REGGAE

REGGAE INTRODUCTION
Reggae is a popular type of music which was formed in the 1960’s in Jamaica.
Reggae developed out of the slave trade because African slaves took with
them their own music which fused with local Jamaican music. The music style
was popular by the 1970’s through famous artists/bands such as Bob Marley
and the wailers. In reggae almost all artists have a Jamaican accent/dialect
and the lyrics are strongly about political views.
 MUSICAL STYLE AND FEATURES
Some of the features of reggae are:
Off beat chords,
Prominent base line,
Political views,
Electronic instruments,
Jamaican dialect,
Guitar, bass, drum-kit, vocals, organ,
Verse chorus structure,
Upbeat tempo – sometimes relaxed feel.
 REGGAE TIMELINE
1960’s! 1970's 1980’s! 1990’s! 2000’s! 2010’s!
In this era of At this time In the 80's was Emerging in Reggae The year 2010 was
reggae it reggae was just a sad moment early 90's came gained a slow start in
was only getting popular for reggae shaggy the mainstream dancehall, with
just starting by a band/artist music because biggest exposure many thinking that it
because it called Bob the famous crossover And a massive could be one of the
was only Marley and the reggae artist success in popularity in worse years in
created in wailers. Bob Marley dancehall north America dancehall history.
the 1960’s died. reggae during the mid
2000's
 RASTAFARIANISM AND FASHION
The three common colours for Rastafarianism consists of red, green and
yellow. The hair style they commonly use are dreadlocks they also wear hats in
the same colours red, green and yellow to symbolise Rastafarianism. Rastafari
is a Abrahamic view made in the 1930’s after the coronation of Haile Selassie I
as Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930. The flag in the Rastafarian belief is important to
Rasta's because the lion in the flag appears on the imperial Ethiopian flag.
 3 KEY REGGAE ARTISTS
Bob Marley:
Born: 6 February 1945,
Died: 11 May 1981.
Peter Tosh:
Born: 19 October 1944
Died: 11 September 1987
Jimmy cliff:
Born: 1 April 1948 (age 69 years)
Robert Nesta Marley, OM was a
Jamaican singer-songwriter, musician
and guitarist who achieved fame and
praise, blending mostly reggae, ska and
rocksteady in his compositions.
Peter Tosh, OM was a Jamaican reggae
musician. Along side Bob Marley and
Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core
members of the band The Wailers, after
which he established himself as a
successful solo artist and a promoter of
Rastafari.
Jimmy Cliff, OM is a Jamaican ska and reggae
musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer and
actor. He is the only living musician to hold the
Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be
granted by the Jamaican government for
achievements in the arts and sciences.
 REGGAE PLAYLIST (TIMELINE)
• 1960s
• Bob Marley, one love (1965) It is a reggae/rhythm and blues song by Bob Marley and the Wialers. It is
about peace and joining together in ‘one love’.
• 1970s
• Bob Marley, three little birds (1977) This song is by Bob Marley and The Wailers it was inspired by him
sitting and seeing things around him such as three little birds.
• 1980s
• Pluto Shervington, your honour (1982) This is a song by Pluto Shervingyon it is a reggae, pop and rock
song.
• 1990s
• Sublime, santeria (1995) "Santeria" is a song by American ska punk band sublime on their 1996
album sublime. The song tells the story of a jealous ex-boyfriend who is planning to take revenge on
the man who stole his girlfriend.
• 2000s
• Jason Mraz, I'm Yours (2008) "I'm Yours" is the first single released by American singer-songwriter Jason
Mraz.
• OMI, Cheerleader (2015) This is a more modern popular song in the charts it uses classic reggae
features.
 REGGAE AND POLITICS
In reggae, politics have a very big influence on lyrics in reggae based songs.
For example “get up, stand up” by Bob Marley and the Wailers, this song was
one of the best songs believed to be, because Bob Marley was the leader of
the political and social change in America. This caused Bob Marley to be
creating more tracks to do with politics with the common moral of standing up
for your rights. The creation of reggae music had a huge impact on Jamaican
slaves because they felt like they had a voice, this meant a lot to them as they
were taken away from their family's by America and forced to work for them
as slaves, this music gave them their only taste of freedom.
 SUBGENRES OF REGGAE
• There are many subgenres of reggae. The ones I will research are:
• Mento (1940’s)
• Ska (late 1950’s)
• Rocksteady(mid 1960’s)
• Dancehall(1970’s)
• Dub(1960’s)
• Hip-hop( late1970’s)
mento music began in the 19th centaury, it is a Jamaican fusion of African and European
musical traditions. In the sub genres history, from 1920’s to the 1940’s, a number of
Jamaican songs were put to wax by Caribbean artists.
What are the features of this style which are similar to the main genre?
Mento uses light-hearted lyrics of everyday life. Mento uses the instruments such as hand
drums and vocals which are quite common in both sub-genres.
What features are different to reggae?
Mento uses acoustic instruments instead of electric which reggae has. Mento uses different
instruments such as the bongo drums, acoustic guitar, banjo and the marímbula which is a
plucke box musical instrument from the Caribbean.
What piece show these features?
• Harry Belafonte - "Banana Boat Song (Day O)" - 1956
 HARRY BELAFONTE - "BANANA BOAT
SONG (DAY O)" - 1956

