SKA!

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SKA!

• The History, The Present, Pragues Clubs

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THE BEGINNING

• First of all in the 1920's and 30's the local
  band scene in Jamaica was Mento. Mento was mostly
  rural music because most of the bands were local.
  Typically a Mento band would play at weddings,
  local dances, fairs and concerts. They were even
  employed on a more personal level as bands for
  house parties. As time passed by, the popularity
  of Mento was on a steady decline. By the late
  1950's Mento started the slow transition into Ska
  music. The so called "society" bands were playing
  only token Mento numbers, but the bands on the
  road were getting more daring in how they applied
  their Mento craft.
• They called it the Jamaican mobile Disco. The DJs
  would travel from town to town. Sometimes playing
  in dancehalls, and sometimes setting up right on
  the street. The people would flock to these shows
  hungry for the sound coming out of America. They
  would party from Friday night to early Monday
  morning in the dancehalls thanks to DJs such as
  Tom the Great Sebastian, V Rocket, and Sir
  Coxsone's Downbeat.
• Ska was an immediate hit with the Jamaicans. It
  was after all Jamaica's first indigenous original
  music sound. Many names started to pop up in the
  forefront of this musical wave. Name like Rolond
  Alphonso with his tenor sax, and Don Drummund and
  Rico Rodriguez on the trombone Drumbago and
  Lloyd Knibbs on drums Jah Jerry Haynes on
  guitar Dizzy Moore and Raymond Harper on
  trumpet. Lloyd Brevett, Clue J on bass Aubry
  Adams on the keyboard. Then there were the
  singers like Laurel Aiken, Clancy Eccles, Owen
  Grey, Lascelles Perkins, Higgs and Wilson, and
  last but not least , Bunny and Skitter.
• That was the beginning as I know it. The ska
  sound eventually evolved into rock steady, but
  not before great history was made.

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THE GOLDEN ERA

• A funny thing happened in the UK around the year
  of 1978. Something happened to the underlying
  attitude of the angry youth. Back then most of
  the bands around were predominately white, didn't
  give a about the past, hated any sort of
  organized clothing style, and beat up anyone
  dancing anything but the pogo but by 1979
  everyone totally turned around and started
  skanking like crazy to the fun sounds of ska.
  They went to go see integrated bands who were
  wearing the now famous black and white suit of
  the rudeboys.
• Unfortunately, the fun did not last for to long.
  The bands songs were mostly geared towards
  non-racial themes, and unity but the crowd that
  went to these shows was dancing to a different
  drum. See, the problem was the mix. On one hand
  you had the working class skin heads. They shaved
  their heads, wore big boots and braces, with
  jeans and white t-shirts. On the other were the
  richer rudeboys. They wore expensive two tone
  suits, shiny shoes, bought vespas to ride around.
  They had money to burn, and weren't afraid to
  show it off. These two elements in a crowd
  together, packed into a dancehall to listen to
  their favorite ska bands did not make a happy
  mix. Huge fights broke out on a regular basis.
  Dancehalls were wrecked, and therefore dancehalls
  did not want to book ska bands anymore. They did
  not want to take the risk . At one of the Madness
  shows it got so bad that Madness was literally
  blacklisted. They were not allowed to play
  anywhere. They were even stricken from the Dance
  Craze LP because of it.
• So that is why by 1981 ska had died down. Some
  bands kept going however, the specials split into
  two separate bands Fun Boy Three was formed by
  Hall Staples, and Golding, while Jerry Dammers
  formed the Special AKA. The (English) Beat split
  in two also.. They re-formed into General Public
  and The Fine Young Cannibals. Madness came back
  for a few reunion tours, namely they played a
  show with Morrissy in the early 90's. Then they
  actually toured again a few years back. Bad
  Manners kept their nose to the grindstone and are
  still making albums today, but the only original
  member is the lead singer. So that brings us to
  the Current wave of ska bands.

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SKA OF THE NINETIES

• Commonly referred to as the Third Wave of ska
  the current incarnation of ska began where the
  second wave left off. We are talking about the
  late eighties through now. But what makes this
  wave different from the others. Well if someone
  asked me that question I would have to say the
  diversity between the proclaimed ska bands. Some
  bands these days lean toward the classic 1960's
  sound some have incorporated different genre's
  of music with ska such as Latin, Hard-Core,
  House/Rave, Funk and alternative.
• Many bands have caught on to the ska craze
  these days. Bands like Skavoovie and the
  Epitones, Hepcat, and the Allstonians have
  recaptured the sounds of the root ska sound. The
  Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Mephiskaphalies have
  combined a hard-core sound into their ska music.
  Even though the Bosstones seem to have Bosstoned
  it down a little bit since they have been getting
  more air-time on the radio. Let's not forget the
  Funk/Ska sensation that is called Fishbone, they
  seem to be going back to playing a more solid
  ska/funk sound these days. I guess when they
  tried to become more mainstream, and changed
  their sound, they lost so many album sales that
  they figured they better get back to the root.
  Then there are bands like The Cherry Poppin
  Daddy's that go ever farther back into the annals
  of music and combine big band swing into their
  version of ska music. Then you have the bands
  like Really Big Fish, No Doubt and The Bosstones
  who are actually getting more and more time on
  the Radio Stations around the nation. Finally we
  have that weird House/Ska dance mix that was
  called The street sounds of Freestyle Ska. This
  compilation tried to combine Euroska/house fusion
  that kind of worked on some tracks.
• Whatever the band, ska has definitely
  entered the music scene with a bang

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PRAGUES CLUBS

• Since there is over forty clubs which play Ska
  bands from time to time I have decided to give
  you the names only. Im sure You will understand
  and find a way to get more information about
  them
• Squat Milada
• Barácnická rychta
• Batalion
• Havraní hnízdo
• Lucerna Music bar
• Malostranská beseda
• Rock café
• Vagón
• Roxy
• Staromestská jáma
• Mlejn
• Uzi
• CopaCabana
• Krákora
• Guru
• Hospoda nad Viktorkou
• Kain
• Matrix

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PRAGUES CLUBS, PART 2

• Naftar
• Café na pul cesty
• Opatov
• Fresh
• Futurum
• Klamovka
• Voják
• Klub 007 Strahov
• Hospoda na slamníku
• Delta
• Kaštan
• Cross
• Stromovka Music Garden
• Wakata
• Abaton
• Inferno
• Styx
• Modrá vopice
• Prosek