Define 'ska' for me.?

Question

I know it's a type or genre or style of music, but I've no clue what it's like. What does it sound like?

Answer 1

Ska is a type of Jamaican music combining elements of traditional mento and calypso with an American jazz and rhythm and blues sound. It is notable for its shuffling, scratchlike tempo and jazz-like horn riffs on the offbeat.
Ska music was made for dancing. The music is upbeat, quick and exciting. Musically, ska can be characterized with a drumbeat on the 2nd and 4th beats (in 4/4 time) and with the guitar hitting the 2nd, 3rd and 4th beats. Traditional ska bands generally featured bass, drums, guitars, keyboards and horns (with sax, trombone and trumpet being most common).

There is such a thing as SKA PUNK music. It is a musical fusion of ska with punk rock. Some examples of ska punk are Operation Ivy (formed Rancid), Choking Victim, Leftöver Crack and The Suicide Machines.

Answer 2

Ska is a type of Jamaican music combining elements of traditional mento and calypso with an American jazz and rhythm and blues sound. It is notable for its shuffling, scratchlike tempo and jazz-like horn riffs on the offbeat.

Originating in Jamaica, possibly in the 1950s, it was a precursor to rocksteady and later reggae. It was the predominant form of music listened to by rude boys, although many ska artists condemned the violent subculture. It is also popular with mods and skinheads, with artists such as Symarip, Laurel Aitken, Desmond Dekker and The Pioneers aiming songs at these groups as early as the 1960s.

Musical historians typically divide the history of ska into three waves. There was revival of note in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and another wave of popularity in the 1990s, mostly based in the United States.

Answer 3

Ska is a type of Jamaican music combining elements of traditional mento and calypso with an American jazz and rhythm and blues sound. It is notable for its shuffling, scratchlike tempo and jazz-like horn riffs on the offbeat.

Originating in Jamaica, possibly in the 1950s, it was a precursor to rocksteady and later reggae. It was the predominant form of music listened to by rude boys, although many ska artists condemned the violent subculture. It is also popular with mods and skinheads, with artists such as Symarip, Laurel Aitken, Desmond Dekker and The Pioneers aiming songs at these groups as early as the 1960s.

Musical historians typically divide the history of ska into three waves. There was revival of note in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and another wave of popularity in the 1990s, mostly based in the United States.

Answer 4

Lol....Everybody just copied and pasted from Wikipedia. They don't know a damn thing about ska. Ska started in the '60s in Jamaica as a response to rock'n'roll music from the U.S. The defining aspects of ska is the emphasis of the "upbeat," as opposed to rock's emphasis on the downbeat. Traditionally ska incorporates the use of horns, but they aren't essential in playing ska, as it is based on the rhythm, not the instrumentation. Some of the early Jamaican ska pioneers include Desmond Dekker, The Skatalites, King Tubby, and Bob Marley & The Wailers (they started out as a ska band, but later slowed the tempo down and created reggae. Reggae is just an offshoot of ska.)

Over the years, there have been different "waves" of ska music The first wave was in Jamaica, in the 60s and 70s. The 2nd wave was primarily centered in England during the 80s. The 2nd wave is also commonly referred to as two-tone. Two-tone ska was generally a little faster, and a little goofier. Some popular bands from the 2nd wave include The Specials, The English Beat, Madness (they did the song "Our House"), and The Toasters (who are from the states, where as the others were from Great Britain).
Towards the end of the eighties, a lot of punk bands in the states began incorporating ska music into their music. Some of the first bands to do this were Skankin' Pickle and Operation Ivy. I'm not sure who the first band to do this was, though. This practice became pretty popular, and by the early 90s, a new wave had emerged. While the ska/punk 3rd wave was centered in the U.S., it had a much more global and main stream reach than the previous 2 waves, and had a big scene in Japan. (It must be noted that not all ska bands during the 3rd wave were ska/punk bands). Popular ska/punk bands include Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, and Voodoo Glow Skulls. Popular 3rd wave bands that weren't really punk bands, but more traditional include Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Mustard Plug, The Pietasters, The Slackers, and Hepcat. During this time some punk bands, like NOFX and Rancid (which featured 2 members of Operation Ivy), who had not previously played ska started playing it.

