Reggae

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See also Music of Jamaica

Reggae is a music genre developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s, and still popular today. The term is sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, including ska, rocksteady and dub. The term is more specifically used to indicate a particular style that originated after the development of rocksteady. In this sense, reggae includes two subgenres: roots reggae (the original reggae) and dancehall reggae, which originated in the late 1970s.

Reggae is founded upon a rhythm style characterized by regular chops on the back beat, known as the skank. The beat is generally slower than that found in reggae's precursors, ska and rocksteady. Reggae is often associated with the Rastafari movement, which influenced many prominent reggae musicians in the 1970s and 1980s. The messages contained in these songs tend to deal with the subjects of faith, love, a higher power, and human freedom.

Origins

Reggae's origins can be found in traditional African and Caribbean music, as well as the Rhythm and blues and jazz phenomenons of the United States. Ska and rocksteady, distinctly different from reggae, are precursors of the form. It is thought that the word reggae was first used by the ska band Toots and the Maytals, in the title of their 1968 hit Do the Reggay. Other theories say the term came from the word streggae, a Jamaican slang term for prostitute, or that it originated from the term Regga, which was a Bantu-speaking tribe from Lake Tanganyika.

Pre-reggae movement

Through radio broadcasts and American import records, Jamaica, then still a British colony, was first hit by the jazz fervor in the 1940's. By the time the era of the jazz orchestra began to fade, with rhythm and blues music becoming the new favorite, Jamaica was undergoing a major transformation from a rural economy to a nation looking for its own piece of postwar prosperity. This led to many of the island's population to begin flooding into its capital, Kingston, where dance halls known as "sound systems" began to attract music enthusiasts seeking the latest sounds from overseas.

The dance organizers had no choice but to play foreign records, since the island had no recording facilities of its own. It wasn't until 1954 that the first label, Federal, opened for business, and even then its emphasis was purely on licensed U.S. material. Around this time, Rock and Roll had begun its world domination as the most popular form of musical entertainment, and it was the birth of this genre that finally kickstarted homegrown Jamaican music.

In 1958, Edward Seaga, who would go on to become Prime Minister of Jamaica, founded West Indian Records Limited (WIRL), which began to release records by local artists. They were blatant copies of American music, but the move was original enough to inspire three other groups to start their own labels that same year. As soon as the pressing plant Caribbean Records was established, Jamaica had officially formed its own autonomous recording industry. The only thing that was left for the scene was to establish its own identity in regards to a unique, Jamaican sound.

Around 1960, ska music, also known as "blue beat", which melded the rhythm of traditional mento music with R&B, came into creation when local musicians became weary of immitating the American sound. While many lay claim to the birth of ska, critics generally agree that it was producer Cecil Campbell, more commonly known as Prince Buster, who fathered the form with his label Wild Bells. All 13 tracks from the album were hits, and for the first time in modern Jamaican culture, music history was made.

With Jamaica receiving its independence, national pride was running high, and anything uniquely Jamaican was embraced. Thus, the homegrown music fitted in perfectly with the mood of the time. Also, the new ska, made by the working classes, was music of the people, particularly of the Kingston ghettoes. Some of ska's greatest stars of the time were Derrick Morgan, Jimmy Cliff, the Maytalls, and the Skatelites, who all came from humble beginnings.

Through the early 60's ska music enjoyed its popularity, as a plethora of artists emerged. However, despite its attempts to earn international attention, the scene barely made a dent outside the frontiers of its own native land. The one exception was in Britain, where a large Jamaican population thrived.

By 1966, interest in the ska beat began to wear down, with artists outgrowing the familiar basic rhythms and arrangements they had employed now for half a decade. The "rock steady" concept brought the new sound that ska artists had been seeking. This new form had a slower rhythm, which had the effect of making the bass play in clusters and forced dancers to "rock out" as opposed to "move wildly". Rock steady music was immediately sucessful, partly because it was new and also because dancers, not having to expend as much energy, could stay on the dancefloor longer. The Techniques, Slim Smith, and Lloyd Parks were some of the new stars born in the rocksteady phase of the Jamaican music culture.

