Reggae (2019-09-16)

DDEX Data Dictionary for Allowed Value Sets, 2019-09-16

Reggae

Features an offbeat staccato feel, halftime one drop drum grooves, and socially conscious lyrics. Influenced by mid-century American R&B and jazz, Jamaican ska, and traditional Jamaican music such as mento. Emerged in Jamaica, particularly around Kingston, in the late 1960s. Notable artists include Bob Marley and the Wailers, Toots and the Maytals, and Count Ossie.

Relationships
Parents	MusicalWork	A Work intended to be perceivable as a combination of sounds, with or without accompanying text.
Children	Dancehall	Developed in the late 1970s as a street offshoot of reggae in which singers or deejays performed over pre-recorded backing tracks played on sound systems. In the mid 80s, faster rhythms and digital electronic elements like drum machines, samplers and synthesizers began to predominate among dancehall productions. Lyrics are oriented toward local dancehall audiences, and are more concerned with dancing, sex, and violence than the political or Rastafarian themes of reggae. A major precursor to hip-hop, as that style formed amongst New York block parties inspired by Jamaican sound system culture and dancehall music, brought to New York by Jamaican immigrants.
	DubGenre	Essentially reggae with vocals removed, heavy emphasis on bass and drums, and extensive use of studio production techniques such as delay, reverb, and dubbing of vocal and instrumental snippets over the beat. The sound is spacious, relaxed, and minimal. Dub was spurred by the popularity of instrumental versions of reggae tracks at sound system parties, and originally began to be commercially released as producer-led instrumental B-sides of 45 rpm reggae singles in the late 1960s. The style gained popularity and developed its own following, creating its own star artists, such as the melodicist Augustus Pablo and the producer King Tubby. Often cited as a major precursor to and forefather of contemporary electronic dance music - the concept of remixing is believed to have originated with dub.
	Rocksteady	Slower descendant of ska. Said to be the result of a hot summer in 1966 and the subsequent need for more relaxed dance music. Like ska, rocksteady features skanking offbeat rhythms and horns, but its perceived tempo is nearly half that of ska, due to a slower harmonic rhythm and lower density of rhythmic events. The slower rhythm creates more space for vocalists and musicians to be melodically expressive. Rocksteady later politicized and spiritualized into reggae.
	RootsReggae	Classic reggae - Bob Marley & the Wailers, Burning Spear, Steel Pulse, The Abyssinians, etc. An ideologized descendant of rocksteady, and like that style, sonically typified by skanking guitar, an offbeat emphasis, and low to mid tempos. Lyrics are often political or spiritual, and concern topics from Rastafarianism, poverty, and love to corruption, racial oppression, and liberation. Emerged in the late 1960s and reached its most prominent phase of cultural output in the late 70s.
	Ska	Features fast tempos, lead horns, and skanking piano and guitar putting emphasis on the backbeat, giving ska a trademark jerky liveliness. Earliest internationally successful style of Jamaican popular music. Incorporates a variety of influences, ranging from New Orleans R&B, jump blues, and jazz to Jamaican mento and Caribbean calypso. Rocksteady and its descendant, reggae, developed as a slower evolution of ska. Ska has spawned international subgenres mingled with punk in the UK and US which maintain the fast tempo and horns of ska, such as 2-Tone and Third Wave.
Belongs to AVS	avs:ClassifiedGenre	A Type of genre.