This has been a rather sad month for those into ‘roots’ music. On September 8, Jamaican ska maestro Cecil Campbell, better known as Prince Buster, passed away. Last Saturday, zydeco star Stanley Dural Jr, aka Buckwheat Zydeco, left us.
While their loss was mourned by the small minority into traditional ‘roots’ music, many in India may not even have heard the terms ska or zydeco, though some young audiences would have admired Delhi-based group Ska Vengers.
Everyone talks of well-known genres like pop, rock, metal, western classical, jazz, the blues, country, reggae, hip-hop, world music and electronic dance music (EDM). Yet, there have been certain styles which have actually influenced these sounds.
Ska originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to the popular reggae form. In other words, without ska, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh may have sounded different. The early pioneers included Prince Buster, Duke Reid, Coxsone Dodd and Toots & The Maytals. The genre has seen numerous waves over the past 60 years and still has a small but devoted following.
Zydeco, along with its close relative Cajun music, originated much earlier, towards the end of the 19th century. Both were rooted in the Creole music sung by Louisiana natives of French, Spanish and African origin. But what’s interesting is that they were a major inspiration for the blues and country music. Buckwheat zydeco took the genre into the mainstream.
In global music, many forgotten older styles have been replaced by known newer ones. In contrast, most Indian genres have been independent of each other’s style.
Though one may say Hindustani khayal evolved from dhrupad , the individual nuances are different. Hindustani and Carnatic, ghazals and Sufiana music, all have completely different formats. Hindi film music may have changed in sound, but it happened slowly over the years. The newer musicians try to incorporate and blend different styles to create something eclectic.
But check the West. Many enjoy jazz for its improvisational or soothing qualities, but few know that it evolved from ragtime and boogie-woogie, both practised by African-Americans in the late 19th century.
Blues fans love to boast, “The blues had a baby and they called it rock ‘n’ roll.” Absolutely correct. But what’s less-known is that a particular 1940s style called ‘jump blues’, thanks mainly to the stage mannerisms of legendary Louis Jordan, inspired the great rock ‘n’ roll geniuses Little Richard and Bill Haley.
And how could one forget skiffle, which actually blended jazz, blues and folk, but attained its own identity? Though it originated in the US, it became popular in the UK in the 1950s, thanks to Lonnie Donegan, Chas McDevitt and the Vipers Skiffle Group.
Even Beatles star John Lennon played with skiffle group The Quarrymen before teaming up with Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Skiffle led to the British folk, blues and rock movements, influencing everyone from the Beatles and Rolling Stones to Eric Clapton and Van Morrison.
Today, EDM is the youth’s flavour. People drop names like progressive house, psychedelic trance, dark ambient, folktronica and dubstep. Fact is, that all these had their roots in the 1970s funk music of James Brown and Funkadelic, electronic acts Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder and Tangerine Dream, and disco stars Bee Gees, Donna Summer, Lipps Inc and Cerrone.
There is one major difference in today’s dance music. The earlier people blended live acts with synthesiser effects. Today, turntable tricks, laptops and gizmos have taken over. The disc jockey is King. How times have changed.
Narendra Kusnur is a freelance music writer