The advent of rock steady ignited the small flame that ska had made overseas into a decent fire. This was largely in part to the Trojan record label, which licensed a great deal of Jamaican products, and the British rock steady superstar, Desmond Dekker. The prime time of the style was brief, at least in Jamaica. It ran from mid-1966 to the close of 1967 when artists began to experiment with differe alterations of the beat once again. Derrick Morgan first did this with a remix of an earlier hit of his, "Fat Man", using the organ to creep along in a particular style with the rhythm guitar. Producer Bunny Lee began referring to this new sound as reggae, and soon all the Jamaican musicians were following suit.

The birth of the reggae form

Again, it's up in the air as to who really invented reggae, although the first record to bear the name was "Do The Reggae" (or "Reggay") by the Maytals in 1968. According to historian Barrow, it was producer Clancy Eccles who coined the term, taking street slang for a loose woman - streggae - and changing it slightly. The music itself was faster than rock steady, but tighter and more complex than ska, with obvious debts to both styles, while going beyond them both.

And like any new music, it had its young guns, in this case producers Lee ?Scratch' Perry, and Bunny Lee, and engineer Osborne ?King Tubby' Ruddock. Perry had worked for Coxsone Dodd, often surpervising the production work, without receiving the glory and money which went along with that. Ruddock had worked for Duke Reid, and also ran his own sound system, Home Town Hi-Fi. His background as an electrical engineer meant that his system sported some unique, home made gadgets, echo in particular, that helped set it apart from others.

As well as the upcoming talent behind the board, plenty of new artists were eager to shine in the studio. Since the established labels already had their house bands, the new boys had to find their own talent, musicians with something to prove - and they proved it playing reggae.

Perry was the first of the new crop to hit big, in his case as a recording artist. "People Funny Boy," an obvious dig at Dodd, sold well, and gave Perry the impetus to start his own label, Upsetter Records, in 1969. In short order he made it a viable entity with two more hits - "Tighten Up," by the Untouchables and "Return of Django" from the upsetters, his house band, which included two brothers Carlton and Aston Barrett as the rhythm section.

The success helped Perry woo a group he'd worked with at Studio One - the Wailers. After some initial success, the Wailers had found life under Dodd difficult. Dodd had befirend Bob Marley, even putting him in charge of pairing singers and songs for the label, but he'd kept his distance from the more volatile Peter Tosh and the Rastaman Bunny Wailer. In 1966, Marley moved to America, where he worked at the line in a Chrysler plant in Wilmington, Delaware. It was his chance to earn good, steady money, which he did until he lost his job. After discovering he wasn't eligibile for welfare, then receiving a draft notice, he returned to Jamaica and music, writing new material, some of which would appear on Wailers' albums in the ?70s.

By late 1967 the Wailers had left Dodd, and the following year formed their own label, Wailin' Soul, which proved a failure, in part because all three members spent time in jail - Tosh for obstruction during a demonstration against the regime in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and Wailer and Marley for possession of marijuana. Even though the label collapsed, the Wailers weren't discouraged.

They began again with the Tuff Gong label. While it didn't make them rich, they made enbough to survive, and they also signed with Jad, the company run by singer Johnny Nash as songwriters, earning $50 JA each per week. That the band had ability was beyond doubt; the problem was that they were unable to put together the lucrative overseas deals which would catapult them to the next level. Their rebellious attitude scared off potential partners. So when Perry came along, they leaped at his chance. The Wailers and the Barrett brothers became friendly, and Aston Barrett became the Wailers' arranger.

The collaboration with Perry never brough chart success. However, in artistic terms, Perry helped them reach a place no reggae band had reached before, and very quickly. The bud was there - it would just take a little longer before it flowered.

While Perry was working his distinctive brand of magic, King Tubby was taking the young reggae in another direction. The DJ (a man who ?toasted' or rapped over instrumental tracks) had long been a staple of the sound systems, and Tubby had one of the best in Ewart Beckford, known as U-Roy.

