How Did Reggae Music Begin? | eHow How Did Reggae Music Begin? jamaica map image by Vladislav Gajic from Fotolia.com Although reggae music began on the island of Jamaica in the late 1960s. Reggae derived from other genres such as jazz, ska and eventually rocksteady. Successful reggae musicians, such as Bob Marley, helped the genre spread around the world and influenced other genres to begin. Before Reggae Prior to reggae music becoming an international phenomenon from Jamaica, the genre started with jazz. While jazz music began to spread around the world via radio broadcasts in the 1940s, Jamaica picked up on the style and watched its own bands emerge. By the 1950s, Jamaica began a music label titled West Indian Record Limited (WIRL), which released recordings of local bands on the island. Ska and Rock Steady In the 1960s, Jamaican musicians grabbed their own identity in the music industry when they created an original genre known as ska. The people of Jamaica loved ska music because of its fast, catchy riffs and the fact that the lyrics fit the mood of current events in the country.

At the time, Jamaica was receiving independence. Another genre derived from ska became known as rocksteady music. This was a slowed down version of ska which did not require so much energy on the dance floor. Reggae After the introduction and acceptance of the style of rocksteady, reggae was formed. However, people did not like the name "rocksteady." According to Rusticgirls.com, "through a different version of an old song Fat Man, the artist Morgan changed the beat and he created a creep with an organ and rhythm guitar. The music sounded like reggae, and that's how the name took off." One of the first reggae bands called Maytals released the first reggae album "Do The Reggae" in 1968. The genre was more energetic than rocksteady, but more complex than ska. Bob Marley One of the most popular artists to ever come out of reggae music was Bob Marley and his band, The Wailers. In his music, he sang about love, social injustice, politics and Rastafarianism (the Afro-Caribbean spiritual movement that Marley religiously followed).

Marley's hit songs, including "Ge Up, Stand Up," Buffalo Soldiers," and "War," stressed his political statements, as "Turn Your Lights Down" and "Is This Love" revealed the romantic style of his band. Marley's music climbed the music charts and promoted reggae globally. Reggae to Dub By the 1970s, as reggae music was underway, producers including Lee Perry and King Tubby started to change the style of reggae music with the addition of electronic sound effects. DJ "toasting" (talking over the music) began and became a new genre known as dub music. This style of music is recognized as the root of rap and hip hop music in New York. Origins of Reggae - Jamaicansmusic.com Origins of Reggae SHARE Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican dance music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that evolved out of the earlier genres like Ska and Rocksteady. Bob Marley is said to have claimed that the word reggae came from a Spanish term for "the king's music".

The liner notes of To the King, a compilation of Christian gospel Reggae, suggest that the word reggae was derived from the Latin regi meaning "to the king". The shift from Rocksteady to reggae was illustrated by the organ shuffle pioneered by Jamaican musicians like Jackie Mittoo and Winston Wright and featured in transitional singles Say What You're Saying (1967) by Clancy Eccles and People Funny Boy (1968) by Lee "Scratch" Perry. The Pioneers' 1968 track Long Shot (Bus' Me Bet) has been identified as the earliest recorded example of the new rhythm sound that became known as Reggae. reggae | music | Britannica.com Reggae choral music Reggae, style of popular music that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s and quickly emerged as the country’s dominant music . By the 1970s it had become an international style that was particularly popular in Britain , the United States , and Africa. It was widely perceived as a voice of the oppressed. Bob Marley, 1978.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images According to an early definition in The Dictionary of Jamaican English (1980), reggae is based on ska , an earlier form of Jamaican popular music, and employs a heavy four-beat rhythm driven by drums, bass guitar , electric guitar, and the “scraper,” a corrugated stick that is rubbed by a plain stick. (The drum and bass became the foundation of a new instrumental music, dub.) The dictionary further states that the chunking sound of the rhythm guitar that comes at the end of measures acts as an “accompaniment to emotional songs often expressing rejection of established ‘white-man’ culture.” Another term for this distinctive guitar-playing effect, skengay, is identified with the sound of gunshots ricocheting in the streets of Kingston’s ghettos; tellingly, skeng is defined as “gun” or “ratchet knife.” Thus reggae expressed the sounds and pressures of ghetto life. It was the music of the emergent “rude boy” (would-be gangster) culture .

