What is SKA?

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By Francisco Llatser Marti (544)

Summary:
Ska is a musical form blending Jamaican music like jazz, blues or rock. Reggae is often thought to be the precursor to ska, but in fact ska influenced the development of reggae. First wave ska music was in 1964, exposing America to ska music, which had previously been mostly heard only in the West Indies.

As rock music developed, ska versions of music by The Rolling Stones and The Beatles were often recorded. The addition of rock and roll clearly influenced second wave ska of the late 70s and 80s. Vocal tracts were often a challenge to record and perform, as they required very quick verbalizations, similar to tongue twisters.

Third wave ska occurred in the late 1990s and includes music from bands like The Fish Bones. The Third wave is often harder hitting, incorporating punk rhythms. Racial equality and tolerance are characteristic of the art form. Interest in second wave ska has reemerged, and it is quite common to hear ska tunes on commercials.

It is truly difficult to listen to ska and not feel like dancing. Since most of the lyrics are fun and relatively tame, introducing ska to children is often a great way to teach kids to dance. Most second wave ska bands have reproduced their music and have original tunes available for downloading on the Internet.

My opinion:
I like very much Ska music and actually it’s my favorite kind of music. This is because it’s different of other genres and it have really smart lyrics, they talk about society, peace, against racism… it have good rhythm too, which can be danced by every people, of all ages.

When I listen ska it makes me feel happy so I think it’s a good deal listening it. A group that I love and is one of the first ones is Skatalites, from Jamaica, I also like a lot of groups from around the world.