Tubby had discovered that acetates, known as dub plates, could be manipulated. The vocal track could be left off, creating a new ?version' of the song, something for U-Roy to toast over. When he put the two elements together in a studio, he came up with something new. "Wake The Town," record at Duke Reid's, was the first toasting record (although producer Keith hudson claimed to have recorded U-Roy a year earlier, on a version of Ken Boothe's hit "Old Fashion Way," retitled "Dynamic Fashion Way"). It went directly to the top of the charts, ushering in a new style that would be one of the parents of hip-hop.

Others followed the path. Big Youth, who began as a U-Roy imitator before finding his own style, broke through with "S.90 Skank" (named for a moped), and I-Roy (Roy Reid) followed with "Musical Pleasure." But it was U-Roy who led the pack for the first half of the 1970s. He was one of the most political toasters of the time, putting out records like "Sufferer's Psalm" (1974), which used the 23rd Psalm as a springboard to condemn capitalism. It sold 27,000 in the Caribbean; not earth-shattering but respectable for such an overtly political disc.

In the U.K. Trojan focused on the very commercial end of reggae, "music," noted writer Sebastian Clarke, "with a beat, a soft melody and strings behind it." It proved to be a potent combination. From 1970-75, Trojan registered 23 top 30 hits from the likes of John Holt, Bob and Marcia, Ken Boothe, Desmond Dekker, and Dave and Ansell Collins. There were also two subsidiary labels, Attack and Upsetter, for the work of producers Bunny Lee and Lee Perry. It was an affirmation that the music could reach out beyond the Afro-Caribbean community, and the success helped lay the groundwork for a revitalized. Bob Marley and the Wailers, whose records would appear on Chris Blackwell's label, Island.

From concentrating on Jamaican music, Blackwell had ventured into white progressive rock in 1967, and quickly become one of the U.K.'s premier labels in the field. But he'd retained his love of Jamaican music, and held on to one artist he'd singed in 1965 - Jimmy Cliff.

He'd moved Cliff to England and carefully groomed him to become an international artist, getting rid of the patois speech. And Cliff did establish a strong following in France and Scandinavia. By 1967 he'd had a British hit, "Give And Take," and released Hard Road to Travel, which showed him as a soul balladeer. With the end of the decade he was established as a hitmaker ("Wonderful World, Beautiful People," "Many Rivers To Cross," and his cover of Cat Stevens's "Wild World" all charted) and a songwriter, penning for Desmond Dekker ("You Can Get It If you Really Want"), the Pioneers ("Let You Yeah Be Yeah"), and even venturing into the political arena with "Vietnam," which Bob Dylan described as "the best protest song ever written."

Cliff decided to return to Jamaica, and change his image by making Another Cycle in Muscle Shoals, one of the homes of soul music, in 1971. However, the world wasn't ready for a reggae star going soul (that would have to wait for Toots in Memphis a few years later), and the record stiffed. Instead he turned to acting, starring in writer/director Perry Henzell's film The Harder They Come.

The movie arrived in theaters in 1972, and Island released the soundtrack album, which featured Cliff singing the title song, which was also the lead single. Rumors circulated that the 45 never became a hit because Island ignored store requests for more stock to prevent its success, in an attempt to make the reluctant Cliff sign a further one-year option with the label; they were offering 14,000GBP, and he was asking 20,000 (in 1973 Cliff wouls sign with EMI in the U.K., and Warner Bros. In the U.S.).

More than anything before it, The Harder They Came brought reggae and Jamaica to global attention, without any concessions to the mass market. The characters all spoke in patois, virtually incomprehensible to non-native ears, telling the story of a rude boy's rise and fall in Kingston. The ghettoes were truthfully portrayed. The soundtrack steered clear of the pop-reggae sound. While half of the album's twelve tracks were from Cliff, the others were a selection of reggae classics - "Rivers Of Babylon" (Melodians), "007 (Shanty Town)" (Desmond Dekker), "Pressure Drop" (Toots and the Maytals), and of the greatest rude boy anthems, the Slickers' "Johnny Too Bad." It was reggae at its unvarnished best, not sweetened in any attempt to win over new fans.

