styles.
• It features chanted vocals, bass guitar-led riffs, and off-beat guitar chords.
• Reggae has brought Jamaican dance music to global recognition.

How it happened

• Live musicians were too expensive hence traveling DJs entertained parties using sound systems.
• Sound systems included large speakers, a record-playing deck, and a powerful amplifier.
• DJs like Clement Dodd and Duke Reid would spin records and add rhyming vocals, known as "toasting."
• Mento, a mix of European and African folk dance music, began in the 1940s, becoming the first Jamaican recorded music in 1951.
• By the early 1960s, Jamaican R&B, jazz riffs, and mento music merged into ska.
• Ska stood out with its dominant bass and emphasis on the off-beats.
• In 1966, soul music merged with ska, creating a slower music style with refined harmony known as rocksteady.
• Rocksteady lyrics focused on social unrest, and electronic instruments were used.
• In 1962, Jamaica gained independence but faced increasing unrest in underdeveloped areas.
• Disheartened youths, dressed like "mods," developed a ska vocal style known as rude boy music.
• Rastafari, a growing movement in Jamaica since the 1930s, is a faith emphasizing African roots.
• By the late 1960s, Rastafari ideas inspired roots reggae lyrics.
• Reggae lyrics were sung in Jamaican patois, a mix of Creole English, African, Portuguese, Spanish, and Rasta slang.
• By the late 1960s, improved music studios in Jamaica facilitated a change from rocksteady to reggae.
• Reggae featured an African nyah-bingi hand-drumming style for a heartbeat rhythm.
• It also included tricky lead-bass arrangements, off-beat guitar chords (skank), and Jamaican patois lyrics.

Jamaican Musicians

• Bob Marley (1945–1981)
• Marley's international fame with The Wailers (formed in 1964) popularized reggae and the Rastafarian movement worldwide.
• Abyssinians (formed 1968)
• This roots reggae band sang in close harmony.
• Their first song, Satta Massagana, released in 1971, was a Rastafarian hymn in the ancient Ethiopian Amharic language.
• Lee "Scratch" Perry (1936-2021)
• This reggae musician and producer became one of the creators of dub music.
• Dub music involved remixing a record by removing the vocal part, using textures, and creating special effects.
• Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare (1975-2021)
• Meeting in the reggae band The Revolutionaries, they created new sounds, such as the harder beat known as "Rockers" and the “rub-a-dub" sound.
• Judy Mowatt (1952-)
• One of the first female reggae performers and producers.
• Mowatt worked with Freddie McGregor to co-produce Black Woman in 1978.

Reggae Offshoots

• Many different music styles have their roots in reggae.
• British genres jungle and drum and bass were influenced by the high tempo electronic reggae music of Dancehall.
• More recently, the Latin American genre reggaeton went global, with Luis Fonsi's Despacito becoming a worldwide hit.

Outside Jamaica

• UB40 (formed 1978)
• This British reggae band released the song Red Red Wine in 1983, and originally recorded by Neil Diamond in 1967
• Men at Work (formed 1979)
• In 1981, this Australian rock band influenced by reggae music released the single Down Under, which became an instant hit.
• Matisyahu (1979-)
• This American musician combines a Jewish traditional musical style with background reggae music as well as rock and hip-hop sounds.

Electric Guitar

• Electric guitar invention was a breakthrough in music which allowed guitars to be heard over instruments turning it into a lead instrument.

Electric Guitars in History

• 1920s: Jazz guitarists sought ways to amplify their guitars.
• 1930s: The first electric guitar, the "Frying Pan," was made by George Beauchamp in 1931.
• The Vivi-Tone company built the first Spanish-style electric guitar in 1933.
• 1940s: Electrical amplification allowed for non-hollow electric guitars.
• 1941: Les Paul created "the Log" from a solid wooden post.
• Leo Fender designed the Fender Esquire in 1949.
• 1950s: Gibson released the "Les Paul Standard" in 1952.

Parts of the electric guitar and their functions

• The bridge holds strings in place, the pickups translate the vibrations of the strings and the pickup switch selects different pick-ups and changes the sound.
• The electric guitar body is usually made from wood.
• Control dials change the volume and tone.
• The amplifier converts electric signals from guitar into sound.
• Electric guitars typically have a 4-octave range.

Top Guitarists

• Great guitarists have distinctive styles and sounds.
• Jimi Hendrix played a right-handed guitar upside down.
• Neil Young uses pedal effects for his sound
• Jimmy Page uses a violin bow on guitar.

Other Guitar types

• Electric guitars come are made from wood, metal, plastic and cardboard.
• The fretboard is the surface of the neck beneath the strings.
• The frets are strips aligned precisely along the neck.
• The nut is the band between the neck and the headstock.
• Plectrums (picks) can be used for plucking.
• The machine heads tune the strings.
• One is St. Vincent who's music is a mixture of intricate guitar arrangement with electronica.

Explore the origins of reggae music in 1960s Jamaica, a blend of American and African styles. Learn how DJs and sound systems played a role. Discover the evolution from mento to ska and then to reggae.