Reggae music originated in Jamaica and has spread globally. Its lyrics address social issues while its musical style draws heavily upon Rastafari – an African spiritual movement.
Reggae music has had an immense impact on hip-hop, rap and rock and roll music genres. With its melodic bass lines, deep lyrics, social consciousness and cultural awareness ethos – Reggae has become an international sensation.
Origin
Reggae music emergeds from Jamaica during the 1960s. It became widely popular through artists like Bob Marley and Peter Tosh who became associated with Rastafarian culture.
Reggae music’s foundation lies in rhythmic and melodic influences from ska (a rhythmic variant of New Orleans R&B), rocksteady, and other Afro-Carribean genres such as rocksteady. Furthermore, reggae draws upon influences such as rhythm and blues, jazz, calypso music from Africa as well as other genres to produce its sound.
Reggae music is an energetically syncopated genre that tends to be slower than ska and rocksteady but faster than ragga. Lyrically, reggae songs typically tackle social issues that impact Jamaica or abroad – such as corruption.
Some reggae songs feature lyrics that address Rastafarian spirituality, social justice and poverty; these lyrics serve as a response to the oppression that many Jamaicans suffered during its history.
Reggae music has long been popular with Jamaicans, and has now gained international popularity as well. Reggae music has had an influential impact on other musical forms like hip-hop and British pop.
Reggae music’s origin can be traced to its inception in Jamaica where it started as ska. Ska music developed in the 1950s based on Afro-Carribean and R&B beats that Jamaican musicians would listen to on their radios.
Jamaican musicians transformed ska into reggae during the 1960s, drawing upon its rhythms and melodies to produce a distinct musical genre called reggae that combined some elements from both styles while adding bass guitar and drums into its soundscape.
Reggae stands out from its Caribbean peers with its distinctive use of staccato drumming – featuring off-beat rhythms that sound more staccato than metronomic. This form of drumming can often be found in reggae as well as other forms of Caribbean music like mento, calypso and African genres.
Reggae music has had an arduous, often contentious journey; yet today it has become a worldwide phenomenon that can be heard in multiple countries around the globe. Reggae’s popularity can be heard everywhere from Caribbean islands to Africa and Europe – not to mention in America!
Influence
Reggae music emerged in Jamaica during the 1960s. Often considered an integral part of Jamaican culture and representation of their history, politics, and struggles; reggae has also been heavily influenced by various other musical forms including African music and Rastafarian movements.
As a result, reggae has become a worldwide musical phenomenon and an influential style across different types of music, including rock and pop. Additionally, reggae features heavy bass sounds which can be heard both contemporary pop artists as well as roots musicians.
This genre of music has long been used as an outlet for individuals to express themselves and provide entertainment to countless fans worldwide. Additionally, it serves as a great means of unifying people while creating peace between nations.
Through history, there have been various genres of music used primarily as forms of expression. Each style influenced another one and each has its own specific characteristics.
One musical style that serves as an excellent illustration of how different styles have intertwined is blues music. Originating as a means for African-Americans to express themselves during difficult times, such as poverty and unemployment.
Reggae music has also been greatly influenced by blues music. Reggae allows individuals to express themselves freely through singing and using instruments available to them, much like its blues counterpart.
African music can be found all around the globe, yet its source is often most easily identified as being in Africa. This style has strong ties to its host nation and serves as an avenue for people to connect.
Reggae music from Jamaica has had an enormous influence on various forms of music worldwide, from blues and zydeco to hip-hop and rap. These styles all form part of their respective countries’ histories and cultures.
Styles
Reggae music draws influence from multiple musical styles, including rhythm and blues, jazz, mento and calypso – not forgetting its African folk rhythm roots!
Reggae music hails from Jamaica but can now be found worldwide. This genre features several subgenres which reflect its diverse cultural influences.
One of the most distinctive subgenres is reggae rock, a musical style which blends elements from reggae and ska with new forms of percussion production and electronic production.
Subgenre music known for its heavy bass, tight drums and varied percussion. Also, this subgenre stands out due to its high energy performance as well as graphic lyrical content.
Early reggae music originated in Jamaica during the 1960s, merging elements from ska and rocksteady with off-beat rhythm guitar chord chops for its signature sound.
As reggae gained in popularity, it quickly became an icon of Jamaican culture and used as an expression of hope and hardship experienced by Caribbean people. Lyrically speaking, reggae songs frequently focused on love, spirituality and social themes as well as being religious or political in nature.
Reggae music’s most beloved hits include Turn Your Lights Down, No Woman No Cry, Get Up Stand Up and Buffalo Soldiers; these songs have become staples within this genre and been performed by numerous artists like Bob Marley himself.
Dancehall reggae is another subgenre of reggae that shares similar elements to its parent genre but incorporates more danceable beats and vocal styles from various artists.
Reggae music has an important presence in the UK and often serves as a blueprint for other forms of dance music such as drum’n’bass and breakbeat, since reggae pioneered this style incorporating strong drumbeats and basslines into its compositions.
Reggae music’s song structure and rhythm also reflect African traditions, using various beat-making instruments like snares, bongos and cow bells to produce rhythmic beats that reflect them. All three instruments are common to African music but also present within reggae music.
Representation
Reggae music hails from Jamaica and has since spread all over the globe, becoming one of the most influential styles of popular music worldwide. It can be observed through musical style, lyrics and social impact of this musical form.
Reggae lyrics can be extremely political, often dealing with issues related to Rastafarian culture and religion. Lyrically these songs can include themes of social justice, Rastafarian spirituality, anticolonialism, etc.
Reggae music has long been used to address social issues such as poverty, poor governance and oppression; additionally it has had an enormous influence on other musical forms like hip hop.
There are various styles of reggae music, each representing its own influences and aesthetic. Subgenres can be found across America, Jamaica, Europe and Asia.
Reggae music has long been known for its diverse genres such as lovers rock, dancehall, ragga and jungle. These subgenres continue to flourish across cities worldwide and remain highly sought-after musical forms.
Reggae subgenres such as dub, jazz and African music all use drum and bass rhythms as the core foundation. Their popularity outside Jamaica is due to these offshoots of reggae music being created.
One of the key characteristics of reggae music is its distinctive beats, often featuring a steady quarter-note pulse on a bass drum, often doubled by bass guitar, also known as “steppers.” A few notable examples are “Red, Gold, and Green” by Burning Spear and “Sponji Reggae” by Black Uhuru as examples of such steppers.
“One Drop” beat is another subgenre of reggae similar to American “four on the floor.” It features a steady sixteenth-note pulse on bass drum and snare drum with space for syncopation – see Bob Marley and the Wailers song, “One Drop,” for an example of this type of beat.
Other styles of reggae music can be divided into three subgenres: ska, rocksteady and calypso. These styles originated in the 1960s and quickly spread worldwide due to being heavily influenced by Kingston, Jamaica’s urban music at that time; Ska was further shaped by rural music known as mento from Jamaica which originated during slavery.