Between chart success and the film, reggae how had recognition. What it needed was one person to bring together the disparate elements - songwriting, musicianship, and image - that could fully establish reggae both commercially and critically. It seemed like a tall order, but the person was already there.

In 1972 the Wailers, with the Barrett brothers now part of the band, moved to England to work for johnny Nash. Marley had preceded the others, to work with Nash on the score of a Swedish film starring Nash (it was never released). Once ensconced in a cheap London hotel, the Wailers became the backup band for Nash's I Can See Clearly Now album, and Marley signed a contract with CBS, who issued his "Reggae On Broadway." Nash's promotion man, Brent Clarke, worked the single hard, but with no record company support, it only sold 3000 copies. Soon Clarke was expending all his energies on the Wailers, moving them into a house which became a focal point for young black musicians.

When Nash left England for America, Clarke began work at Island, and gave Blackwell a demo tape of songs Marley had written for Nash. Blackwell was familiar with them, and had once considered signing them to Island, before being dissuaded by their difficult reputation. Now Island were looking for a reggae artist to replace Cliff, and the Wailers were in danger of being deported. The timing was perfect for a deal.

For the meager sum of 8000GBP, and the right to release their own records in the Caribbean, the Wailers became Island recording artists (actually for the second time - Island had issued "Put It On" in 1965). Borrowing money from Clarke, who'd brokered the deal, they returned to Jamaica to record. At Dynamic Studios in Kingston, the tracks that made up Catch A Fire were laid down, using not only the band, but also some session men, including Robbie Shakespeare and Tyrone Downey.

When Marley (who at this stage did not have dreadlocks) delivered the tapes to Blackwell in the winter of 1972, Blackwell could sense the potential. With the right push, it could break reggae into the mainstream. However, the sound was still too Jamaican, and so guitarist Al Perkins and keyboard player Rabbit Bundrick were drafted in. The finished album had both a rootsy feel and a fine rock sheen.

Island put a lot of marketing muscle behind Catch A Fire. It came in a die-cut cover with guaranteed eye appeal. The disc, and the band, received a great deal of press, and toured Europe and America; in New York, they played a week at Max's Kanasa City, doing three 30-minute sets a night. But a winter tour of the U.K. was abandoned, ostensibly because of the cold.

The three core members of the Wailers had been together for a decade, but with the flowering of real success, cracks in the unity began appearing. Blackwell had formed a strong working relationship with Marley, and was pushing him as the leader of the group, something neither Tosh nor Wailer fully understood. But Tosh, who once pulled a machete on Blackwell, was notoriously volatile and Wailer, still the only Rasta in the band, refused to sign agreements and contracts, a nightmare for both label and management.

Even with Island's might and money, Catch A Fire didn't make international stars of the Wailers. The white rock world need more time to absorb the new phenomenon (acceptance really came with Eric Clapton's cover of Marley's "I Shot The Sheriff"). But it was the record that became the foundation for reggae to become a global phenomenon.

The Elements of Reggae

Reggae is always played in 4/4 or swing time as the symmetrical rhythm pattern does not lend itself to 3/4. Harmonically the music is often very simple – sometimes a whole track will have no more than one or two chords. “Exodus” by Bob Marley and the Wailers” for example is basically just A-minor all the way through. These simple repetitious chord structures add to the deeply hypnotic effect that reggae often has However, Bob Marley also wrote more complex chord structures and Steel Pulse for example often use very complex chord structures.

Drums

A standard drum kit is generally used but the snare drum is often tuned very high to give it a timbale-type sound. Some reggae drummers use a separate additional timbale or high-tuned snare to get this sound. Rim shots on the snare are commonly used, and toms are often incorporated into the drumbeat itself.

Reggae drumbeats fall into three main categories: One Drop, Rockers and Steppers. In the one drop, the emphasis is entirely on the third beat of the bar while the first beat of the bar is completely empty. This empty first beat is extremely unusual in popular music and is one of the defining characteristics of reggae. The bass will often leave this beat empty too. In fact, even in reggae drumbeats where the first beat is played like the rockers beat, the bass will still often leave empty space on beat one. Perhaps the best known exponent of this style of drumming was Carlton Barrett of The Wailers who is credited with inventing it.

