Ska
Ska is a Jamaican music genre characterized by a walking bass line, offbeat guitar or piano accents, and jazz-influenced horns.
Walking bass: A bass line that moves steadily through chord tones and passing notes, often one note per beat. Its steady motion gives ska its characteristic forward-driving pulse.
Sound system: A mobile or venue-based music operation built around powerful speakers, selectors, and recorded tracks. Sound systems provided the audiences and performance culture in which ska first flourished.
Two-tone: A British music movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s that fused ska with punk and new wave. Its bands revived Jamaican ska while pairing it with contemporary British themes and styles.
Rocksteady: A Jamaican popular music genre that developed from ska in the mid-1960s, with a slower tempo and prominent vocal harmonies. Its relaxed pace and bass-centered arrangements mark a shift away from ska’s brisker groove.
Offbeat: A rhythmic position between or away from the main beats in a musical meter. Guitar and piano accents on these beats create ska’s clipped, buoyant feel.
Coxsone Dodd: A Jamaican record producer and sound-system operator who founded Studio One and shaped ska, rocksteady, and reggae. His recordings helped establish ska’s early repertoire and studio sound.
Third-wave ska: A ska revival that developed from the 1980s onward, especially in the United States, often blending ska with punk and rock. It brought ska into a new generation of clubs, festivals, and rock audiences.
Reggae: A Jamaican music genre that developed from rocksteady, known for its distinctive offbeat rhythm and bass emphasis. Reggae retained ska’s Jamaican roots but developed a slower, more spacious rhythmic feel.
Jamaican mento: A Jamaican folk music tradition combining African-derived rhythms with European instruments and popular-song forms. Mento helped shape ska’s local rhythmic and instrumental vocabulary.
Duke Reid: A Jamaican producer and sound-system operator whose Treasure Isle label became central to ska and rocksteady. His productions competed with Studio One and helped define the genre’s early recording scene.