I've heard many times that reggae music what created by slowing down the ska beat by a too hot summer for the sake of dancers. I'm aware of the deep link between carribean musics and dance, so can it be true? If not, what was the possible reason?

  • independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/… - look at this link 'The ska was a little too fast and suddenly they started to play rocksteady, and somehow it started to get too slow for the dancers' - similar reason . . . – Pat Dobson Apr 22 '15 at 13:10

Jamaica - A land where many cultures came together mostly through slavery from the Spaniards and the Brits. Many people started hiding in the jungles to avoid them.

Dj's and Musicians at that time took a liking to Rhythm and Blues. They would even go to New Orleans where it was popular, buy records and take them back to Jamaica. RnB is rather slow paced and so they blended both local folk, traditional native sounds (Anglos and Indians) and RnB, ultimately sped up to satisfy the people who liked to dance. Mostly instrumental and when they did add words they toned down the more sad wording of RnB. Sped up, when DJ's did sing, their voices tended to be high pitched in tone.

Ska was born.

Freedom was a big idea and embraced. Economic misery poverty was usually not far behind. Things took a turn and people were not in a "dancing mood" any longer. They started to sing about struggles as blues did and they slowed the tempo down.

Rocksteady comes along.

Djs and singers were now adding choral harmonies and lyrics. They combined this with the sounds of the music from the prior 20 years.

Reggay(Reggae) arrives on the scene.

In 1968 - Toots and the Maytals used it for the first time in their Rocksteady hit: “Do the Reggay: Watch the video on YT.

It is said this is when Reggay was born.

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