Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first popular song to use the word reggae, effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. Reggae is rooted out from traditional Jamaican Kumina, Pukkumina, Revival Zion, Nyabinghi, and burru drumming. Jamaican reggae music evolved out of the earlier genres mento, ska and rocksteady. Reggae usually relates news, social gossip, and political commentary. It is instantly recognizable from the counterpoint between the bass and drum downbeat and the offbeat rhythm section. The immediate origins of reggae were in ska and rocksteady; from the latter, reggae took over the use of the bass as a percussion instrument.
Raggamuffin music is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music with heavy use of sampling.
The music of Jamaica includes Jamaican folk music and many popular genres, such as mento, ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub music, dancehall, reggae fusion and related styles.
There are several subgenres of reggae music including various predecessors to the form.
The Mad Caddies is an American ska punk band from Solvang, California. The band formed in 1995 and has released seven full-length albums, one live album, and two EPs. To date, Mad Caddies have sold over 500,000 albums worldwide.
Long Life is a reggae album by Prince Far I, released in 1978 through Front Line. "Black Starliner Must Come" is about Marcus Garvey's Black Star Line.
Free from Sin is a 1979 reggae album by Prince Far I. It was produced by Prince Far I and engineered by Sylvan Morris & Errol Brown.
Fokofpolisiekar is an Afrikaans alternative rock band from Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. Due to the obscenity in the name, they are also commonly known simply as Polisiekar or FPK.
The Gladiators are a Jamaican roots reggae band, most popular during the 1970s. The core was Albert Griffiths, Clinton Fearon and Gallimore Sutherland. Their two most famous albums are Trenchtown Mix Up (1976) and Proverbial Reggae (1978) with songs such as "Hearsay", "Jah Works", "Dreadlocks the Time is Now". "Mix Up", "Music Makers from Jamaica", and "Soul Rebel" – a song written by The Wailers. Gladiators also cooperated with the toaster U-Roy.
Ruder Than You is an American ska band that was founded in 1989 at Penn State University and, in 1991, the group relocated to Philadelphia. While ska and reggae stylings have always provided the common musical thread, over the past 15 plus years Ruder Than You has been mixing in dancehall, hip hop, rocksteady, and rub-a-dub – even adding elements of funk, jazz, and punk.
Hog Hoggidy Hog was a band from Cape Town, South Africa. The band blended a mixture of punk, ska and many other influences, including traditional African music to create an original sound, sometimes referred to as Porkrock. The band was active within the South African music scene from 1995 to 2015. They toured the European circuit from 2005 until 2015. They were one of the longest standing live acts in South Africa and are often regarded as the best band that ever came out from South Africa for their intensely original music. They are credited as being the frontrunners and founders of the SA punk scene and are sometimes also referred to as the godfathers of punk in SA, regularly cited as being the first punks in SA to have mohawks and dreadlocks. They have also had a profound impact on South African alternative music influencing bands from The Rudimentals, Half Price to Fokofpolisiekar.
Isaiah First Prophet of Old is an album by the Jamaican musician Big Youth, released in 1978. It was produced by Devon Russell.
Captain Stu was a South African ska band. The band developed their signature style in the Cape Town ska scene, combining elements of jazz and reggae with South African influences to create an upbeat sound reflecting the atmosphere of Cape Town.
Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. Australia has several bands and sound systems that play reggae music in a style faithful to its expression in Jamaica. Australia has a relatively small Jamaican community, but reggae penetrated local consciousness via the popularity of reggae among the non-Jamaican population of England in the 1960s and 1970s. Many indigenous musicians have embraced reggae, both for its musical qualities and its ethos of resistance. Examples include Mantaka, No Fixed Address, Zennith and Coloured Stone.
Errol Holt, also known as Errol Carter and by his nickname Flabba, is a Jamaican bass guitar player and a singer who was a member of The Morwells and the Roots Radics and has played on hundreds of Jamaican albums.
Winston Anthony Morris, known professionally as Tony Tuff, was a Jamaican conscious roots reggae singer and a member of The African Brothers in the late 1960s and 1970s before embarking on a solo career.
The Skints are an English reggae punk band from London, described by Clash Music as "the torchbearers for modern British reggae music." The Skints mix reggae, ska, dub, punk rock, dancehall, soul, and rap, touring extensively across the UK, Europe and the United States. Their album Swimming Lessons (2019) debuted at number 1 on the Billboard reggae chart. Their original style of music has been described as "tropical punk".
Leighton Paul Walsh, better known by his stage name Walshy Fire, is an American DJ, MC and record producer. He is part of the dancehall reggae-influenced group Major Lazer alongside fellow DJs Diplo and Ape Drums. Walshy Fire toured with the Black Chiney sound system beginning in 2004. Black Chiney is cited as a significant influence on the evolution of Major Lazer with its mashups that blend hip hop or R&B rhythms with reggae & R&B artist vocal tracks and its representation of the Jamaican sound system. The subsequent mix tapes that the Black Chiney collective of DJs, engineers and MCs would develop were the training ground for Walshy to become a remix producer.
Half Price is a punk rock band from Cape Town, South Africa established in 2001. They are identified by energetic performances and released 3 full-length albums, two EP's, a compilation album, and a split album since their inception. The band have always maintained a DIY ethos, remaining independent until 2016 when they became the first South African punk band to sign with an American digital record label, Punk Outlaw Records.
