I’m sorry to say that I am behind the times on this. Desmod Dekker, the ska legend, passed away on June 2, 2006.I’d love to be able to write some moving and insightful requiem for the man but I just don’t have it in me, not today, maybe not ever. I would like to be able to say that finding out about his passing had a profound impact on my life like the way Gorjus responded to the death of Keith Haring. I don’t though. Don’t get me wrong, I’m bummed out about losing Desmond Dekker. I just never had any kind of personal connection to him.
Everyone who bothers to read what I have to say probably knows that I hosted a Ska show while in college called The Two-Tone Revolution with my buddy Dr. Wagner. Check out the gloriously out-of-date program guide. I’ve been a big fan of ska for a long time. I like to say that this is ever since my buddy Chris gave me a tape of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ first album Devils Night Out; I wore that tape out. But my love of the genre might trace back to playing tenor saxophone in junior high or even back to hearing Madness, Haircut 100, The English Beat, and The Specials on MTV when I was a kid (insert ubiquitous “MTV used to play music” joke here).
The thing is, my love of ska was centered almost entirely around thrid wave ska. Sure, I had a store of latent knowledge about second wave ska but it took having the show to get me to really do the research on the origins of the genre. I learned pretty quickly that lots of people had no idea what was going on ith ska. Like, reggae decended from ska not ska from reggae like most people think; I have albums on which Bob Marley and the Wailers were the back-up band. The actual progenitor of ska is motown. I also learned how incredibly close-minded some of my contemporaries could be; there was actually a guy all proud because he “coined” the term ‘pseudo-ska’ and put bands like Save Ferris in the group, even though he maintained that No Doubt was a true ska band. This distinction seems silly now.
The history of ska is really quite interesting. I comes about in a period of change for the island cum nation of Jamaica. The music was as much a statement of their independance as anything else. But one of the most amazing things about the genre the importance of equality to the music. From its beginning the music has been concerned with social issues. This didn’t mean that every song was a political statement. Its one thing that has stayed with ska through its various incarnations. I’ve been meaning to make my own history-of-ska collection for a while, something where I trace trends in music from the beginning to the present period but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Last time I thought about it, it was up to about 5 disks, including a cover album.
Desmond Dekker was one of the early leaders of the new form of music, though I doubt many in the dance halls recognized that they were on the vanguard. He was a contemporary of Lord Creator, Prince Buster, and Laurel Aitken. His hits include Israelites, Shanty Town, and Jamaica Ska. Bounce to an upbeat for him.
Makes me miss that show. That’s one of my favorite things I did in college. Such a good time. And that show was never as good when I did it by myself…not by a long shot.
Man, don’t sell yourself short. Your shows were awesome. And as much fun as we had hosting the show I know that some of our listeners wanted more music and less talk. I don’t think anyone ever had any comlaints about your shows.