Ska

Ska
The genre Ska can be considered the New York City of the music industry, a melting pot of various music genres and cultures. Ska incorporates elements of Caribbean music, calypso, American jazz, and blues. The colorful genre is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the upbeat.

History
Ska can find its roots in the Caribbean island of Jamaica during the 1950s, and served as a precursor to reggae. Ska developed due to social and cultural significance of the sound system, a mobile disc jockey with speakers which was used to play in dance halls, in Jamaica. The sound system created a sense of community and localism and was used to incorporate and mix different songs of various genres, making for a new unique sound. Mento, a style of Jamaican folk music based on a traditional dance rhythm in duple time, was one of the genres DJs would mix and heavily influenced the creation of ska. According to Dan Neely in The Duff Guide to Ska interview, although it may seem as if mento and ska are similar musically, the two genres differ tremendously based on their historical backgrounds. Ska developed as a revolution to colonialism and simultaneously as a revolution to calypso music, a term used for mento in order to better sell island music after World War ll. For ska to differentiate itself from mento, or calypso, DJs mixed in R&B records brought in from American soldiers during World War ll. After World War ll, ska continued to develop in correlation with the Jamaican Rastafarian movement. The Skatalites were a Jamaican band established in 1964, who showcased Rastafarian influence. They were popular for their eclectic abilities with heavy jazz, Afro-Cuban, rock, blues, and pop influence. The Skatalites are attributed with originating ska and grounding it for generations to come.

Transnationalism
Although Ska originated in Jamaica, the genre evolved and transformed over the years as a result of transnationalism. Ska traveled to England and achieved a revival in the late 1970s and early 1980s as British social problems with racism and cultural assimilation surfaced. With a large number of Caribbean immigrants in poor outskirts of large cities, Britain found itself on the verge of a social and musical revolution. Members of ska bands were supported by nonracist skinheads, who believed in working class values and often listened imported Jamaican and ska records. As white skinheads listened to ska, the genre grew mainstream and fused into British punk rock. The British summer of 1976, the Notting Hill Carnival, traditionally a paradigm of racial harmony, exploded into violence due to social injustice. The Caribbean festival transformed into an aggressive congregation of angry youth. It was during this summer that punk made its debut into the music industry as a result of ska influence. This era was known as the 2 Tone movement, a ska revival in the UK during 1970s led by Jerry Dammers, and the Specials, who infused ska with punk rock. The Specials, The Selecter, and Madness was the connection that ska had with Jamaica and the first generation of West Indian migrants.

The Third Wave
Although the 2 Tone movement was mainly limited to the UK, influenced reached over to American ska, in a movement known as the third wave ska revival during the 1980s and 1990s. The two main areas in the United States which hosted the ska scene were New York City, New York and Orange County, California. The Orange County ska scene produced ska punk and contemporary pop-influenced ska bands, such as Reel Big Fish, No Doubt, and Sublime. It is at this time that pop became a main reoccurring genre infused with ska. Ska in the United States could be political, as seen in music by Operation Ivy and Rancid, but lacked intense political tension that British ska possessed.

Ska Today
Some of the most familiar Ska bands today include The Reel Big Fish, Mad Caddies, Less Than Jake, and Streelight Manifesto. Ska is still thriving in the United States and the UK today. Modern ska is often seen as different than traditional ska, since it is viewed as more "punk". However, this modern ska is bringing ska music to a generation who might otherwise not have even heard of the genre. The following link displays www.ranker.com lists the top fifty best ska bands worldwide (http://www.ranker.com/list/ska-bands-and-musicians/reference).