Reggae/Ska

A music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican dance music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style and sound that evolved out of the earlier genres of ska and rocksteady. Stylistically, reggae incorporates some of the musical elements of rhythm and blues (R&B), jazz, mento, calypso, African, and Latin American music, as well as other genres. One of the most easily recognizable elements is offbeat rhythms; staccato chords played by a guitar or piano (or both) on the offbeats of the measure, often referred to as the skank. The tempo of reggae is usually slower than ska and rocksteady. It is this slower tempo, the guitar/piano offbeats, the emphasis on the third beat, and the use of syncopated, melodic bass lines that differentiate reggae from other music, although other musical styles have incorporated some of these innovations. Harmonically the music is essentially the same as any other modern popular genre with a tendency to make use of simple chord progressions.

Associated Sub-Genres: Ska, Rocksteady, Dub, Dancehall, Raggamuffin, Reggaeton, Reggae Fusion

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggae