Getting into the Zone!

In the mid-50s, the rhythm dominating all Caribbean islands was calypso. Byron Lee and Mighty Sparrow were the great successful interpreters of this style, appreciated only by the small "middle class" segment of the islands, and had nothing to do with the culture of African peoples brought there to work as slaves.

It was around this same time that ghetto radios in Kingston and St. Andrew began tuning into southern US radios that played a lot of rhythm'n'blues. From this influence, Jamaicans began creating their songs in a very particular way, where their great inspirations for themes were the problems they faced on the island, i.e., social problems. Mixed with this was the great Rastafari influence, with good doses of fundamentalist Christianity and the African origin of the people.

At this time Jamaican music still had strong rock influence. At the turn of the 60s rock steady emerged, with singer Alton Ellis's first album Rock Steady, still with lots of brass, the main characteristic of calypso. Gradually the bass sound grew stronger and offbeat, marking off-beats along with guitar riffs, brass and keyboards. Vocalists sought to imitate North American soul singers and the most influential vocal groups, mostly from Baptist Churches with their gospel sounds and sacred hymns. With all this, rock steady shaped itself, adding other rhythmic elements and approaching ska.

Historically, reggae emerged right after this mix of rhythms (calypso, blues, soul, gospel, rock steady, ska). Researching, I found information that the name "REGGAE" came from the union of rag (rag) and muffin (person), i.e., music of the miserable. Contracted, the term became reggay music, and first appeared written that way on Toots & The Maytals' debut LP. Later it simply became Reggae. This is the great mix of the rhythm that moves our heads.