Teach me how to SKA

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Permalink Reply by Wankyone on October 11, 2011 at 9:43pm

Heya Fiona, how goes?  Ska is the style of music that actually existed before reggae; however skanking is the act of dancing to ska.  one who skanks or cuts a rug is dancing to some of the best upbeat music.  Original ska came about in the 50s and 60s.  The ska movement and style became a perfect match for British mods and experienced a British modification, if I can play on words.  The skinhead style was also adopted in the 60s and 70s due to Jamaican immigrants seeking work and finding it in factories.  The industrial attire was tight fitting clothes and short hair for safety reasons around machinery.  The ska and reggae sounds brought by the Jamaicans to northern industrial England was adored by the already musically cultured Brits.  You might want to look up the song "Skinhead Moonstomp",  sung by Symarip of the Pyramids or the Bees.  He also had a song called "Skinhead Girl".  Both songs sung by a a Jamaican  from England.  I emphasize this skinhead style for proper history reasons and not to be confused with racist skinheads.  An interesting movie to watch is "This Is England" for style and the early 80s, in which the ska movement carried on through.  The sound also seeped into the U.S.A. and Canada in the forms of punk ska, skater ska or more traditional sounding ska by bands like the Slackers from Brooklyn N.Y.  

I really hope this helps and you look up these references or at least watch the movie trailer.  

 

Get skankin,

James

 

P.S. my site name of Wankyone is along side of my friend skankyone to clear up that. 

Permalink Reply by Fiona on October 13, 2011 at 12:20am

Hey James,

 

Thanks so much for replying back so promptly AND proving such good information. Do you know if there would be any live performances coming up in the next few months in the GTA that I could go to? I was also wondering if you would be up to being interviewed (I'll ask questions like: why do you listen to ska? Is it the instrumental, the lyrics or both?).

 

Once again thanks :D