In the mid-1960s, under the direction of producers such as Duke Reid and Coxsone Dodd, Jamaican musicians dramatically slowed the tempo of ska, whose energetic rhythms reflected the optimism that had heralded Jamaica’s independence from Britain in 1962. The musical style that resulted, rock steady, was short-lived but brought fame to such performers as the Heptones and Alton Ellis. Reggae evolved from these roots and bore the weight of increasingly politicized lyrics that addressed social and economic injustice. Among those who pioneered the new reggae sound, with its faster beat driven by the bass, were Toots and the Maytals , who had their first major hit with “54-46 (That’s My Number)” (1968), and the Wailers —Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh , and reggae’s biggest star, Bob Marley —who recorded hits at Dodd’s Studio One and later worked with producer Lee (“Scratch”) Perry . Another reggae superstar, Jimmy Cliff , gained international fame as the star of the movie The Harder They Come (1972).

A major cultural force in the worldwide spread of reggae, this Jamaican-made film documented how the music became a voice for the poor and dispossessed. Its soundtrack was a celebration of the defiant human spirit that refuses to be suppressed. Overview of Bob Marley’s life. Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz Learn about the 9 Mile Music Festival, an annual reggae concert that takes place in Miami, Florida, … Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz Similar Topics computer music During this period of reggae’s development, a connection grew between the music and the Rastafarian movement, which encourages the relocation of the African diaspora to Africa, deifies the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I (whose precoronation name was Ras [Prince] Tafari), and endorses the sacramental use of ganja (marijuana) . Rastafari (Rastafarianism) advocates equal rights and justice and draws on the mystical consciousness of kumina, an earlier Jamaican religious tradition that ritualized communication with ancestors.

Besides Marley and the Wailers, groups who popularized the fusion of Rastafari and reggae were Big Youth, Black Uhuru, Burning Spear (principally Winston Rodney), and Culture. “ Lover’s rock,” a style of reggae that celebrated erotic love, became popular through the works of artists such as Dennis Brown , Gregory Issacs, and Britain’s Maxi Priest. In the 1970s reggae, like ska before it, spread to the United Kingdom, where a mixture of Jamaican immigrants and native-born Britons forged a reggae movement that produced artists such as Aswad, Steel Pulse, UB40, and performance poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. Reggae was embraced in the United States largely through the work of Marley—both directly and indirectly (the latter as a result of Eric Clapton ’s popular cover version of Marley’s “ I Shot the Sheriff ” in 1974). Marley’s career illustrates the way reggae was repackaged to suit a rock market whose patrons had used marijuana and were curious about the music that sanctified it. Fusion with other genres was an inevitable consequence of the music’s globalization and incorporation into the multinational entertainment industry.

Britannica Stories A History of Reggae Music (See Re-alignment ) The word "reggae" was coined around 1960 in Jamaica to identify a "ragged" style of dance music, that still had its roots in New Orleans rhythm'n'blues. However, reggae soon acquired the lament-like style of chanting and emphasized the syncopated beat. It also made explicit the relationship with the underworld of the "Rastafarians" (adepts of a millenary African faith, revived Marcus Garvey who advocated a mass emigration back to Africa), both in the lyrics and in the appropriation of the African nyah-bingi drumming style (a style that mimicks the heartbeat with its pattern of "thump-thump, pause, thump-thump"). Compared with rock music, reggae music basically inverted the role of bass and guitar: the former was the lead, the latter beat the typical hiccupping pattern. The paradox of reggae, of course, is that this music "unique to Jamaica" is actually not Jamaican at all, having its foundations in the USA and Africa.

An independent label, Island, distributed Jamaican records in the UK throughout the 1960s, but reggae became popular in the UK only when Prince Buster's Al Capone (1967) started a brief "dance craze". Jamaican music was very much a ghetto phenomenon, associated with gang-style violence, but Jimmy Cliff's Wonderful World Beautiful People (1969) wed reggae with the "peace and love" philosophy of the hippies, an association that would not die away. In the USA, Neil Diamond's Red Red Wine (1967) was the first reggae hit by a pop musician. Shortly afterwards, Johnny Nash's Hold Me Tight (1968) propelled reggae onto the charts. Do The Reggay (1968) by Toots (Hibbert) And The Maytals was the record that gave the music its name. Fredrick Toots Hibbert's vocal style was actually closer to gospel, as proved by their other hits (54-46, 1967; Monkey Man, 1969; Pressure Drop, 1970).

