Aug 6, 2026 · 55 min · 29 segments
Although it was built atop some musical styles that came before, reggae is mostly its own thing. It evolved as local music in the Trenchtown neighborhood in Kingston, Jamaica but after Bob Marley and…
Josh ClarkHost
Chuck BryantHost
Yeah, um, because one of the things about reggae, Livia helps us with this, so hat to, to, to Livia.
Um, [clears throat] one of the things about Jamaica and reggae is that, um, they're like a melange of different people and cultures who are all kind of brought together, uh, a significant number of them against their will, and all kind of formed this society where it was all mixed together, and one of the, the things that emerged was a real appreciation of music and folk music, um, that kind of developed, and it was very unique because Jamaica is unique.
Yeah, different melanges because you had indigenous people, uh and then in the case of, well, most of them, you had, um, people from Africa brought over in the slave trade.
in this case, in Jamaica, uh, that combined with, um, like African work songs and the, you know, the European musical influence that was there at the time.
Uh, they mixed together, and in the '40s and '50s, what, the first thing we got s- as sort of a predecessor to reggae was called mento, uh, capital E-
Uh, capital M-E-N-T-O, which is, um, sort of like if you heard it, y- it might sound a little bit like calypso out of Trinidad.
It's got something called a rumba box, um, which is, like, a, a percussive thing with plucked steel tines.
Uh, so mento was kind of the earliest predecessor, and then in the '50s, I guess the late '50s and early '60s,' cause that was the '40s and '50s-
... uh, American R&B on the radio, which also came from African and European influences, obviously-
... um, that produced what became the more direct predecessor to reggae, which was ska.
Yeah, um, because one of the things about reggae, Livia helps us with this, so hat to, to, to Livia.
Um, [clears throat] one of the things about Jamaica and reggae is that, um, they're like a melange of different people and cultures who are all kind of brought together, uh, a significant number of them against their will, and all kind of formed this society where it was all mixed together, and one of the, the things that emerged was a real appreciation of music and folk music, um, that kind of developed, and it was very unique because Jamaica is unique.
Yeah, different melanges because you had indigenous people, uh and then in the case of, well, most of them, you had, um, people from Africa brought over in the slave trade.
in this case, in Jamaica, uh, that combined with, um, like African work songs and the, you know, the European musical influence that was there at the time.
Uh, they mixed together, and in the '40s and '50s, what, the first thing we got s- as sort of a predecessor to reggae was called mento, uh, capital E-
Uh, capital M-E-N-T-O, which is, um, sort of like if you heard it, y- it might sound a little bit like calypso out of Trinidad.
It's got something called a rumba box, um, which is, like, a, a percussive thing with plucked steel tines.
Uh, so mento was kind of the earliest predecessor, and then in the '50s, I guess the late '50s and early '60s,' cause that was the '40s and '50s-
... uh, American R&B on the radio, which also came from African and European influences, obviously-
... um, that produced what became the more direct predecessor to reggae, which was ska.
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3 of 8
Marley Played After Being Shot
Marley refused to let violence silence him
The Cancer Marley Missed
A treatable cancer changed reggae's history forever
Peter Tosh’s Fatal Betrayal
A betrayal ended a reggae legend's life
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