style of popular music that originated in jamaica in the late 1960s and quickly emerged as the countrys dominant music. by the 1970s it had become an international style that was particularly popular in britain, the united states, and africa. it was widely perceived as a voice of the oppressed.
according to an early definition in the dictionary of jamaican english 1980, reggae is based on ska, an earlier form of jamaican popular music, and employs a heavy four-beat rhythm driven by drums, bass guitar, electric guitar, and the scraper, a corrugated stick that is rubbed by a plain stick. the drum and bass became the foundation of a new instrumental music, dub. the dictionary further states that the chunking sound of the rhythm guitar that comes at the end of measures acts as an accompaniment to emotional songs often expressing rejection of established white-man culture. another term for this distinctive guitar-playing effect, skengay, is...