A little noticed event would have far-reaching consequences: in 1967, the Jamaican disc-jockey Rudolph "Ruddy" Redwood had begun recording instrumental versions of reggae hits. The success of his dance club was entirely due to that idea. Duke Reid, who was now the owner of the Trojan label, was the first one to capitalize on the idea: he began releasing singles with two sides: the original song and, on the back, the instrumental remix. This phenomenon elevated the status of dozens of recording engineers. Reggae music was mainly popularized by Bob Marley (1), first as the co-leader of the Wailers, the band that promoted the image of the urban guerrilla with Rude Boy (1966) and that cut the first album of reggae music, Best Of The Wailers (1970); and later as the political and religious (rasta) guru of the movement, a stance that would transform him into a star, particularly after his conversion to pop-soul melody with ballads such as Stir It Up (1972), I Shot The Sheriff (1973) and No Woman No Cry (1974).

Among the reggae vocal groups, the Abyssinians' Satta Massa Gana (1971) is representative of the mood of the era. In 1972 reggae became a staple of western radio stations thanks to the film The Harder They Come. Dub TM, ®, Copyright © 2003 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. More and more studio engineers were re-mixing B-sides of reggae 45 RPM singles, dropping out the vocals and emphasizing the instrumental texture of the song. The purpose was to allow disc-jockeys to "toast" over the record. Engineers became more and more skilled at refining the instrumental textures, especially when they began to employ sophisticated studio devices. Eventually, "dub" became an art on its own. The first dub singles appeared in 1971, but the man generally credited with "inventing" the genre is Osbourne Ruddock, better known as King Tubby (2), a recording engineer who in 1970 had accidentally discovered the appeal of stripping a song of its vocal track, and who engineered the first dub record, Carl Patterson's Psalm Of Dub (1971).

When he got together with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, Blackboard Jungle (1973) was born: the first stereo "dub" album. It was a Copernican revolution: the engineer and the producer had become more important than the composer. It also marked the terminal point of the "slowing down" of Jamaican music, a process that had led from ska to reggae to rock steady. Compared with the original, dub was like a slow-motion version. a collaboration with melodica player Augustus Pablo led to another seminal work, King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown (1976). Rainford Hugh Perry, better known as Lee "Scratch" Perry (3), who had nursed the Wailers, pretty much set the reference standard for generations to come with Double Seven (1974), the first reggae album that overdubbed synthesizers, Revolution Dub (1975) and Super Ape (1976), one of the genre's masterpieces.

Melodica virtuoso Augustus Pablo (2), aka Horace Swaby, penned the instrumental albums This Is Augustus Pablo (1973) and East of the River Nile (1977), two of the most atmospheric works of the genre. Talk-over TM, ®, Copyright © 2003 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. "Rapping" originated from the complementary tradition of the "talk-over". The disc-jockeys of the sound systems used to accompany the dance tracks with impromptu melodic and spoken-word vocals, often simply to add enthusiasm to the dance. This eventually became an art in itself. U-Roy (Edwart Beckford) was possibly the first great talk-over artist, the man who turned dub into a highly-effective vehicle for agit-prop messages (Dynamic Fashion Way, 1969; Runaway Girl, 1976; Wake the Town, Wear You to the Ball). Other pioneers of rapping were Dennis "Alcapone" Smith, with Forever Version (1971), Prince Jazzbo and I Roy.

Big Youth (Manley Buchanan) upped the ante with his wild sociopolitical raps (S-90 Skank, 1972; The Killer, 1973; House Of Dread Locks, 1975; Every Nigger Is A Star, 1976), most effectively on Dreadlocks Dread (1975). Originally, the technique of these "toaster" consisted in remixing other people's songs, removing the original vocals, emphasizing the rhythmic base, and overdubbing their own rhyming stories on the resulting track. The golden age of Reggae TM, ®, Copyright © 2003 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. As reggae became a world attraction, styles multiplied and inbred with the American genres. Burning Spear (1), the project of Rastafarian visionary Winston Rodney, unleashed the supercharged Marcus Garvey (1976), perhaps the highest artistic achievements of reggae music. Joseph Hill's vocal trio Culture were equally passionate, and the title-track from Two Sevens Clash (1977) became the anthem of the rasta-punks and coined "rockers reggae".

Ijahman Levi (Trevor Sutherland) was perhaps the most spiritual vocalist of his generation. His songs were religious hymns (Jah Heavy Lord, 1975; I'm A Levi, 1978; Are We A Warrior, 1978). Ex-Wailers Peter Tosh , or Winston Hubert McIntosh, crossed over into rock territory with Legalize It (1976). Other popular classics include Junior Marvin's Police And Thieves (1976) and Gregory Isaacs' Love Is Overdue (1974). Jamaican revival in Britain (See British Graffiti ) Reggae and ska enjoyed a major revival in Britain during the punk age. Starting in the mid-1970s, ensembles such as Aswad, Steel Pulse, Matumbi and UB40 offered a westernized version of Jamaican music that was rather uninspired, but were lucky enough that the audience found affinities with the implicit protest themes of the political punks. At the same time, British sensations of the ska revival included Specials and Madness. British dub music was a more serious affair, and took longer to emerge.