The lyrics in this song links to mainly slavery, the title has a heavy meaning on
the type of work they did, they worked as slaves of a banana farm in
Jamaica.
There were no instruments it was sung originally without any because the
workers didn’t have access to them.
There features of reggae it had were that was strongly toward political views it
had an upbeat tempo and a verse chorus structure, it was also sung with a
Jamaican accent.
It was made from purely vocals and no instruments which is called a capella.
This is because it would originally have been sung in the fields by slave
workers.
Ska originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was a precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska
combined elements of mento with jazz and rhythm and blues. In the early 1960s Ska dominated
Jamaican music.
What are the features of this style which are similar to the main genre?
Ska uses a walking bassline (often found in blues) and off-beat chord patterns which are a feature of
many reggae subgenres. Horns took the lead and often followed the piano. Drums kept a 4/4 time
and the bass drum emphasised the 3rd beat to show the off-beat.

What features are different to reggae?

Ska fused reggae with elements of punk rock such as more aggressive guitar chords and lyrics. Ska
had faster tempos and more instruments. Skanking was a form of dancing which is associated with
ska. Ska music fused American RnB with mento rhythms.

What piece show these features?

• Ska artists include the Skatalites and Jimmy Cliff. You can hear ska off-beat quavers in the song
One step beyond by Prince Buster
 ONE STEP BEYOND BY PRINCE BUSTER
RELEASED:1964

Some of the instruments involved are the trumpet, small amounts of vocals,
ball guitar and a range of percussion.
The features of reggae It has are Jamaican dialect and it contains of beat
chords. There are only a fey lyrics which is the song title repeated three times.
The features of ska is that it contains a faster tempo and an aggressive guitar
chords.
Rock steady is one of the subgenres of reggae that originated in Jamaica in
1966, this type of music came after ska, but came before reggae.
What are the features of this style which are similar to the main genre?
Both of these music types use political views in their lyrics because they both
originated from slavery. They both use relaxed rhythms.
What features are different to reggae?
This type of music is built around a musical style called the one drop drum
beat Which uses a heavy accent of the second and fourth beat in the bar.
What piece show these features?
Bob Marley - One Love
 BOB MARLEY-ONE LOVE
RELEASED : 1977
The instruments consist of:
• guitar,
• vocals,
• guitar,
• percussion,
• keyboards,
• bass guitar,
• drums.
The song contains a heavy Jamaican dialect which gives a sense of the traditional
reggae. The lyrics were made to keep the peace between politics because it was
very violent at that time. The things that make this piece rock steady is that this song
has a large amount of percussion instruments and uses the one drum beat.
Dancehall is a sub genre of reggae music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially
dancehall was a more uncommon version of reggae than the roots style, which had
dominated much of the 1970s.
What are the features of this style which are similar to the main genre?
Dancehall is similar to reggae because it uses electronic instruments such as the keyboard
which is used in a lot of reggae music.

What features are different to reggae?

Dancehall is different to reggae because it is mainly played in a club, dancehall is more a
dj-ing type of music where it would be played in night clubs.

What piece show these features?

• Bam Bam - Sister Nancy
 BAM BAM - SISTER NANCY
RELEASED: 1982
The instruments are the saxophone, bass guitar, vocals, drums and different
percussion instruments. The features to reggae are the off beat chords and
the Jamaican accent. The lyrics within the song are about her success within
becoming the first woman to perform at the reggae sunsplash this was very
important because the dancehall community was dominated by male
figures. The reason this song is dancehall because of the way her voice is
echoed this was a start to artificially created music.
Dub is a subgenre of reggae that came around in the 1960’s, even though it has
developed beyond reggae.
What are the features of this style which are similar to the main genre?
Much like dancehall dub consists of electric instruments also much like reggae they use the
keyboard to create different sounds that you would not be able to with normal acoustic
instruments such as a normal guitar.

What features are different to reggae?

This music style mostly consists of remix's of songs where they would take out the lyrics and
add a bass drop.

What piece show these features?

Chase and Status - Eastern Jam
 CHASE AND STATUS - EASTERN JAM
RELEASED: 2008
The instruments are involved are synthesisers, drums and very light vocals.
There is a small Jamaican accent within the small amount of vocals. There is
only a small amount of lyrics because it is mainly pulling your focus towards
the sounds. This is the subgenre dub because of the constant6 use of build-
ups and drops used within the song it also uses artificial bass to make the
song whole.
Hip-hop was a cultural art movement that was created by African American and afro
Puerto Rican youths in the 1970’s.
What are the features of this style which are similar to the main genre?
Even though this genre uses and instrument called a turntable it can also use an
electronic piano like reggae

What features are different to reggae?

In this sub genre they use electronic instruments but in stead of things like synthesizers
they would you a thing called a turntable which basically what DJ’s use

What piece show these features?

The Fugees - Fu-Gee-La
 THE FUGEES - FU-GEE-LA
RELEASED: 1996
The instruments are the guitar, drums, synthesizer and vocals. It uses off beat
chords too represent reggae but still using Hip-Hop as the main focus. The
features of hip hop is the rap. The lyrics are about each of the performers
struggles within life. It is still about negative issues in Black neighbourhoods,
like drinking, fighting and drug. It is also about how most black people look
down on refugees and the artist are trying to show people that they are not
bad.