UNITED STATES In the 1950's sound systems became the principal medium of popular entertainment on Jamaica. Sir Coxsone's Downbeat, Duke Reid the Trojan, King Edwards The Giant and Prince Buster's Voice of the People, and dozen of smaller 'sets' blasted out music in clubs, on the beach, on downtown street corners, in fact anywhere that there was an audience. The music that they played was principally American Rhythm and Blues. Artists like Louis Jordan, Shirley & Lee and Fats Domino were all the rage. Very popular was also Rosco Gordon, the Memphis-based singer/pianist who played in a 'back to front' style -stressing the second and fourth beats of each bar - and who played live shows in Kingston about this time. The vast majority of records produced in Jamaica itself since the late 1950's were American R&B covers. What set Jamaican R&B apart from its American models was in part its incorporation of elements from indigenous traditions, like mento, rastafarian drumming, gospel, pocomania and even calypso. These ingredients were further cooked by musicians for the most part well-schooled in US swing and bepop improvisations. The musicians were capable of spinning the mix further with Latin touches from elsewhere in the Caribbean. Gradually, the second and fourth beats of each bar were stressed more and more. Ska was born. So Ska obviously had American roots. The later rocksteady singing style also undoubtly had its roots in the USA. The influence of groups like The Drifters and Impressions on, for example, the Wailers, the Uniques and the Techniques, is clearly audible. In its turn, Jamaican music did reach the States. In 1964 Byron Lee & the Dragonaires were selected as a house band for the most ambitious attempt yet to draw Jamaican music onto the world stage. Future prime minister Edward Seaga arranged for ska to have a presence at the 1964 World's Fair in New York, with sets from Jimmy Cliff, Prince Buster, Millie Small, Monty Morris and the Blues Busters. The excursion was no success. Much criticism has since been levelled at the choice of Byron Lee & the Dragonaires over the Skatalites. Many admit that the Dragonaires could play ska, but that they did not live it. Besides, there seemed to be cultural differences between the 'uptown' Lee and co and some of their 'downtown' tourmates. The Dragonaires released an album in the USA, on Atlantic, entitled Jamaica Ska. A great album, but it did not sell well. It was not the first attempt to take Jamaican music to the USA market. In the five years previously, the Jiving Juniors (who recorded in New York), Higgs & Wilson and Laurel Aitken had all been released there. After Jamaica Ska Epic Records put out The Real Jamaica Ska, a compilation LP co-produced by Curtis Mayfield. An often critisised album, very unjustly in my view. Capitol went with the Blues Busters and Time, MGM and Atlantic released numerous other ska singles. But, outside of Millie Small's 'My Boy Lollipop', ska failed to gain a foothold in the States. In the mid 1960's King records, a label that had been very successful with R&B and soul, wanted the American rights to Prince Buster's entire catalogue. The company was making moves to aquire it on the recommendation of soul legend James Brown, far and away King's star act, who had been turned on to Buster during a visit to Jamaica. However, King and United Artist could not agree on the publishing. There were also rumours that the Maytals would sign for Atlantic, but these were never confirmed. Interestingly, in 1967 Prince Buster had his first (and only) American hit. The four year old 'Ten Commandments Of Man' (on Philips) spent some weeks in the charts. Buster himself was critical on the 'ska thing' in the USA. On the back of the sleeve of his Pain In My Belly album he wrote that 'too many imitators were following up with a phoney ska style which sounded more like the old-time twist then the real thing.' Also, Prince Buster claims there never really was a dance called ska. In Chang & Chen's Reggae Routes Buster says: 'The proper dance in Jamaica to ska music was the bebop dance, push and spin, and natural Jamaican things like flashin [snapping] the fingers and pickup moves from Pocomania and mento.' Jimmy Cliff concurs: 'It was just a bunch of businessmen coming together to exploit it. Ska was never a dance, just music.' With those 'businessmen' Cliff is probably referring to Byron Lee. Lee admitted true ska was not a dance at first. 'When we went to the World's Fair there were dances all over the place. The Twist, Mashed Potato, Cha Cha Cha, plenty of them. In order to compete and sell our product, we Jamaicans had to have a dance too. That really is how the ska came about. In a sense it was Jamaica Twist.' Not only ska, but later also rocksteady was presented as a dance. Not only by Byron Lee, but also by other artists. The breakthrough for reggae in the USA came with Desmond Dekker's Israelites, that in 1969 became a number ten hit. Sporadically, Americans started to play reggae. After Paul Simon had heard Jimmy Cliff's 'Vietnam', he travelled to Kingston and booked the same rhythm section, studio (Dynamic) and engineer (Leslie Kong) to record the fine 'Mother And Child Reunion' - arguably the first white US reggae song (1971). A year later, the movie The Harder They Come did much to introduce the history of reggae to the USA. Artists Steve Alaimo Willie Dickson And The Playboys Emperror Rosko/Michael Pasternak Fleetwoods Bobby Jay And The Hawks Jerry Jackson Lester Lanin Mango Jones Johnny Nash Ray Rivera The Ska-Men Billy Strange/Lloyd Thaxton