To follow on from our last blog about skins here is a small read about Ska which was music for the British mods and skinheads. If you didn’t know Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 50’s and early 60’s and was precursor to rock steady and reggae, combining elements from Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz, rhythm & blues.
You can define Ska with a walking bassline with rhythm on the beat, and the likes of Stranger Cole, Prince Buster, Clement Coxsone Dodd and Duke Reid formed sound systems to play R n B and began to record their own songs. Typical characteristics of Ska are rock instruments plus horns, melodic tradeoff between singers and horn sections, 4/4 time signature and lyrics focused on social justice.
Ska was divided into three periods of original Jamaican in the 60’s, then 2 tone Ska revival of the late 70’s in Britain infusing Jamaican Ska with faster tempos with harder edge of punk rock forming Ska-Punk. The third wave of Ska came in the 80’s & 90’s with more of a world wide range.
The fashion of Ska music was influenced by the mods, skins and the gangster styles of the 60’s. Wearing polished black shoes or boots, straight cut trousers or jeans with the same high ankle style that the skinheads adopted, revealing white cotton socks, also combining button down shirts with skinny ties, braces and polos , Harrington’s, bomber jackets, two tone tonic fabrics, tweeds, prince of wales check and dog tooth patterns, Dr martins, monkey boots, desert boots, and winkle pickers all made this look possible.
For many music and cups of tea make the world go round so thanks to Ska music. This was a great era for music and lifestyle.
Style, Quality, and British heritage, it’s a way of life.
A personal shout out to Keith and Chrissy that always look the part. x