An overview of the genre

Unlike some of the more short-lived genres examined in this book, reggae has been in existence since at least the late 1960s, and still thrives today. Originally a purely Jamaican form, reggae can now be found throughout the world, and is particularly popular in Africa and with Jamaican diasporic communities in America and Britain. In many respects, reggae is a truly global form that is characteristic of musical developments in the postcolonial world. In other respects, reggae is a unique and peculiarly localised phenomenon, with all major shifts in its development emanating from a small Caribbean island.

Like much of Jamaican popular culture, reggae is a ‘syncretic’ form that draws upon African and European forms. Percussion, rhythm and a counter-ideological aesthetic of Afrocentricity are drawn from African musical discourses, while from Europe come vocal styles, lyrical content and melodic and harmonic structures. Add Jamaica's penchant for American jazz and R&B, along with the massive influence of an essentially syncretic religion (Rastafarianism), and we have a fascinating musical form that has shifted and mutated for forty years, yet still retains many core thematic and musical features.

The most important driving force of reggae is the Jamaican dancehall. The vast majority of stylistic changes in the development of reggae (with the exception of the international success of Bob Marley and the roots reggae style) originated with changes at the level of Jamaica's three hundred or so outdoor soundsystems. These soundsystems consist of a selector (analogous to the European or American DJ), a deejay (analogous to the rap or garage MC), one or two record decks, amplifying equipment and banks of speakers. These soundsystems date back to the 1940s when the development of amplification equipment allowed the soundsystem to usurp the jazz band as the dominant mode of distribution of music within Jamaica. The soundsystem soon became synonymous with Jamaican popular culture, and competition between soundsystems is the ‘dynamo’ of reggae culture. The search for new sounds and rhythms to entertain soundsystem patrons led to the development of reggae precursors such as ska and rocksteady, as well as subsequent subgenres of reggae such as rockers, deejay version, dub and dancehall.