In the Bob Marley and the Wailers song, one drop, named after the drumbeat, you can hear many of these elements including the hi-tuned snare, rim shots and the empty first beat. The bass also misses that first beat on every other bar in this song. Carlton Barrett also often used an unusual triplet cross-rhythm on the hi-hat and this can be heard on many recordings by Bob Marley and the Wailers - and example would be "Running Away" on the Kaya album.

The emphasis on beat three (usually played on the snare or as a rim shot) is in all reggae drumbeats but in the rockers beat the emphasis is also on beat one (usually played on the bass drum). A classic example would be on “Night Nurse” by Gregory Isaacs. The drums were played by Lincoln Scott of the Roots Radics band. The beat is not always straight forward though and various syncopations are often used to add interest. An example of this would be the Black Uhuru track “Sponji Reggae” in which the drums are played by Sly Dunbar.

In Steppers, the bass drum plays four solid beats to the bar giving the beat an insistant drive. A classic example would be “Exodus” by Bob Marley and the Wailers, played by Carlton Barrett. Here again you can hear his unusual triplet cross-rhythm on the hi-hat. The steppers beat was also often used (at a much higher tempo) by some of the ska bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Examples would include “Stand Down Margaret” by The Beat and “Too Much Too Young” by The Specials.

Another unusual characteristic of reggae drumming is that the drum fills often do not end with a climactic cymbal unlike in rock and pop.

Bass

In reggae the bass guitar plays an extremely significant role and is often the defining feature of a track. The drum and bass line to a reggae track is often called the “riddim”; this term can also include other rhythm instruments but it is usually the bass line that does the most to set one riddim apart from another. One illustration of the importance of the riddim in reggae is the fact that in Jamaica, several reggae singers could all release a different song sung over the same riddim.

The central role of bass in reggae can also be heard in dub which is effectively just the drum and bass line with the other instruments, including the vocals, reduced to a peripheral role, cutting or fading in and out with big echoes attached to them. In most other western popular music the intro leads you to a the vocal which forms the main feature of the track. In dub the roles are typically reversed with the intro leading you to the drum and bass line.

The actual bass sound in reggae is thick and heavy and EQ’d so that the upper frequencies are removed and the lower frequencies emphasised. The bass line is often a two-bar riff that centres around its thickest and heaviest note – the other notes often serve simply to lead you towards the bassiest note. A classic example of this would be “Sun is Shining” by Bob Marley and the Wailers. The bass was played by Aston Barrett, brother of drummer, Carlton Barrett and one of the masters of reggae bass playing.

Rhythm Guitar

The rhythm guitar usually plays the chords on the off-beat (beats two and four from a 4/4 rhythm) with a very damped, short and scratchy chop sound. It serves almost as a percussion instrument. Sometimes a double chop is used where the guitar still plays beats two and four but also plays the following 8th beats on the up-stroke. A typical example can be heard on the intro to “Stir it Up” by The Wailers.

Piano

The piano also usually plays chords on the off beats in a staccato style adding body and warmth to the rhythm guitar though both instruments might typically play extra beats, runs and riffs here and there to add interest and interplay.

Organ

The reggae-organ shuffle is unique to reggae. Typically a Hammond organ-type sound is used to play the chords with a choppy feel. Beats one and three are not played - if you imagine a count of “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and”, the organ plays “_ and 2 and _ and 4 and”. The left hand plays the “ands” and the right hand plays the numbers so you get “_LRL_LRL”. This is another example of the empty space on a primary beat one in reggae. The part is often quite low in the mix and is more felt than heard but a good example would be “Natural Mystic” by Bob Marley and the Wailers. The organ part comes in 42 seconds into the song with the line “This could be the first trumpet”. Another example where it can be clearly heard would be “Is This Love” by the same band. The Organ often also plays melodic runs and extra beats.