But, over the long term, it was dub music, and not ska or reggae music, that stuck around, thanks to the quality productions of Adrian Sherwood (the brain behind African Headcharge , Dub Syndicate and New Age Steppers ), Jah Shaka and prolific Guyana-born Neil Fraser, better known as Mad Professor, who penned Beyond the Realms Of Dub (1982), and even Aswad's own New Chapter of Dub (1982). Artistic peaks were reached by dub pioneer and experimentalist Keith Hudson, with Pick A Dub (1976), and instrumental soundpainter Dennis Bovell (a former member of Matumbi, an engineer who coined the soul-reggae fusion called "Lovers Rock"), with Strictly Dubwise (1978), I Wah Dub (1980), probably his most intense release, and Brain Damage (1981), a cosmopolitan work that also mixed calypso, rock and funk. Linton Kwesi Johnson, a Jamaican poet living in England, transposed reggae's mood into dub-based sermons, arranged by Dennis Bovell, on the contemporary issues of the lumperproletariat.

Ditto for the other poet of dub, Mutabaruka. These dub poets were as musical as their producers managed to be. Kwesi owed a lot to Bovell. Jamaican music in the 1980s Reggaeton Music don Quixote Museum Reggaeton Music Raggaeton music is at type of Latin urban music that evolved from various musical genres Find out more about the reggaeton. Read the Spanish version Raggaeton music is at type of Latin urban music that evolved from various musical genres with influences from many countries. However, Reggaeton music's origin is most closely associated with Puerto Rico where it first gained momentum and was commercially packaged. The Reggaeton music genre spread rapidly throughout the Latin American communities of North and South America in the 90s and has since gained worldwide popularity. Reggaeton music evolved from raggamuffin or “raga” music which is a sub-genre of dancehall electronic music that evolved from reggae and Hip Hop. Reggaeton music can be distinguished by its controversial Spanish lyrics , either rapped or sung, provocative style and incorporation of other Latin rhythms such as Bomba and Salsa .

Additionally, Reggaeton is identifiable by its “Dem Bow” beat, which relies heavily on the snare drum and was first made popular by Shabba Ranks in 1991. Raggaeton music developed as an urban underground movement focused on youth, much like in the case of North American Hip Hop. The Reggaeton genre is also closely associated with a dance style known as Perreo, derived from the word “dog” in Spanish , which refers to the lewd and sexually explicit dance moves involved. The history of Reggaeton and its origin is a bit controversial since it mixes various different musical genres and influences. The beginning of Reggaeton can be traced back to Panama's Spanish Reggae style which was an adaptation of Jamaican Reggae. However, the general consensus is that Reggaeton actually originated in Puerto Rico, where it evolved into Reggaeton as we know it today and gained popularity. Additionally, most famous Reggaeton musicians are Puerto Rican. The history of Reggaeton's development was also influenced by North American Hip Hop, Puerto Rican rhythms and other Latin American musical influences. Reggae first developed in Jamaica and evolved by adding new sounds and rhythms.

By 1985 Chico Man was performing Spanish Reggae in Panama, around the same time that Spanish rap appeared in Puerto Rico, performed by Vico C. A new Latin musical movement had started that would evolve and spread throughout North and South America. By the 1990s, in Puerto Rico Spanish and Jamaican Reggae as well as Spanish rap were all popular, laying the foundation for what would eventually evolve into Reggaeton music. Some of the first popular Spanish reggae songs were: Dembow by Nando Boom, Pantalón caliete by Poncho Pan, Dulce by La Atrevida, Muevelo and Son Bow by El Gran General and Gringo Man. Between 1993 and 1994 an underground movement in Puerto Rico started. The first Raggaeton sounds, called “under”, began to be distributed through secret networks of youths. The movement was known for its controversial music and one of the most important producers at the time was DJ Playero. The new genre would evolve and change names over time, being referred to as “Melaza,” “música underground” “Dem Bow” and eventually “Reggaeton”.

