Reggae
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Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s.
While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady. Reggae is based on a rhythmic style characterized by accents on the off-beat, known as the skank. Reggae is normally slower than ska but faster than rocksteady. Reggae usually accents the second and fourth beat in each bar, with the rhythm guitar also either emphasising the third beat or holding the chord on the second beat until the fourth is played. It is mainly this "third beat", its speed and the use of complex bass lines that differentiated reggae from rock steady, although later styles incorporated these innovations separately.
Reggae song lyrics deal with many subjects, including religion, love, sexuality, peace, relationships, poverty, injustice and other social and political issues. Contents * 1 Etymology * 2 Precursors * 3 History * 4 Musical characteristics * 4.1 Drums and other percussion * 4.2 Bass * 4.3 Guitars * 4.4 Keyboards * 4.5 Horns * 4.6 Vocals * 4.6.1 Lyrical themes * 4.6.1.1 Criticism of dancehall and ragga lyrics * 5 Subgenres * 5.1 Early reggae * 5.2 Roots reggae * 5.3 Dub * 5.4 Rockers * 5.5 Lovers rock * 5.6 Newer styles and spin-offs * 5.6.1 Hip hop and rap * 5.6.2 Dancehall * 5.6.3 Reggaeton * 5.6.4 Reggae fusion * 5.6.5 Spanish Reggae * 6 Footnotes * 7 Bibliography * 8 See also * 9 External links |
[edit] Etymology

Toots Hibbert, lead singer of the Maytals.
The 1967 edition of the Dictionary of Jamaican English lists reggae as "a recently estab. sp. for rege", as in rege-rege, a word