Alphonso Castro's Night Of Ska :- Musical Interlude

Ska Music Basics: Genres of music are seldom invented in someone's basement, generally they sort of fade into existence. Such is the case with ska, a genre of Jamaican music which comes from Mento and calypso music, combined with American Jazz and R&B, which could be heard on Jamaican radio coming from high-powered stations in New Orleans and Miami. Ska became popular in the early 1960s.

The Sound: Ska music was made for dancing. The music is upbeat, quick and exciting. Musically, it can be characterized with a drumbeat on the 2nd and 4th beats (in 4/4 time) and with the guitar hitting the 2nd, 3rd and 4th beats. Traditional ska bands generally featured bass, drums, guitars, keyboards and horns (with sax, trombone and trumpet being most common)