Reggaeton began to spread and rise to popularity with the help of DJ Playero, DJ Nelson and DJ Eric. Reggaeton was no longer an underground music style, but had exploded into mainstream Latin music. Some famous Reggaeton artists included Don Chenzina, Tempo, Master Joe & O.G. Black, Baby Rasta & Gringo and Lito & Polaco. DJ Blass and artists Plan B and Speedy helped the movement spread to the United States. By 2004 Reggaeton music had achieved widespread popularity in the US and Europe thanks to Reggaeton groups like Tego Calderón, Daddy Yankee, Hector y Tito, Luny Tunes & Noriega, Yaga y Mackie and many others. Other important Reggaeton musicians include Alexis & Fido, Angel & Khriz, Nina Sky, Nicky jam, Zion, RKM & Ken-y, Voltio, Calle 13, Héctor “El Father”, Ivy Queen, Wisin & Yandel, Tito “El Bambino” and Don Obar. The most famous international Reggaeton songs include Daddy Yankee's hit single Gasolina and Shakira's La Tortura.

Both songs emerged around 2005 and were world wide hits that propelled Reggaeton music to new heights. Contact us The Rise of Reggae, and the influence of Toots and the Maytals The Rise of Reggae and the influence of Toots and the Maytals. Matthew Sherman Reggae music is one of the worlds few living folk musics. It has remained incredibly popular and spontaneously generated by peoples experiences, emotions and traditions. Since its birth reggae music has been Jamaicas emotional outlet, to express thoughts and feelings about life, love and religion. These popular sounds have been created without the interference of outside multinational markets, press agents and spin doctors. Reggae music is created with incredible amounts of soul and pride. It is more than just music, it is a way of life for those who live in Jamaica and many others around the world. Reggae music is soulful entertainment in Jamaica today, its a powerful social force that represents the pressures of everyday life putting them into words that describe, reveal and persuade the people that listen to its powerful messages. The music originated from confrontation and struggle, its based on freedom and never giving up.

Politicians have been know to use reggae music as the central part of their campaigns. Prime Ministers have had songwriters create songs for their political campaigns, knowing full well that this music can easily bring crowds of people together, while uniting a country, and political party at the same time. The music of Jamaica began five centuries ago, when Columbus colonized the land of the Arawak Indians. This dates the start of oppression by first the Spanish and then the English in this area of the Caribbean. Blacks were brought in as slaves by the English, and although Jamaica has had it's independence since 1963, the tension of authority and control still reigns. Jamaica is a story of injustice, international influence, ineffective governing, and unequal distribution of wealth; all of these elements provide a solid base for the theme of oppression and the need for a revolution and redemption in Jamaican music. Reggae in particular reflects these injustices, and the feelings, needs and desires to change the lifestyle that Jamaicans have historically lived. Reggae music has two meanings.

Its generic name for all Jamaican popular music since 1960 (West Indian style of music with a strongly accented subsidiary beat, according to the Oxford dictionary) Reggae can also refer to the particular beat that was extremely popular in Jamaica from around 1969 to 1983. Jamaican music can be divided into four areas that carry their own distinctive beat. (ska, rocksteady, reggae and dancehall) Each of these types of music had their own individual styles: Ska dated around 1960 to 1966, rocksteady was from 1966 to 1968. Reggae was from 1969 to 1983, during this time period reggae had two time periods, "early reggae," from 1969 to 1974, and "roots reggae," was from about 1975 to 1983. From 1983 until now the music has been called dance hall.

Outside of Jamaica dance hall is referred to as "dub," or "ragga," which refers to the heavy bass that is created by mixing out other instruments and leaving the drum and bass only All of these different forms of reggae have different beats. The names and styles of reggae have changed over the years but the traditions and intentions of the music has not. Reggae music has grown and developed from the people and the experience of Jamaican like. The amazing thing about this style of music is that it stretches the globe with its popularity and is the only music not of European and American origin that is listened to in every country on earth. In modern time it is the first third world nation that is sharing its culture to such a diverse culture. I am fascinated at the fact that such a small, impoverished country could have created a music style that is so popular around the globe, with out the aid of corporate hype or planning committees. Reggae music has been used as inspiration for many third world liberation movements. Bob Marley was honored by Zimbabwes 1980 Independence celebration because his music had given inspiration to freedom fighters in the bush.

Chinese students used the Wailers "Get up stand up" as their marching song in the 1989 Tienanmen Square demonstrations. In the Nicaraguan civil war Marleys music was popular with both the "Contras" and "Sandanistas" who were fighting oppression. And finally another example of how reggae music has stretched out across the world and affected so many people is when the Berlin Wall fell, people stood at the fallen rubble and sang, " Three little birds," for hours. This music has acted to unify the communal activities when threatening forces are present. The export of Reggae music has earned Jamaica an exceptional global presence. Not other country of comparable size has had such an impact on international pop culture. Reggae is based on the everyday life experiences of life. It seemes that the greatest and most popular reggae songs were written before 1975 before the music became so popular world wide. When reggae music became commercially available artists would spend a great deal of their time traveling overseas touring. This practice diminished contact with their roots, and some say, a consequent loss of instinctive vigor.

