Cultural historian Herbie Miller will give a lecture entitled "Reggae: Its Roots and Evolution from Ska to Dancehall" at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 19, in the Handwerker Gallery.
The social, political and religious sensibilities of Jamaica inform and are informed by its artistic expressions. From plantation times to the present, through the arts, sociopolitical changes have been realized.
The genre of Jamaican music known as ska, which has had three revivals since its inception in the late 1950s, was created in the hills, streets, shanty towns, and tenement yards of Kingston. This energetic hybrid of rhythm and blues, jazz, Jamaican folk, and ritual music spawned the slower and more deliberate rock steady. Rock steady's melodic bass lines and sparse drum fills allowed vocalists to create a more relaxed sound and deliver its mellow lyrics while retaining much of its political message.
As the country evolved, so did its music. Reggae, with its fierce social pronouncements, revolutionary lyrics and spiritual values, emerged as the next and most enduring of the island's sounds.
The presentation will be enhanced by music and visuals. This event is co-sponsored by the School of Business, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the School of Music, and the Center for the Study of Race, Culture and Ethnicity. For further information, please contact Cheryl Kramer, Handwerker Gallery director, at ckramer@ithaca.edu.
