Reggae began to develop in the late 1950s, and during the period when Jamaica was struggling for and at the time of its independence, and is therefore the most distinctive strand of Jamaican music. It can be assumed that the roots of reggae go back as far as 400 years to the time of slavery of Africans. This genre of music was heavily influenced by the nyabinghi tradition ( it is a type of vocal expression involving singing Psalms to the rhythm of Nyabinghi drums). In reggae we also find influences from other musical genres such as calypso, blues, mento, numerous African rhythms, Indian raga, soca, ju-ju, salsa, South American Indian music, ska, rumba, cumina-burru, samba and others. The evolution of reggae music led through a number of different genres: mento, ska, bluebeat, rocksteady.… Read more
Name of the genre
As for the name of reggae and its origin, there are many different theories. According to one, the name reggae comes from the name of a tribe living in the Lake Tanganyika area, another that it has Spanish origins and means "king of music," another that it is simply a witty term for rhythm. Either way, the name reggae was first used in 1967 by Toots Hibbert.
History
The origins of reggae as we understand it today took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and was tied to rival soundsystems (that's a group of DJs and technicians working together to create music, usually of one genre). At the time, the following performers were very popular in Jamaica: Fats Domino, La Verne Baker, Louis Jordan, Nat Cole, Lloyd Price, The Drifters, The Coasters and The Platters. At the same time, there was a growing demand for native performers there which resulted in the emergence of the ska genre , which combined rhythm and bolus with mento rhythms.
The development of music in Jamaica was supported by politicians of the time, including Prime Minister Edward Seaga. He was the organizer of the annual Jamaica Festival, this festival made the music in the country very nationalistic, in addition, all the songs that took part in the festival were obligatory to talk about the island. Once Jamaica regained its independence, performers who had emigrated from the country began to return. These included Don Drummond, Rolando Alphonso, Cluet Johnson, Lloyd Brevett, Lloyd Knibbs, Drumbago. New stars instantly blazed over Jamaica: Laurel Aitken, Toots and The Maytals, Bunny and Skitter, The Wailing Wailers, Justin Hinds, Prince Buster and Millie Small. The music performed by them is said to be skinhead reggae, or early reggae.
In 1964 a new and perhaps the biggest reagge star Bob Marley (February 6, 1945, died May 11, 1981 as a result of cancer) rises.
Since the 1970s, reggae has been identified with the Rastafari movement, a syncretic millenarian-messianic religious movement. It was started as part of the struggle for racial equality and the concept of a return to Africa. In 1996 they were granted consultative status with the United Nations as the International Rastafari Development Society.
A distinctive feature of reggae is the performer's repeated use of a single rhythm to arrange different songs. There was a reason for this, the services of vocalists were cheap, unfortunately session musicians were no longer.
Reggae has several subgenres
Early reggae
Sometimes called "skinhead reggae" because of its popularity among the working-class skinhead subculture in Britain. Its origins are in the 1960s. There is a clear influence of funk music seeping into reggae from American record labels such as Stax.
Roots reggae
Roots reggae is a very soulful type of reggae music whose lyrics praise the god Jah, but also talk about poverty, racial inequality and criticize the government.
Dub
This is a genre pioneered by "Scratch" studio producers Lee Perry and King Tubby. It involves remixing recorded material, with a particular emphasis on drum and bass lines.
Lovers Rock
This is a subgenre that originated in South London in the mid-1970s. The lyrics are usually about love. It is similar to rhythm and blues. Famous exponents of this genre include: Gregory Isaacs, Freddy McGregor, Dennis Brown, Maxi Priest and Beres Hammond.
dancehall
The dancehall subgenre originated around 1980 d such as people like Yellowman, Super Cat Shabba Ranks. The style is characterized by DJs' use of singing and rapping and a fast tempo. Ragga (also known as raggamuffin) and reggae fusion, are subgenres of dancehall where instrumentation consists primarily of instruments used in electronic music.
Raggamuffin
Usually abbreviated to ragga, this is a subgenre of reggae that is closely related to dancehall and dub. The term raggamuffin intentionally contains a spelling error because then the word means "obdurate," and the term and music of raggamuffin is attributed to the "ghetto youth" of Jamaica.
Reggaeton
Reggaeton is a form of urban music. The style originally became popular in Latin America among young people in the early 1990s. Reggaeton's predecessor has its origins in Panama as reggae en español.
Reggae fusion
Reggae fusion is a mix of reggae, dancehall with elements of other genres such as hip-hop, R & B, jazz, rock, drum and bass, punk or polka.