Jamaican music legends

Music has always been an important factor in the lives of Jamaicans and other West Indians. Jamaican music comes from an African foundation, influenced by the music of Europe, especially England & France. The great-great grandparent of Reggae is mento, a loose-sounding folk music, sometimes confused with calypso, a Trinidad-born music. Mento's lyrical food is topical issues.

By the 1950s Jamaican youth were more interested in listening to American pop music, popularized by radio and sound systems - portable dance machines that were to change the face of Jamaican music.

Ska combines the catchy backbeat of New Orleans- style R&B and mento. Many early ska songs were covers of popular American songs. Typically ska drums stress beats 2 & 4 over a "walking" quarter-note bass, with the guitar stiking the offbeats in a syncopated mento style. Ska's tempo was especially appealing to the restless Jamaican youth, and was always the music of the poor. read more klik at www.jamaican-legends.blogspot.com