The Trojan Box Set series is a range of various artist triple CD box sets, periodically released by the British reggae record label Trojan Records since 1998. The series covers a wide variety of reggae subgenres, styles and themes.
Each set has standard formatting. The title is Trojan Box Set (except RAS and Creole Reggae) The artwork is usually a colourful, distinctive variation on a generic design, with the Trojan Records logo as the central motif (except Upsetter, RAS, Creole Reggae and Reggae For Kids). There are usually 50 songs in each set (except 12" with 35). The packaging is a clamshell cardboard box with an individual hard paper slipcase for each disc, plus basic track information and/or liner notes. Despite being billed as "limited edition", many sets have remained widely available. In addition to the 69 box sets released by the label, three additional box sets were released in limited Japan-only markets in 2005-2007 and are not widely available in other markets: Trojan Katsuo Box (2005), Trojan HMV Box Set (2006), and Trojan Tower Box Set (2007). The Japan releases include more songs per set than the other 69 releases: Trojan Katsuo Box features 70 songs, Trojan HMV Box Set features 51 songs, and Trojan Tower Box Set features 54 songs. Like the other 69 releases, the Japanese box sets include three slipcases with tracklists, but rather than essays or liner notes, include original drawings and artwork. The cover art for these box sets also differs from the others in format and style.
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.
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.
Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was the dominant style of music in Jamaica for nearly two years, performed by many of the artists who helped establish reggae, including harmony groups such as the Techniques, the Paragons, the Heptones and the Gaylads; soulful singers such as Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, Bob Andy, Ken Boothe and Phyllis Dillon; musicians such as Jackie Mittoo, Lynn Taitt and Tommy McCook. The term rocksteady comes from a popular (slower) dance style mentioned in the Alton Ellis song "Rocksteady", that matched the new sound. Some rocksteady songs became hits outside Jamaica, as with ska, helping to secure the international base reggae music has today.
Rude boy is a subculture that originated from 1960s Jamaican street culture. In the late 1970s, there was a revival in England of the terms rude boy and rude girl, among other variations like rudeboy and rudebwoy, being used to describe fans of two-tone and ska. This revival of the subculture and term was partially the result of Jamaican immigration to the UK and the so-called "Windrush" generation. The use of these terms moved into the more contemporary ska punk movement as well. In the UK and especially Jamaica, the terms rude boy and rude girl are used in a way similar to gangsta, yardie, or badman.
There are several subgenres of reggae music including various predecessors to the form.
Leslie Kong was a Jamaican reggae producer.
Trojan Records is a British record label founded by Jamaican Duke Reid in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. The name Trojan comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck that was used as Duke Reid's sound system in Jamaica. The truck had "Duke Reid - The Trojan King of Sounds" painted on the sides, and the music played by Reid became known as the Trojan Sound.
Nerlynn Taitt was a guitarist born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, who later moved to Jamaica and became a pioneer of rocksteady music.
Dennis Emmanuel Brown CD was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of lovers rock, a subgenre of reggae. Bob Marley cited Brown as his favourite singer, dubbing him "The Crown Prince of Reggae", and Brown would prove influential on future generations of reggae singers.
People from the Caribbean have made significant contributions to British Black music for many generations.
Heartbeat Records is an independent record label based in Burlington, Massachusetts. The label specializes in Jamaican music.
Trojan skinheads are individuals who identify with the original British skinhead subculture of the middle 1960s, when ska, rocksteady, reggae, and soul music were popular, and there was a heavy emphasis on mod-influenced clothing styles. Named after the record label Trojan Records, these skinheads identify with the subculture's Jamaican rude boy and British working class roots.
Soul Jazz Records is a British record label based in London. Outside of releasing records, the label also publishes books, occasionally films and performs as a DJ set. The music releases labels from a variety of genres, including reggae, house, hip hop, punk rock, jazz, funk, bossa nova and soul.
Chalice is a Jamaican reggae band formed in 1980 in Gibraltar Hill, St. Mary. Chalice is probably best known for their performances at the Reggae Sunsplash music festival.
John Masouri is a journalist, author, reviewer and historian for Jamaican music and several of its musical offshoots including dub, roots and dancehall. He is one of the world's foremost reggae music journalist and has worked extensively over it.
Felix Headley Bennett OD, also known as Deadly Headley, was a prolific Jamaican saxophonist who performed on hundreds, possibly thousands, of recordings since the 1950s.
Reggae Golden Jubilee is a compilation album that commemorates Jamaica’s 50th anniversary of independence. It was released on 6 November 2012. Reggae Golden Jubilee included four CDs featuring Jamaica's top 100 hit songs and a 64-page booklet of notation with iconic photographs.
Neville O'Riley Livingston, known professionally as Bunny Wailer, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and percussionist. He was an original member of reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he is considered one of the longtime standard-bearers of reggae music. He was also known as Jah B, Bunny O'Riley, and Bunny Livingston.
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