You must have wondered how it all began with the Jamaican beat music called Ska. Let’s set the records straight, it was “Duke” Reid from Western Kingston who developed this beat based on the indigenous music of Jamaica. It was way back in 1952 and then “Duke” called it ‘Rhythm ‘n Blues’. Exciting, hypnotic, a mixture of Jamaican folk music and rock ‘n roll. Duke Reid, lover of music and the deep rolling rhythms of his Jamaican people heard the beat develop from watching his people dance.

He got himself an amplified “Sound system” and while hiring it out for dances, he listened and he watched, on so many Saturday nights when the back streets and dance halls of Kingston come alive — and his dream was born — music sprung from the basic beat of Jamaica with all the U.S.A. influences and the power and beauty and joy of the earth. This respective ska album focuses on much of the work from The Skatalites and Babba Brooks. The Birth of Ska is available as a limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on orange coloured vinyl. Available in store and online.