What it is, what to hear first, and what sits next to it.
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. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant musical genre of Jamaica. It also became popular in the UK with Jamaican immigrants and later with British mods and skinheads ( see skinhead reggae). Music historians typically divide the history of ska into three periods: the original Jamaican ska scene of the 1960s .