Though it's difficult to imagine, ska and reggae may never have come to the world's attention—or would at least have taken radically different paths—were it not for the Island Records label, which ...

A look at the new book In Defense Of Ska and a network of artists giving the oft-maligned genre a fresh burst of life When Aaron Carnes began research for his book nearly a decade ago, he didn’t ...

Ska is one of the longest-running styles of popular music, and it has a rich history, one that spans over half a century, six continents, and countless examples of cultural exchange. It was born in ...

When Jerry Dammers formed The Specials AKA and their label 2-Tone in 1979 he set out a totally different form of classic Jamaican Ska and gave Ska a whole new lease of life. This collection of 69 ...

For casual fans and newcomers to the music of Jamaica (a growing number, given the popularity of the BBC / France 2 TV mystery series Death in Paradise and its Jamaican-infused soundtrack), the ...

Though it's difficult to imagine, ska and reggae may never have come to the world's attention—or would at least have taken radically different paths—were it not for the Island Records label, which ...

Ska emerged in Jamaica as a kind of ham-fisted combination of American rhythm and blues and Caribbean folk styles, such as calypso and mento, in the late '50s, but it flourished after the former ...