Social science and Ska?

After taking the time to watch numerous ska videos, speak to the bands and attend local gigs I have decided to come to a conclusion on my project.

It seems to be as if Ska has incorperated alot of Sarah Thornton's Subcultural Theory, as the music is rebellious to the mainstream and has connections with working class as well as Scottish Party/Dancing subculture.

The music also has alot in common with Theodor Adorno's views on music being a distraction from work and being used for leisure time. Ska music and its upbeat tempo has the ability to allow people to escape from their modern day working lives and go back to a place where community and friends, not unlike the traditional ceilidh in a way are important to Scottish people.

Interview with Root System

In trying to figure out what makes ska music appealing to scots, I decided to ask Root System the brief question of:

'What in your opinion makes Ska music so appealing to Scottish people?'

The reply I received was: 

We love playing ska cos it makes us go mental and forget everything an it does the same tae the crowd if they want it.Its no hard tae get scottish folk up fer a party just add sambuca an some root toot toot system.
braw.'

This response makes it seem to me as if it is almost a working class thing, as from the context of the reply, root system are very much down to earth and would not consider ska to be an exclusive thing. I would not imagine that the upper class would be extremely interested in drinking and the need to 'forget everything', which makes it seem to me as if the working class use Ska for a party and to forget their income troubles, and work. 

Ska Fashion

Classic Example of the two-tone Ska Fashion, which like the punk subculture, embraces the use of braces, Dr Martins, and the skin-head look.

Baggy Troosers

Why Ska?

This post hopes to determine what makes Ska music stand out from other forms of popular music and maybe act as an insight into the genres constant popularity.

Megan Romer, who writes the article on the about.com link given on my last post states that,

'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).'

When listening to popular Ska songs such as 'Baggy Trousers' by The Madness, you can hear a good example of what Romer refers to as a 'characterized drumbeat' and a prominent horn section. The Ska culture is in fact very much defined by its dancing appeal, even owning it's own dance, which is referred to as 'Skanking' which can be viewed here:

The upbeat rhythms of the Ska songs, help to provide a very energetic atmosphere, which could arguably in my opinion, reflect

the positive energy of a party, this mixed with alcohol, I imagine, would help create quite a good atmosphere for dancing in.

Ska was seen to have a positive effect during the racial tensions in Britain in the 70s and it helped unify musicians of every culture and race

as well as allow listeners to mix in a positive environment.

The party-like atmosphere is in my opinion, the key element to the Ska movement, as the music makes you feel fresh and energetic,

making you want to dance and the dancing releases the endorphins that make you happy and create a positive environment

for everyone to interact in.

Other genres of music, despite offering upbeat songs, can tend to be aggressive, such as metal or club music,

which with a mixture of drugs or alcohol can lead to more negative interaction between gig-goers, Ska on the other hand,

is very difficult to be aggressive as most of the songs, despite being influenced by the 'rude-boy' sub-culture,

which was destructive and featured american-gangster style fashions, are still held by very non-aggressive sounding instruments,

such as a very fast chopping guitar and horns, which arguably could be used in an aggressive form but rarely are in Ska music.

Where did Ska come from and how did it originate?

Firstly, the delay in this post has been due to both business and lack of internet access but now that I am back on track I can continue my quest!

I thought that maybe the best way to try and decipher why Ska is on the rise in the Scottish Music Scene at the moment, would be to look at where and how Ska originated and then look at the attitudes and attributes that belong to the genre and how they can be weighed up against social factors in Scotland at the moment.

This post hopes to look at the origins of Ska music

After a bit of dilly-dallying on the internet, I found the most straight-forward definition of the genre to be present on Wikipedia, which although not recommended to be used as factual information due to the ability of the all members to add to the article, it is very helpful to providing a basic outline to what Ska music is,

Ska (pronounced /ˈskɑː/, Jamaican [skja]) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteadyand reggae.^[1] Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. It is characterized by awalking bass line accented with rhythms on the offbeat.'- Wikipedia

However, another useful resource for my Ska research proved to be found from: http://worldmusic.about.com/od/genres/p/Ska.htm

The first thing that my research shows is that Ska music originated in Jamaica from a mixture of Calypso and more western music such as rhythm and blues. From what I have read, it seems as though it is not easy to define when Ska was actually conceived but more generalize an idea of when it became popular and more accessible rather than the originators.

Ska was not only popular in the 1960s but also enjoyed two later waves, the first being the second wave in the 1970s when the music was mixed with punk rock in England, which made the genre more accessible to the punks at the time. Bands which were involved in what was known as 'Two-Tone' Ska, named after the record label that helped produce it, include The Specials and The Madness.

Ska more recently became commercial in the third wave of its genre, which was helped by bands such as Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish and No Doubt, which being more influenced by the second wave of the music than the first. This wave consisted mostly of American bands who more mostly associated with punk than original Ska, this wave produces a number of big hits for bands in the 1990s and is probably what most people associate with Ska music, when it comes to a modern version of the genre today.

However, it seems very interesting to me that a genre of music that was for the most part Jamaican and world music, could become so successful worldwide and a big hit for western civilization as well.

After learning in this post where Ska came from and what different versions of the genre exist, my next post hopes to determine what attributes and attitudes make Ska as popular as it has been over the last 50 years.

Root System

Over the last couple of years I have experienced alot of gigs from Fifer's point of view. I was also really well connected with some of the people within the music industry of the area. Due to this privilege I noticed a rather strange underground phenomenon appearing in every major Scottish City.

It was after my first trip to see these guys, 'Root System', I think it was in PJs Dunfermline but the night was unlike anything I had ever witnessed. I hold by to it that it was one of my best gigs I have ever attended, the only gig beating it being 'Rage Against The Machine' at T in the Park 2008.

That was the only other gig I have been to with an atomosphere similar to that of Root System. The Clip just really doesn't do them justice as for crowd spectation. When you go to see Root System, suddenly strangers are friends and there is a real sense of belonging, like a cool kids party that you were never invited to before but are being accepted into for free. 

I will be using the next few weeks as an investigation into this strange underground scene which seems to be arising in Scotland. For now, I leave you with this clip of Root System, who as a live act, are really the best of the best when it comes to local music.