I believe that one of the most influential reggae bands, and my personal favorite is Toots and the Maytals. This band was formed in the early sixties, and started a vibe that would energize the entire island of Jamaica. Toots and the Maytals used early sixties ska, rock steady styles and three-part harmonies to create a distinctive sound that would rock Jamaica, and spread interest of Reggae music around the world. Toots and the Maytals singing styles were unique in the fact that during the early 1960s many Jamaican artists were trying to imitate American accents in their music. Toots sang is what is called, "the broadest patois," which is singing like the common man spoke. The Maytals also had a distinctive style of response interplay of lead and backup singers. This style is found in most African derived music forms, and the use of this style gave the Maytals a very distinctive sound of energy and exuberance. Many fans of the Maytals feel that this music captures the lost innocence of the sixties which is something that many Jamaicans still yearn for.

The early sixties there were very few records that were made by Jamaican artists, and the few that were made were covers of popular American R&B. Toots Hibbert, has been referred to as the creator of "Reggae music," as well as the man who musically unified Jamaica during the early 1960s. The Maytals music had a clear modern feeling but still held onto Jamaican rural traditions. This sound helped the Maytals become the biggest selling group that Jamaica had seen to date in the mid 60s. Toots and the Maytals were the most successful and popular music group that Jamaica had ever seen. Frederick "Toots" Hibbert is said to be one of the most soulful singers ever to have come out of Jamaica. Toots began his climb to the top of Jamaican music when he left the countryside of rural Jamaica and single-handedly open and closed an entire genre in music. Part preacher, visionary, song writer and Jamaican Soul Man, Toots is a timeless, legendary, and distinctly unique musical force who has given monumental joy and epic groove-inspiration to countless individuals.

His father preached in church and Toots began to sing with his four brothers and three sisters, finding his voice in the Jamaican rural church. In his early teens, Toots, like so many other "country boys," left home and headed for Kingston. In town, Toots found employment in a barber shop and impressed passers by with his vocal talents. The refined, urban visions of Ray Charles and Otis Redding hit Toots, and he loved what he heard. The soul/gospel seeds had been sewn. Also impressed were Kingston mates Henry "Raleigh" Gordon and Nathaniel "Jerry" Mathais. Jerry, from the parish of Portland on the eastern side of the island, had some singing experience, having cut "Crazy Girl" for producer Duke Reid in 1958. The three decided they would form a trio with Toots taking care of the lead. The name of the new group sounded like a flower but was really a reference to his home town of May Pen. In 1963, the music of the island was no longer imported American R n B and ballads, nor Mento (calypso). Ska was the style that was currently rocking Kingston.

It had evolved out of a fusion of these two elements, with jazz. That same year the Maytals queued in with other eager youth for an audition at Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodds Studio One. With a little help from Coxsone's then A&R man Lee Perry, the Maytals passed the audition, and into the studio they went. Leaving Studio One, the group were offered a recording contract by singer, producer and amateur boxer Cecil "Prince Buster" Campbell, who produced "Dog War," "Pain in My Belly," and "Little Flea" (amongst others) by the group as well as their famous "Broadway Jungle," which makes reference to their experience with Studio One. "We were in the jungle, at the hands of a man, now were out of the jungle, lets go to Broadway " Broadway was coming, but not in 1964. Their sojourn with Prince Buster was short-lived, and in the same year they had found a new label and management in the form of Byron Lee. Lee was the bandleader of Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, which did the hotel and tourist circuit both in Jamaica as well as throughout the Caribbean and abroad.

Lee formed a label, BMN, which reportedly stood for Byron Lee, the Maytals, and Lees partner, Ronnie Nasralla. With Byron Lee, the Maytals created second LP (a first for a ska vocal trio), as well as winning the first annual Jamaica Festival Song Competition of 1966 with the Latin-flavored "Bam Bam." As ska gave way to the slower, cooler Rocksteady beat in 1966, The Maytals were going to a show in Ochos Rios, on Honda motor bikes. Jerry had Raleigh on his bike and was pulled over by the police. Toots went to the station to bail out, where he was instructed by the police to go and get their manager, Ronnie Nasralla. Toots left his luggage at the station and upon his arrival back at the station the police said that they found ganja in his luggage. Toots, had the misfortune of being framed on a trumped-up ganja charge. Toots insists that there are personal reasons why this occurred. Toots spent 18 months at Tamarind Farm, where he wrote one of the most famous reggae song in music history.