Lead guitar

The lead guitar will often add a rock or blues style melodic solo to a track but most of the time it plays the same part as the bass line, an octave up with a very damped and picky sound. This helps add some definition to the bass line which is usually devoid of any upper frequencies as well as emphasising the all important bass melody. Sometimes, instead of following the bass exactly, the guitar will play a counter-melody.

Horns

Horn sections are frequently used in reggae playing intros and counter-melodies. A three-part horn section with Sax, trumpet and trombone would be typical.

Other Percussion

A wide range of percussion instruments is used. Bongos are perhaps the most significant and will often play free, improvised patterns right through the track with heavy use of African-type cross-rhythms. Other percussion instruments like cowbells , claves and shakers tend to have more defined roles playing a set pattern throughout the song.

Vocals

The defining characteristics of reggae tend to come from the music rather than the vocal melody that is sung to it and almost any song can be performed in a reggae style. Vocal harmony parts are often used either throughout the melody as with vocal harmony bands like The Mighty Diamonds or as counterpoint to the main vocal as can be heard with Bob Marley and the Wailers backing vocalists, the I-Threes. The British reggae band “Steel Pulse used particularly complex backing vocals.

One vocal style that is peculiar to reggae is “toasting”. This started when DJ’s improvised along to dub tracks and it is thought to be the precursor of rap. It differs from rap mainly in that it has melodic content while rap is more a spoken form and generally has no melodic content.

Roots reggae

Roots reggae is the name given to explicitly Rastafarian reggae: a spiritual type of music whose lyrics are predominantly in praise of Jah (God). Recurrent lyrical themes include poverty and resistance to government oppression. The creative pinnacle of roots reggae may have been in the late 1970s, with singers such as Burning Spear, Johnny Clarke, Horace Andy, Barrington Levy, and Linval Thompson teaming up with studio producers including Lee 'Scratch' Perry, King Tubby, and Coxsone Dodd. The experimental pioneering of producers within often-restrictive technological parameters gave birth to dub music, which has been considered one of the earliest contributions to the developments of Techno music. Differences between ska and reggea music: Reggae is much slower than ska - you will probably find yourself tapping eight quavers, rather than four crotchets, to the bar in reggae. In ska music the more prominent instruments are horns, e.g. saxophone or trumpet, but in reggae the guitars are the more important instrument. In ska a walking bassline is generally used while in reggae the bass lines are short (usually 2 bar) melodic phrases or riffs.

Newer styles and spin-offs

In Jamaica, newer styles of reggae have become popular; among them, dancehall and ragga (also known as raggamuffin). The toasting style first used by artists such as U-Roy and Dillinger had a worldwide impact when Jamaican DJ Kool Herc used it to pioneer a new genre that became known as hip hop and rap. In Jamaica, the term Dee Jay or DJ is equivalent to the rapper or MC in American hip hop culture. Mixing techniques employed in dub music (an instrumental sub-genre of reggae) have influenced hip hop and the musical style known as drum and bass. Another new style is new reggae, made popular by the ska band Sublime.

Lyrical themes

Lyrics often discuss repression of many kinds, including that linked with the prohibition of ganja (cannabis), which is considered a sacrament by some but not all Rastafarians.

Some of the lyrical themes in reggae music have been viewed as controversial. The most controversial of these themes have been cannabis and homophobia. Other topics that have been seen as controversial include: black/African militancy, anti-racism, misogyny, anti-colonialism, anti-capitalism, criticism of political systems, and criticism of the colonial education system. Some of these themes — like marijuana use — have been prevalent in reggae music throughout the history of the music, whilst others — such as homophobia — are a more recent phenomenon. Dancehall music has also included themes of violence, sexism, and misogyny.

Cannabis

The promotion of cannabis use (through lyrics, images and lifestyle) has been a staple of reggae since its inception. The prominence of marijuana in reggae music primarily stems from the Rastafarian religion. Some practitioners consider marijuana use a sacrament. Jamaica, incidentally, has some of the harshest anti-marijuana laws in the world. Bob Marley's Catch a Fire album cover, showing him smoking a spliff, was controversial at the time the album was first issued. Peter Tosh often performed with a spliff in hand, and lobbied for the decriminalization of marijuana. His most famous song is titled "Legalize It", and he was imprisoned multiple times in Jamaica for marijuana possession.

