The Ska sound: Jump Up Jamaica
I1 Kicker: Track 32
The clue read "music pioneered by Byron Lee and the Dragonaires". This was one of many clues in a 2008 end of year NY Times crossword puzzle. The disk coordinator does the New York Times crossword puzzle regularly at his local Barnes & Noble keeping track and trying to beat his daily bests. In answering this clue, and the answer is Ska by the way, and doing some research on the derivation of the word itself, this crossword puzzle fan who doubles as the adoreable disk coordinator embarked on a journey that has led to the kicker for G12 (Hot Hot Hot, by the same band), the I1 kicker and the answer to a 45 year question that every now and then was raised in his head.
Before discussing this specific music connection, this does seem to be one of the side effects of studying and participating in Israeli dance music. It is fairly usual to hear people say that they have met long lost friends and acquaintences attending the many dancing events that we have, here, in Philadelphia. And, if not meeting old friends, we run into old music that we have some affinity for. This is such a case.
First, what is the derivation of ska. You can see why it would be an interesting crossword puzzle entry: 2 consonents and a vowel, but what does it mean and why? Well, here's the definition on Wikipedia: "a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the last 1950's, a precursor to rocksteady and raggae. Ska combines elements of Caribbean Mento and Calypso with American Jazz and rhtyhm and blues. It is characterized by a walking bassline accented with rhythms on the offbeat.
The disk coordinator, who has neither an ear nor education for music, can't tell you what a walking bass line is, but as to rhythms, we're talking dance. And as to "on the offset", one is talking about latin music. This is a major part of latin music from mambo to cha cha. The beat on the offset creates the 1,2,3 (3 beats in 2 notes) that creates the enjoyment of watching latin dancing. This forces the woman dancer to rotate her hips.. This is what makes any cha cha type dancing enjoyable for those males that are watching such demonstrations. In the end, the more offset, the more latin and caribbean is the dance.
The derivation of word Ska remains clouded. Some say it is shorthand for skat,skat,skat (the Americanized word for jazz) while others say that it is an expression describing the sound that the guitar makes in this type of music.
Whatever the derivation, Ska leads you to Byron Aloysius St Elmo Lee, known as Byron Lee whose created a band while still in college that continues to this day, 50 some years later. It was also clear why Will Shortz, the puzzle editor of the Times, used this clue: Byron Lee died on November 4th, 2008 so it was fresh in his memory as he edits these puzzles.
The obituaries that appered on theInternet indicated that Lee, born of a Jamaican mother of african descent and a chinese father, created his group while at and attending St George college in Jamaica. What would you call a group formed at a college of that name: Byron called it 'The Dragonaires.' They took a combination of native jamaican music - calypso would be a generic name for this - combined it with American Jazz and Rhythm and Blues to create the Ska effects.
The music involves beat as described above. The lyrics are almost always about finding a woman companion for the night and could be substituted between songs. The feeling of the music is very light. This isn't McArthur Park or Bridge over Troubled Waters in either lyrics or tempo.
In researching the songs and albums that Lee's band had created over its 50 year history, the disk coordinator made two interesting discoveries: One was Hot, Hot, Hot sung by Byron and the band. Obviously, this music has Ska written all over it, but it also is one of the most favored merrangue playings in ballroom dancing. Hot, Hot, Hot was therefore selected as the G12 kicker and what a wonderful selection - a crossover in two music genres.
Further research answered a 45 year old question that is obvious to those who study the early James Bond movies and their relationship to the books: which band was playing at Pus-fellow's bar in Dr No? Well, as the obituaries tell it, it is the one and same Byron Lee.
When Monty Norman went to Jamaica to scout out music for this movie (and you can read more about this on the G8 kicker) he became entranced with this Jamaican sound which had not yet gone global (The 1964 World's Fair and its emphasis on various cultures was the catalyst for the popularity of Ska). At minimum, Norman used the most popular band in Jamaica, Byron Lee's, for an appearance in the movie. At maximum, Norman may have stolen some of the tunes popular at the time. There is no way of knowing this unless you were in Jamaica at the time.
One of the songs featured at Pus-Fellow's bar is Jump Up Jamaica. There is several versions going around, but you are hopefully listening to the version sung by Byron Lee and the Dragonaires. (Note: This is formulated for Microsoft's Intenet Explorer and Windows media player so in that case you can start and stop the music. For those with firefox, you should be hearing the music but no further controls exist. We hope, sooner than later, to extend this to other browsers and media players)
The accent is pretty thick, so below is the lyrics for this song
All the people down Kingston Town, You know all the people go...Jump Up!
Waving arms about, weaving in and out, It's so easy to...Jump Up!
Take a pretty girl, make her whirl, And then both begin again...Jump Up!
Hold her very tight, then for all the night, You'll be doing the Jump Up!
Chorus
Jump Up! Jump Up! Jamaica!
bump Up! bump Up! Jamaica!
Jump Up music! Jamaica! Never want to stop! Jump Up!
[repeat the chorus]
Listen to the band, take her hand, And say, "Here we go again! Jump Up!"
Like a ball of fire, you will never tire, When you're doing the Jump Up!
All the people down Kingston Town, you know, All the people go Jump Up!
You'll be lost to it, Once you've tried a bit, Never give up the Jump Up!
[chorus]
Jump Up! Jump Up! Jamaica!
bump Up! bump Up! Jamaica!
Jump Up music! Jamaica!
Never want to stop! Jump Up
[repeat the chorus]
There aren't many pictures of a young Byron Lee in performance. He preferred to let his music speak for himself. But, on Youtube, there is an early video of the band performing in 1963. The vocalists are not Byron Lee, but about halfway through the video the camera pans to the right and you will see a young Byron Lee in a white nehru shirt. Remember, his father was Chinese so his visage reflected this. To view this video, Click here.