San Jose State University SJSU ScholarWorks Faculty and Staff ubP lications Library January 2006 From Memphis to Kingston: An Investigation into the Origin of Jamaican Ska Paul Kauppila San Jose State University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/lib_pub Part of the Music Commons, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Paul Kauppila. "From Memphis to Kingston: An Investigation into the Origin of Jamaican Ska" Social and Economic Studies (2006): 75-91. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Library at SJSU ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty and Staff Publications by an authorized administrator of SJSU ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. "FROM MEMPHIS TO KINGSTON": AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE ORIGIN OF JAMAICAN SKA Kauppila, Paul Social and Economic Studies; Mar/Jun 2006; 55, 1/2; ABI/INFORM Complete pg. 75 Social and Economic Studies 55: I & 2 (2006): 75-91 ISSN: 0037-7651 "F"ROM MEMPHIS TO KINGSTON": AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE ORIGIN OF" .JAMAICAN SKA F'AUL KAUPPILA ABSTRACT The distinguishing characteristic of most Jamaican popular music recordings, including reggae and its predecessor, ska, is an emphasis on the offbeat or afterbeat instead of on the downbeat as found in most American popular music. Many explanations have been proposed to explain this tendency. This study critically examines these theories through historical and musicological analyses and concludes that the prevalence of the downbeat is a mixture of Jamaican folk and African-American popular music influences in its earliest incarnation, but was later deliberately emphasized in an attempt to create a unique new musical style.