REGGAE ROUTES

by Chang, Kevin O'Brien; Chen, Wayne

• ISBN13: 9781566396295
• ISBN10: 1566396298
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-12-17
• Publisher: Temple Univ Pr

Summary

Bob Marley's recordings, some twenty years after his death, still enjoy enormous international popularity. For popular music fans in most of the world, reggae looms so large as to be Jamaica's only music and Marley its consummate musician. In this book, Jamaicans Kevin Chang and Wayne Chen, offer a history of reggae, accounting for its rise and devolution. Jamaican music can be roughly divided into four eras, each with a distinctive beat-ska, rocksteady, reggae, and dancehall. Ska dates from about 1960 to mid-1966 and rocksteady from 1966 to 1968, while from 1969 to 1983 reggae was the popular beat. The reggae era had two phases, "early reggae" up to 1974 and "roots reggae" up to 1983. Since 1983 dancehall has been the prevalent sound. The authors describe each stage in the development of the music, identifying the most popular songs and artists, highlighting the significant social, political, and economic issues as they affected the musical scene. While they write from a Jamaican perspective, the intended audience is "any person, local or foreign, interested in an intelligent discussion of reggae music and Jamaica". Featuring some four hundred illustrations that range from album covers and posters to rare photos, Reggae Routes profiles the innumerable artists, producers, and recordings that secured an international audience for Jamaican music.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	viii	(1)
Preface	ix
The History	2	(81)
Introduction	2	(4)
The Heartbeat of a People	6	(4)
Roots Music: Kumina, Quadrille, Mento, Blues and Jazz	10	(9)
Sound System Days and Nights	19	(6)
Rhythm and Blues: Rasta and Oh Carolina	25	(5)
Ska, Ska, Ska	30	(8)
Get Ready for Rocksteady	38	(4)
Do the Reggae	42	(6)
Reggae International: The Harder They Come and Bob Marley	48	(5)
Dub and Roots	53	(6)
Inna the Dancehall	59	(3)
Dancehall Massive	62	(5)
The Pioneers: Count Matchukie and King Stitt	67	(3)
U-Roy the Originator	70	(5)
Riddim Wild	75	(4)
Talking Gleaners	79	(4)
The Sounds	83	(138)
The Sixties	83	(50)
The Seventies	133	(44)
The Eighties	177	(20)
The Nineties	197	(24)
Appendices
Charts	221	(14)
Notes and References	235	(4)
Bibliography	239	(2)
List of Sources	241	(1)
A brief history of Rastafarianism	242	(3)
Index	245