More recently there has been a trend towards playing more traditional style ska. A fourth wave may be on the rise, with the most popular new ska band being The Aggrolites.

Answer 5

Ska is a type of Jamaican music combining elements of traditional mento and calypso with an American jazz and rhythm and blues sound. It is notable for its shuffling, scratchlike tempo and jazz-like horn riffs on the offbeat.

Originating in Jamaica, possibly in the 1950s, it was a precursor to rocksteady and later reggae. It was the predominant form of music listened to by rude boys, although many ska artists condemned the violent subculture. It is also popular with mods and skinheads, with artists such as Symarip, Laurel Aitken, Desmond Dekker and The Pioneers aiming songs at these groups as early as the 1960s.

Musical historians typically divide the history of ska into three waves. There was revival of note in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and another wave of popularity in the 1990s, mostly based in the United States.

SKA PUNK is a mixture of Ska and punk music

Answer 6

Ska is a type of Jamaican music combining elements of traditional mento and calypso with an American jazz and rhythm and blues sound. It is notable for its shuffling, scratchlike tempo and jazz-like horn riffs on the offbeat.

Originating in Jamaica, possibly in the 1950s, it was a precursor to rocksteady and later reggae. It was the predominant form of music listened to by rude boys, although many ska artists condemned the violent subculture. It is also popular with mods and skinheads, with artists such as Symarip, Laurel Aitken, Desmond Dekker and The Pioneers aiming songs at these groups as early as the 1960s.

Musical historians typically divide the history of ska into three waves. There was revival of note in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and another wave of popularity in the 1990s, mostly based in the United States.

Answer 7

check the histroy of it
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 or piano striking 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.
sound liks horns and stuff

Answer 8

I LOVE ska!

The first wave of ska (think Desmond Dekker, Skatalites, very early Bob Marley), which originated in Jamaica, sounds like faster reggae (it precedes reggae by about a decade). It still has the same sound as reggae but often has more brass instruments (trumpets, trombones, and more).

2nd wave ska or, 2tone as it's often called, mostly originated in England with The Specials (the 2tone reference comes from this band) and The English Beat aka The Beat. It was called 2tone because of the surprising racial harmony seen in the bands (often these bands had black AND white members in them despite the racial unrest in Britain at the time), the beat and from the suits the original jamaican rudeboys (fans of ska are still called rudeboy/rudegirl to this day) wore. 2nd wave ska sounds like fast reggae as well but was the first to incorporate punk into it's sound because it was being formed in the late '70's/early '80's.

3rd wave ska (think Fishbone, some very early No Doubt, Operation Ivy and almost any "ska" band out now) is a mix of fast punk (2nd wave ska has slower more traditional punk sounds) and original ska. It is what people think of NOW as ska. It really took root in the early/mid 90's. So think fast reggae and raw fast punk combined.

American ska tends to be more funny/hilarious/borderline cynical. European ska tends to be more serious/political, though I have heard serious American ska and very funny European ska.

There is a belief that a fourth wave is coming, maybe mixed with more hip hop sounds, but it hasn't been proven yet.

I included all the waves because you CAN still hear the different types. I have a radio station that plays a punk/ska night every thursday and they play all waves, including very early skatalites and very recent 311 (which is pop 3rd wave ska).

Hope that helps.

Ska even has it's own dance which is called skankin'. It's a very interesting dance.

The most prominent things about ska is that there are 3 waves, the checkerboard symbolizes 2tone (racial harmony), lots of people skank at ska concerts, it 99% of the time contains brass instruments, and that the ska out now is a mix of fast punk and original ska.

Answer 9

Ska was big in the eighties - it is basically reggae influenced rock music. The British did it best, bands like UB40, The Specials, British Beat, early Madness. It is top notch music and great for dance clubs.

Answer 10

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