How Reggae Named Itself

Reggae is a music genre from Jamaica that appeared in the late 1960s. Toots and the Maytals named it with a 1968 single.

The bass guitar drives the rhythm using a thick, heavy tone. High frequencies are reduced to emphasize the low end.

Reggae drumming draws on Nyabinghi. It is a style of ritual drumming performed as communal meditation.

Vocals use Jamaican Patois, English, or Iyaric. Lyrics cover politics, religion, love, and leisure activities.

Reggae appeared in the Jamaican English dictionary that year.

The genre reached global audiences by fusing with local instruments. Panama handled the Spanish first.

Bob Marley claimed the word came from a Spanish term meaning the king's music. Others trace it to streggae.

In 1972, the film The Harder They Come introduced Jamaican music to cinema audiences outside Jamaica. Cinema audiences finally heard what Jamaica already knew.