Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Popular music originating in Jamaica in the 1960s, having elements of rhythm and blues, jazz, and calypso, a fast tempo, and a strong accent placed on the offbeat.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A style of Jamaican dance music combining elements of Caribbean calypso and mento with American jazz and rhythm and blues.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From the phrase (Love) Ska(voovie), greeting used by Jamaican bassist Cluet Johnson, one of the early creators of ska, or imitative of the sound of a guitar in tandem with a rim click on a snare drum.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Origin uncertain. Probably imitative of the crisp guitar sound; other suggestions include a contraction of American slang skavoovie, or of speed polka.

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Examples

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  • Ska is linked with punk in my mind for many reasons The Mighty Mighty Bosstones being one of them. See Free Associate

    Ska (pronounced /ska/ or in Jamaican Patois /skja/) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was a precursor to rocksteady and reggae.

    Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. It is characterized by a walking bass line, accented guitar or piano rhythms on the offbeat, and in some cases, jazz-like horn riffs. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant musical genre of Jamaica, and it was also popular with British mods. Many skinheads, in various decades, have also enjoyed ska (along with reggae, rocksteady and other genres). Music historians typically divide the history of ska into three periods: the original Jamaican ska scene of the 1960s, the 2 Tone ska revival that started in England in the late 1970s, and the third wave ska movement, which started in the 1980s.

    _Wikipedia

    February 13, 2008