He wrote "54-40" to let people know that he was innocent. Later Toots found out that the arrest was planned by a promoter to keep him from going on tour to England. "54-46," is a song about a man unjustly imprisoned, robbed of his humanity and reduced to a number. The song is about Toots ability to grow and thrive amidst the hardships of injustice. Toots turned his time behind bars, right down to his prison number, to his advantage, with the rocksteady smash "54-46, Thats My Number," a giant seller for himself and his new label, Beverlys records. The Maytals greeted Toots from his prison release with "Reborn," in which they belt out "Im glad to see you free again." "54-46," is one of my personal favorite reggae songs, and has proven to be an incredible motivator for the Jamaican people who have endured the brutalities of slavery and retained their dignity and self worth. The creation of this song has been seen as reggaes finest moment. And with out the injustice of Toots imprisonment the song would have never have been.

In the winter of 1968, the cool rocksteady beat gave way to a faster, brighter, more danceable sound. Reggae was born. Toots heralded the new sound with the seminal, complex groove monster "Do the Reggae" advertising "the new dance, going around the town." Toots wanted "to do the Reggae, with you!" Already a great song writer reflecting life's simple turn of events, as the case with the very sweet "Sweet and Dandy," one could see within Toots an increasingly growing respect for Rastafarianism, which was not usually acknowledged verbally in Jamaican popular music. In "Sun, Moon and Star" (1969) Toots mentions Haile Selassie's arrival in Jamaica ("Ten thousand people come to see and admire the plane") and also slips in "Jah Rastafari," which was fairly radical for a Jamaican single in 1969. From '69 to '71, Toots could do no wrong recording for Leslie Kong.

With the consistent nucleus of musicians, the Beverleys All-Stars (Jackie Jackson, Winston Wright, Hux Brown, Rad Bryan, Paul Douglas and Winston Grennan) and the Maytals brilliant harmonizing, Toots wrote and sang his unmistakable voice about every subject imaginable. He was also gaining exposure in the UK -recordings from 1969 and 70 were licensed to Trojan records, who issued two more albums, "Monkey Man" (1969) and "From the Roots" (1970), both of which did very well in the UK and helped Toots gain a following there. In 1971, the 38 year old Kong died of a heart attack, and Kongs associate Warrick Lyn took over Toots management. Toots took the song competition yet again in 1972 with "Pomp and Pride," and was included on the album, "Slatyam Stoot," which was named after the bands backwards title.

1973 was to prove a good year for Toots, he now realized what they did with that footage of him doing "Sweet and Dandy." He, and thousands of other Jamaicans, saw himself on the big screen in The Harder They Come, the first Jamaican feature film ever made. The 1972 release of this movie introduced the Maytals to the U.S.; the film's soundtrack featured "Sweet and Dandy" and "Pressure Drop." Along with Bob Marley and the Wailers two first albums, was forcing Americans to sit up, take note of that volatile little island in the sun which previously was just a tourist destination. This movie turned white middle class kids onto reggae music and launched artists like Toots and the Maytals, Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley and the Wailers into international stardom. In 1975, Toots and the Maytals, signed their first major contract with Island Records.

Island released Funky Kingston--a collection from Trojan's Funky Kingston and In The Dark--which contained the Maytals' unique interpretation of John Denver's "Country Roads," in which "West Virginia" became "West Jamaica." Also in 1975 Toots and the Maytals made their first tour of the U.S., opening shows for the Who. The tour was badly planned, and the Maytals could never match Bob Marley's or Peter Tosh's popularity. Toots went solo in 1982, although he continued to tour as Toots and the Maytals. Tootss rough n tough vocals make him a singers singer. He was a favorite of the late Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. His peers regularly check Toots live shows to study his high voltage delivery. Nineties star Shabba Ranks owes much of his dynamic stage presence to the fervor of his musical forefather.

Toots is responsible for being the first to spin the word reggae into music with his 1968 dance classic, "Do the Reggae." It was Toots Reggae Got Soul in 1973 that created a tight bond between Jamacian music and American R&B. Funky Kingston articulated the similarities between downtown Kingston and Harlem. Many music historians agree that the word reggae first appeared in 1968 by Toots and the Maytals. At the time, "reggae" was simply the latest in a series of dance crazes to hit Jamaica, a slower, more beat heavy, bass dominated rhythm than ska and rock-steady. The styles that had swept the nation before reggae had come into its own. More than three decades have passed, and reggae music is becoming increasingly more popular. Toots once explained to writers Stephen Davis and Peter Simon in their book Reggae Bloodlines what the meaning of Reggae is. He said that, "just mean comin from the people .comin from the majority.

