Journey Through the Garden of Roots Music: Official Ska & Reggae Fans

[El_Jeffe]

I'm looking to start a thread for the collective of members who are interested in the musical realms of real ska, reggae, & roots music. A place where we can all develop our own knowledge with each other, talk about new albums, upcoming releases, past classics, swap reccs with one another, ask for reccs, create mixes for those who are new to the genre, & etc, etc.

Hopefully this idea will pick up & we can constantly engage more & more users, new or existing, to get excited about the world of great music that is so often misunderstood, & overlooked due to some crazy misconceptions out there. As we all (hopefully) know ska & reggae is so encompassing & always branches off into soul, funk, hip-hop, jazz, world, dub, toasting/rapping, etc.

I don't care if you're only outing with this kinda of music is Bob Marley's Legend, or if you are someone who's been a devotee since you could walk & talk. Everyone is welcome to share/grow upon their perspectives in here. This will hopefully be a centrality for those to share & strengthen their passion for that glorious music that retains such depth; those glorious galloping beats, wailing horns, poetic lyrics, gorgeous vocal harmonies, socially conscious themes, & that richly organic soul feel. That, to me, is what real ska & reggae is about.

This is a musical passion that I have been establishing & expanding on my own for a number of years. I would love to have some company to share it with, so you're all invited. Much love & respect. Let the journey begin....

[El_Jeffe]

Some suggested listens:

The Slackers - Redlight
Toots & The Maytals - Funky Kingston
Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey
The Skatalites - Hi-Bop Ska
The Black Seeds - On The Sun
The Heptones - Night Food
Fat Freddy's Drop - Based On A True Story
Groundation - Each One Teach One
Alton Ellis - Sunday Coming
Xavier Rudd - Dark Shades of Blue
Jimmy Cliff - Jimmy Cliff
Bob & Marcia - Young Gifted & Black
The Mighty Diamonds - Right Time
Herbs - Listen
Beres Hammond - Love from a Distance
John Holt - Dusty Roads
Horace Andy - Skylarking
Prince Buster - Girl, Why Don't You Answer?
Desmond Dekker & The Aces - Action!
Israel Vibration - Strength of My Life
John Holt - Dusty Roads


A thread about the history of music: Ska: A History (http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=265931)


Some jams:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERiTX9Pa23c&feature=PlayList&p=A668A8551352564C&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1

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Some mixes from across the ages to come...

[danehildebrandt]

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[El_Jeffe]

There are a lot of great reggae covers out there, & A LOT of big pop hit singles (especially during the 80's & 90's), that were originally small ska/reggae numbers from the 60's. That list could go on for a loooong time & may surprise many.

What artists are you into mate?

[IWasaCamera]

Bump for Craig. Anyone fond of The Congos? Their debut Heart Of The Congos is pretty much a landmark album, often referred to as Jamaica's Pet Sounds (which essentially means it's better) for the rich harmonies and Lee "Scratch" Perry's brilliant production job. Despite the myriad bells and whistles Perry incorporates into the mix, at its core, the record is just a sensationally crafted reggae opus.

Opening track below:

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[Erik the Orange]

Like this thread idea. Love myself some ska jams.

[xJesusFreakx]

I totally need to dig into this stuff. All I have is Toots & the Maytals, The Slackers, and... Is that it? I think a Bob Marley greatest hits compilation of some sort, too.

[RushAndAPush]

I'm really interested in where this idea goes next.

[IWasaCamera]

Not sure if the thread ever meant to include dub -- not quite as rootsy and a tad more repetitive -- but I couldn't get enough of Prince Douglas' Dub Roots not too long ago when the fall term was starting to wear on me despite/because of deadlines for papers/articles. Massive grooves to get lost in until the coast is clear.

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I'll revive this once in a while if people dig what they hear.

[IWasaCamera]

One of toasting's foremost voices:

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That's enough music no one cares about for now.

[recall reality]

I've been on the biggest Skatalites kick lately, seemed fitting to stumble across this thread. Checking out the recs so far when I get the chance, Heart Of The Congos sounds really interesting.

[El_Jeffe]

It was a shock to see this thread bumped. Such hopes I had for this charming & optimistic little idea haha.

I'm glad to see the beautiful Congos brought up in conversation though, what an incredible record that is. For those new to this gorgeous world of roots music, I'll let you into a little history of this album & it's significance.

During the 60's & 70's in Jamaica times were tough, socially, fiscally, politically, etc. For a number of reasons I can describe later for those interested. Many in the slums developed music as an outlet, that accompanied with the infamous "boys home" where the choice came down to music or chores (Jamaica’s vibrant musical culture in Kingston demonstrates which outlet was more popular haha), the musical culture grew, monumental talents were developed. Now this is where the story gets interesting...