Homophobia

Dancehall music has come under increased criticism from Jamaican and international organizations for homophobic lyrics. Dancehall music has incited instances of gay bashing. ^{[citation needed]} Anti-homosexual themes have been associated with dancehall music throughout its history. To some degree, these themes stem from the anti-homosexual (though not necessarily violent)^{[citation needed]} sentiment of Jamaicans in general. Homosexual activity is illegal in Jamaica, as in most former British colonies in the Caribbean (see LGBT rights in Jamaica). J-FLAG, a Jamaican gay rights organization, has described homophobic lyrics as a "widespread cultural bias against homosexuals and bisexuals." The dancehall artists in question believe that legal or commercial sanctions are essentially an attack against freedom of speech.^{[citation needed]}

The increased criticism of dancehall music by international organisations is often attributed to the increased international exposure of the music, especially with regards to international media and the Internet. Dancehall has always included themes of not only homophobia, but of violence, sexism, and misogyny as well, which have come under their share of criticism.

Reggae music festivals

• Reggae Sunsplash, Ocho Rios, Jamaica,
• Reggae Sumfest, Montego Bay, Jamaica
• Soča Reggae Riversplash, Tolmin, Slovenia,
• Notting Hill Carnival, London, UK
• Uppsala Reggae Festival, Sweden

Music samples

Buffalo Soldier - Bob Marley

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Manuel, Peter, with Kenneth Bilby and Michael Largey. Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae (2nd edition). Temple University Press, 2006. ISBN 1-59213-463-7. 
• O'Brien, Kevin & Chen, Wayne (1998). Reggae Routes: The Story of Jamaican Music. Ian Randle Publishers. ISBN 976-8100-67-2. 
• Larkin, Colin (ed.) (1998). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae. Virgin. ISBN 0-7535-0242-9. 
• Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004 for the 3rd edition). The Rough Guide to Reggae. Rough Guides. ISBN 1-84353-329-4. 
• Morrow, Chris (1999). Stir It Up: Reggae Cover Art. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-28154-8. 
• Jahn, Brian & Weber, Tom (1998). Reggae Island: Jamaican Music in the Digital Age. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80853-6. 
• Hurford, Ray (ed.) (1987). More Axe. Erikoispaino Oy. ISBN 951-99841-4-3. 
• Potash, Chris (ed.) (1997). Reggae, Rasta, Revolution: Jamaican Music from Ska to Dub. Schirmer Books. ISBN 0-8256-7212-0. 
• Baek, Henrik & Hedegard, Hans (1999). Dancehall Explosion, Reggae Music Into the Next Millennium. Samler Borsen Publishing, Denmark. ISBN 87-981684-3-6. 
• Katz, David (2000). People Funny Boy: The Genius of Lee Scratch Perry. Payback Press, UK. ISBN 0-86241-854-2. 
• Lesser, Beth (2002). King Jammy's. ECW Press. ISBN 1-55022-525-1. 
• Stolzoff, Norman C. (2000). Wake The Town And Tell The People. Duke University Press, USA. ISBN 0-8223-2514-4. 
• Davis, Stephen & Simon, Peter (1979). Reggae Bloodlines: In Search of the Music and Culture of Jamaica. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80496-4. 
• Katz, David (2003). Solid Foundation - An Oral history of Reggae. Bloomsburry, UK. ISBN 1-58234-143-5. 
• de Koningh, Michael & Cane-Honeysett, Laurence (2003). Young Gifted and Black - The Story of Trojan Records. Sanctuary Publishing, UK. ISBN 1-86074-464-8. 
• de Koeningh, Michael & Griffiths, Marc (2003). Tighten Up - The History of Reggae in the UK. Sanctuary Publishing, UK. ISBN 1-86074-559-8. 
• Bradley, Lloyd (2001). When Reggae Was King. Penguin Books Ltd, UK. ISBN 0-14-023763-1. 

External links

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