When you say reggae you mean regular, majority." In the seventies Rasta Far I became a calling card for Jamaican musical artists and the labels marketing them. Dreadlocked lion revolutionaries like Bob Marley and Peter Tosh were the new international selling image; one that Toots, a "bald head" never fit into, though he was just as real an expression of Jamaica. Few artists had the confidence to, "Nice it up" like Toots, who loved to express a simple irie feeling in tracks like "Spend the Weekend" and "You know who I am." Toots and the Maytals are by far one of my favorite reggae music artists of all time. I admire his high energy performances and passion for his music. Toots has been able to remain true to his roots, but at the same time move forward and advance with time. Toots and his music has aged gracefully over time and seems to be reaching a wider variety of fans every year. I can remember a personal experience that happened to me last year. I had learned of Toots and the Maytals and had become increasingly enthusiastic about the band only three short years ago.

During last summer I would four-wheel out onto the beaches of Cape Cod and spend the entire day there with about 25 friends that had also driven out for the day. We would cook out, swim, surf and drink beer on the beach all day. I would usually take the speakers out and place them on my roof so that we could listen to music for the day. Through out the day I would frequently put on a Toots and the Maytals CD. It was usually Toots Live, or The Very Best of the Maytals. Then through out the day most of my friends would come over to me and ask who we were listing to and where they could find the CD. We went out about twenty times that summer and when the grill lit up, and a few rounds of beer had been consumed, Toots and the Maytals had become the most frequently requested album of the summer. The combination of their soulful singing and sweet harmony brings a special energy to the music. Toots and the Maytals wont fail to bring a smile to your face and light a fire under your feet.

Toots and the Maytals will never be as popular as Bob Marley or Peter Tosh, but they will always be known as the band that started a special type of music that is enjoyed world wide. Toots has been able to form a strong bond with the island of Jamaica and has helped to develop Jamaican music and bring it to another level. Toots has been able to bring those feelings to many others outside of the Island community. I will be the first person to admit that I have never been to Kingston or Jamaica, and that I really have never experienced any of the life styles, oppressions and feelings that Toots has. But I can say that I get and good feeling of what those emotions, hardships and feeling are really like from listing to Toots music. There is nothing but a positive vibe and a true feeling of energy that I feel when I listen to Toots and the Maytals. And this is why I feel that this band was worth writing a paper about.

And I never weary yet "Never Get Weary" Scratch Perry on reggae music: "The rhythm is from the ghetto and the music is from the streets." -Scratch Perry Toots and the Maytals: Formed 1962, Kingston, Jamaica: Frederick "Toots" Hibbert (b. 1946, Maypen, Jam.), lead vocals Nathaniel "Jerry" Matthias (b. ca. 1945, Jam.), harmony vocals Ralphus "Raleigh" Gordon (b. ca. 1945, Jam.), harmony vocals Albums: 1971- Monkey Man (Trojan) 1972- From the Roots 1973- Funky Kingston 1974- In The Dark 1975- Funky Kingston (Island) 1976- Reggae Got Soul 1978- The Maytals (State) 1979- The Best of Toots and the Maytals (Trojan) 1979- Pass the Pipe (Island) 1980- Just Like That 1981- Live!

(Matthias; Gordon) 1982- Knockout (Mango) 1984- Reggae Greats: Toots and the Maytals 1988- Toots in Memphis Work Cited: Middleton, Darren, This is how we flow, Chanting Down Babylon. University of South Carolina, 1999. Scanlon, Paul, Reporting the Rolling Stone Style, The Wild Side of Paradise. Straight Arrow Publisher, 1977. Chang, Kevin and Chen, Wayne, Reggae Routs, The Story of Jamacian Music. Temple University Press USA, 1998. Spencer, Peter, World Beat, A listners guide to Contemporary World Music. Spencer, 1992. Barrett, Leonard, The Rastafartans. Beacon Press Books, 1997. Barrow, Steve, and Dalton, Peter. Reggae: The Rough Guide. Ed. Jonathan Buckley. London, England: Rough Guides Ltd, 1997. Audio References: Toots and the Maytals, Live. 1980 Island Records.

Toots and the Maytals, Time Tough The Anthology. 1996 Island Records. The Very Best of Toots and the Maytals, Music Club. Video References: Roots, Rock, Reggae. Prod/Dir: Jeremy Marre. Harcourt Films/Shananchie Records, 1988. Web Sites:

Question: On what island did reggae originate?
Answer: Jamaica