Many of the respected talents (including Bob & the Wailers) & musical community elders would often, completely unannounced, unnoticed, & in complete secrecy disappear up into the forested Waireka Hills outside Kingston, Jamaica, instruments in hand. They would disappear into the hills for days, weeks, sometimes even months on end. These secret meetings became known as grounations. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, none of this music was ever recorded. However the members of The Congos were also members at these secret grounations, so when they began to record music during the 70's, it was of big significance to the musical communities. For they were recording a form of music that was once a sworn secret of the grounation elders. A music so invigorating & deeply rootsy that it resonated with Jamaicans across the nation & eventually the soul of the endless grooves escaped out to the rest of the world...

[IWasaCamera]

The thread will survive, if only through my occasional bumps.

Would have loved to sit in on those grounations -- soul and spirituality flying all over the place. Are you into Nyahbinghi, Craig? I've been winding down to this record after mind-numbing days lately:

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[El_Jeffe]

Love it! Nyahbinghi (sometimes spelt 'nyabhingi' or 'nyabingi') drumming pretty much laid down the foundation of Jamaican music. The Skatalites were greatly influenced by it, among other sources. Count Ossie is another legend to check out for this form of music.


For those of you who are new to this term or sound, here's a bit of background info (I really want this thread to become a hub of community & information)...

Nyahbinghi
The coming of this term, the East African culture behind it etc, can be explained & perhaps discussed among us if anyone is interested? But for now I'll guide over the basics of the music.

Nyahbinghi music in its purest form is the music played at Rastafarian meetings, referred to as grounations, like what I mentioned above. The core of it is based around a style of relentless & endless drumming & spiritual chanting. Sometimes a guitar or horns is used (ska musicians such as Johnny 'Dizzy' Moore & Don Drummond were well known for their role in this development at grounations), but no amplification at all is employed, it's an all unplugged affair.

The drumming, which usually involves three hand drums of different sizes; the bass (the lowest drum), the funde (middle-pitched drum) & the repeater (the highest pitched drum, sometimes referred to as the "akete"). All of which would later exercise an influence on early recorded Jamaican music.

The foundation of this drumming style includes (at a very basic fundamental description) the bass drum striking the first & third beats, the funde playing a one-two beat, & the repeater playing syncopated improvised rhythms. While these three drums are the "core" of the rhythm, there are usually a multiple of drummers playing "conversationally" (remember that term, because it's key to decribing this sound in my view) between themselves.

Years later, these rhythms were chopped & developed into the basic rhythms of ska & reggae music, & not by coincidence - early ska visionaries, such as The Skatalites, were influenced by the sounds of nyabinghi drumming. Although a big reason for this was because many of the groups musicians were taking part in such grouations.


If you're interested in an album to check out from this sound, I'll hit you guys with some of the real stuff, no intro-ease in to the genre.

Count Ossie & the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari - Grounation

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/ddac3ab296ba5c2bf65cdd184145f25a/504945.jpg

The one period in which Rastafarian music ensembles regularly made records that were untampered with by commercial considerations was the roots era of the 1970s. Though some serious musicologists have made occasional attempts of field recordings of nyahbingi sessions, this was essentially the first album to give the music the studio time it deserved, while remaining as true to its original forms as possible. The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari was an aggregation of accomplished musicians which brought together both Count Ossie's African-style hand drummers & the horns & bass of tenor-sax man Cedric Brooks's Mystics band. This historic set has never been superseded, but it cemented the establishment of Rastafari as the dominant reggae ideology in the mid-1970s, plus the emergence of an audience for reggae albums that were stories, & much more than collections of hit singles. This created a climate in which more sets of nyahbingi-based music could be produced. In short... beautiful traditional sounding music at the heart of Jamaican culture.

[IWasaCamera]

Yep, that record is often cited as the definitive release from the genre, though I do enjoy Churchical Chants Of The Nyahbinghi a lot too. Big fan of the raw, unfettered recordings. No studio polish or pop sheen.

[IWasaCamera]

Bump. Linton Kwesi Johnson/Poet and the Roots is not the cheeriest of reggae acts:

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[IWasaCamera]

I'll just keep bumping this...

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[IWasaCamera]

Screaming Target's one of the finest reggae records ever put to tape. Give it a spin.

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[cshadows2887]

Really need to dig into that list of essential recs Craig provided.

[El_Jeffe]

My favourite thread that never took off. Can't believe I missed Vinh's post of Linton, my absolute favourite dub/poet. Hardly anyone knows/remembers the vocal style of rapping started in ska music (known as "toasting"). But boy some of those early toasters were something special.

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