In 1954 Ken Khouri started Jamaica's first record company 'Federal Records' pressing licenced copies of American recordings, as well as a few local artists. Following his lead in this Duke Reid and Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd both held their own recording sessions, recording Jamaican artists for exclusive play on their own sound systems in the hope of gaining the upper hand in the highly competitive business. Coxsone Dodd opened the now legendary 'Studio 1' and became the first black man to own a record label, 'Coxsone'. Many artists dreamed of recording a record in Studio 1, and a Kingston nun, Sister Ignatious, set up a school to encourage new musical talent. The 'Alpha' School nurtured many artists, including a group of musicians who became The Skatalites, the first stars of ska music.
As a wave of nationalism swept the island in the run up to Jamaican Independence (1962), the sound systems had replaced U.S. style R&B with a more indigenous sound. At this time, Prince Buster was becoming successful in his own sound system. He introduced the local outcasts of the Rastafarian cult religion into the music scene and fused African roots music with jazz and ska. In 1962, the influx of Jamaicans into Britain created a ska scene in London and the new black population mixed with mods in west London clubs. Ska was distributed on the mod record label 'Bluebeat'.
Young Jamaicans during the early sixties had been drawn to the major cities in search of work. They had not found it, and the mood of the ghetto areas had started to deteriorate. These youths or 'rude boys' as they were called, started forming political gangs from different ghettos throughout Kingston. The rude boys' style of dancing, which was slower and more menacing, changed the style of music being played on the sound systems, from the uptempo ska to a slower rock steady beat. Duke Reid capitalised on the new sound and recorded and released songs by a variety of performers in the new style. The rock steady phase lasted barely eighteen months however, and 'Coxsone' Dodd and Duke Reid began to be less dominant in the Jamaican music scene. Three new producers, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Bunny Lee and Osbourne Ruddock, dictated the progression of the island's music in the seventies. All of them had worked for Coxsone Dodd or Duke Reid at some time. Key features of the rock steady style are a slower syncopated beat, silky harmonies and vocals, a soulful melody and a triplet bass rhythm.
Jamaica's political situation began to get worse and the romantic subject matter of rock steady was replaced by lyrics that fit with the mood of the time. Reggae developed from this and its key features are lyrics discussing Rastafari, political protest and 'rudies' (hooligan heroes). Bob Marley (1945-81) and his group, the Wailers, were largely responsible for the widespread popularity of reggae, and it became especially popular in the UK. The black people of Britain found a bond with the skinhead population and artists became more commercially popular. The film The Harder They Come (1973) brought the style to the United States. After the death of Bob Marley however, reggae lost much of its international energy and left the spotlight. However, reggae has continued to influence musicians all over the world, and features in the work of commercial artists such as The Police, UB40 and Madness. It has also continued to develop into new styles, including dub.
Dub was pioneered by Osbourne Ruddock, who left out the vocal track from a recording he was producing for Duke Reid's sound system. On deciding he preferred the version without vocals, the new style became popular with sound system operators who began to talk over the records as they played. This technique of speaking in rhythm with the music was called toasting and is the basis for today's rap and hip hop music.
From ska to dub, twentieth century Western music's finest performers have been influenced, directly or indirectly, by this quirky, syncopated rhythm that began life on a small island in the Caribbean. Almost all black music owes itself to the sound systems and their operators like Duke Reid and Clement Coxsone Dodd, and it will probably continue to influence many more generations of musicians.
