The History Of Ska Music

12 Pages 3050 Words

The music genre ska originated in the island of Jamaica and caused a social movement like that of many other types of music. Ska came from the music genre of mento. It was born out of the fusion of combining musical elements of both mento and jazz. The combined musical elements that produced a new style initially were called “Shuffle,” in Britain. Recording studios were always on the look out for the next new sound. With the popularity of American artists, Jamaican performers incorporated blues chord progressions and boogie bass lines with mento guitar rhythm. An increase of emphasis was placed primarily on the offbeat rhythm of mento, which eventually became shorter and more detached. Percussion came in on the second and fourth beats, which carried the blues and swing beat of American music, while the guitar emphasized the up of the second, third, and fourth beat. This distinction of syncopated rhythm sounded was referred as the new style of music known as ska.
During the 1920's-1930's, the local band scene in Jamaica was that of mento music. Mento was a type of music commonly known as rural music because of the fact that the bands were local bands. Typical mento bands played at weddings, local dances, fairs, and concerts. Some of the local bands were even employed as bands for house parties. After awhile, the popularity of mento music experienced a steady decline. It was then during the late 1950's that the slow transition into ska music took effect. Bands that traveled on the road got more daring in their application of music, which was referred to as the Jamaican mobile disco. Mobile disco DJs traveled from town to town and their success was based upon the sound that came from America. The American sound consisted of music from performers such as Fats Domino, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louie Jordan, and Ray Charles.
Two men performed a critical role in the development of the sound systems era in Jamaica....