You will never grasp the true color of reggae music unless you visit the live concert. Get acquainted with a wide selection of the upcoming reggae concerts. Inspired by the iconic musician Bob Marley, reggae can be both dance, relaxation, and protest music, which follows the traditions of African culture, in which rhythm, dance and music coexist with other phenomena.
The main feature of reggae is the leading role of rhythmic elements, mainly bass guitars, the figure of which forms the basis of the composition, both rhythmically and melodically.
Reggae is considered to be a popular common genre of mainly Jamaican music, which appeared in the late 1960s. As a matter of fact, reggae became some kind of predecessor of such music genres as rocksteady and ska, but at the same time reggae itself significantly differs from others and has something unique. That’s why the Jamaican style mainly goes from soft and somewhere sugar’s sound to the more rigid rhythm and more fore section.
From the very beginning, reggae was characterized by the rhythm of the "one drop" (kick off the barrel and "rim shot" - a blow to the rim of the snare drum, accounted for a third of each bar), beating out even beats rhythm guitar and key "gurgling" - babbling. Now it is rather difficult and quite impossible to give a clear definition of the whole variety of reggae styles because they are versatile.
The most widespread popularity in music it received in 1970 and has become an integral part of music since then. Its sources came from rhythm and blues, jazz, and so on. of, reggae became more and more popular. Instrumentally, reggae is distinguished among other genres by the sound including electric guitars and bass guitars, drums and an electronic keyboard. The focus is on the parties of the bass guitar that creates the main rhythmic and melodic picture of the whole composition.
In the second half of the 1970s, the Mighty Diamonds, Black Uhuru, The Itals, and groups such as Sly And Robbie and The Roots Radics Band, greatly enhanced the rhythm of reggae. Clear melodic and rhythmic lines of the compositions of these groups received a powerful improvised development that allowed classify reggae as one of the areas of rock music.
The lyrical reggae branch was also developed, which was represented mainly by vocal stylists Sugar Minott, Dennis Brown and Gregory Isaacs, who had the reputation of "cranberries".
By a strange coincidence of events, the people connected with reggae are often associated with the Rastafari religion, which is not quite true. Certainly, these beliefs had a significant impact on the work of many musicians, especially in the 70s, and now at least one-third of the reggae songs contain a Rastafarian theme, but to call reggae religious music is incorrectly wrong.
Despite the fact that the most commonly used reggae was in the United States, this style was not bypassed by Europe and Great Britain, where it finds itself with elements of other genres included the works by Elvis Costello, Police, The Specials, The Clash, The Damned and even The Rolling Stones in their music.
The smooth entry of reggae in almost all styles and genres of rock music greatly influenced the style of popular music of the 1980s and 1990s, and the reggae merged with rap, funk, punk rock and hardcore led to the emergence of new styles and directions. In general, after Eric Clapton included in his repertoire and thus popularized Bob Marley's classic "I Shot The Sheriff" in the early 1970s, reggae became a natural component of British rock music.
However, the synthesis of reggae and funk, which in the late 1980s influenced the American groups Faith No More, Extreme and Red Hot Chili Peppers, led to the revival of reggae in a new quality and resulted in a burst of interest in the classics of the genre. Among the Jamaican performers, the most famous are Peter Tosh, Bunny Weiler, Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and Burning Spear. You will find all reggae events including different singers and their concerts below.