Today we're looking at the unique sound and history of ska music. Ska comes from Jamaica. It became very popular there and then travelled across to the United Kingdom when people migrated for economic reasons from the West Indies during the 1950s and 60s. Ska music was welcomed by the British people and it went to the top of the charts.
Find out more about ska - and how people describe it - with the help of our expert guest ('The Expert'), some fans ('The Scene') and Katrina Leskanich, best known as the front person of the Eurovision Song Contest winning act Katrina and The Waves ('The Words').
As you listen to Gaz Mayall, Ska DJ and singer with the British band The Trojans, try and answer the following questions:
1. How does he describe this genre?
2. How did the genre get its name?
3. What would a typical ska fan be wearing?
Colin Babb talks to Ska fans: 'Hi, this is Colin Babb for The Music Directory. I'm in a small, packed and very hot ska club in Central London called Gazzy's Rockin' Blues promoted by Gaz Mayall. And I'm now going to get a bit closer to the dance floor - to find out a little bit more about the colourful, infectious and the unique sound of ska.'
Listen to Katrina Leskanich and three fans of ska music and try to spot the key words used to describe the genre:
colourful:
interesting and exciting compulsive:
so exciting that you can't stop listening or dancing to it infectious:
spreading from one person to another unique:
here - known in only one country
Check if you got it right - read the interview transcript. Try to remember the words in bold.
