Ska has been around for many of a years. Known now to have three distinct waves, First, Two-Tone, and Third Wave, I has been around influencing music all around.
Ska basically originated down on a small careabbean Island called Jamaica. In the US, Jazz and R&B was a hit. At this time, people like Clement Coxsone Dodd and Headly Jones would come across to buy these records, take them back to Jamaica, and sell them. At this time, music was one of the only forms everyone could share. DJ's in Jamaica would get this mucic, and they played it non-stop all the time. They would et up in DAnce Halls, and even sometimes out in the street. Playing Jazz like Count Basie, Fat Domino, Louis Jordan, and Duke Ellington. Some of the more well known DJ's were Tom the Great Sebastian, V Rocket, and Sir Coxsones Downbeat and Prince Buster.
Well, into the 1950's Jazz and R&B started to get overshadowed by another form of music. Taht music is known as Rock an' Roll. Now the people in Jamaica did not like this music to much, it was to hard to dance too. So Celemnt Dodd was not in a good spot for being a buyer and a distributor for Jazz and R7B in Jamaica. So he went up to a few musicians and asked them if they could create a unique sound from Jamaican mento folk music, along with black American R&B, and jazz along with boogie woogie. The main man he was talking too was Cluet Johnson.
Cluet was the frontman for Clue J and the Blues Blasters. They were one of the only bands recording and being at gigs for there music. Everyone loved there sound. Cluet played Bass in his band and everyone thought it was the hepest band around. Cluet is also known for greeting people by Skavoovie.
So Cluet started the task of creating there own unique sound for Jamaica. It is said by everyone around, that this is the origins of where Ska came from. In the 50's this sound was not known to many because only a few Jamaican Artists were performing it. But in the 60's, that's when it got its name. That's when the SKA sound we know now was born.
Some others believe that Prince Buster was the originator of Ska. This does not hold as much wieght as what I wrote back above. But in 1962 Cecil Bustamente Campbell, later known as Prince Buster, knew that something new was needed. He had his guitarist Jah Jerry emphasize the afterbeat instead of the downbeat.
Now I am going to agree with my resources that Ska 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.
Now this was an immidiate hit in Jamaica. Being there first original sound, there is alot of reason for it to be such a hit. There were alot of hit artists, here is a list of a few:
Rolond Alphonso with his tenor sax
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 Prince Buster, Laurel Aiken, Clancy Eccles,Owen Grey, Lascelles Perkins, Higgs and Wilson, and last but not least, Bunny and Skitter.
In the 60's Jamaica, the ghetto areas were filling up with youths looking for work that did not exsist. They felt excluded from the public, and sooned took the name Rude Boys. Being Rude was a means of being somebody when society was telling you were nobody. Rude Boys danced a different way in the Dance Halls then regular Jamaican people. It was much slower and alot more of a menacing posture. Rude boy outfitting was customarily pants that were way to short. So this is where the term Rude Boy came into the Ska music scene. This term though, originated back in the 1940's.
As it turns out, the First Wave of Ska only lasted for 10 years. Around 1964 the Ska beat slowed down and became Rock Steady. The First Wave was over around 1968ish.
I am not done adding information to this page. I am still doing research and trying to make this as well informed and correct as possible. This was the beginning of the History of Ska. To come will be a page on the Two-Tone revolution and the infamous Third Wave of Ska. From here on, Ska would eventually form/create Rock Steady and then Lead into Reggae.
On to the 2-Tone Wave
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