Genres Archives: Ska

Ska

SKA is driving, danceable music that rose in 1950’s Jamaica, fusing Jamaican “mento” with American R&B. Ska became popular internationally in the 1960s, really took hold in early ’70s England where it fused with early punk, and is still popular today. We love this video clip from “This is Ska!,” a 1964 BBC documentary that introduced ska to a generation of British youth. After watching this bit you will want to watch the whole documentary. Here goes.

Ska music 101 | “This is ska!” | A brief history of ska | Variants of ska dancing/”skanking”

Train to Skaville

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COUNTRY: Jamaica

LANGUAGE: English

GENRE: Ska

“Train to Skaville” is a classic Jamaican ska song by The Ethiopians. Ska is a highly danceable form of Jamaican music that appeared in the islands in the 1950s as a musical descendant of mento, calypso and American R&B. Essentially, rocksteady took ska’s quick rhythm and slowed it down. Reggae then took rocksteady and made it into a movement.
[wpspoiler name=”A ’30s movie dance routine reto-fitted to match The Ethiopians’ Train to Skaville” open=”true” style=”aatw-video”][/wpspoiler]

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