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Ska was the first independent Jamaican music, which began in the early 1960s. It was a precursor in Jamaica to rocksteady, and later, reggae.

The sound of the ska was created at Studio One in Kingston, Jamaica, by musical group called the "Skatalites," whom worked with music producer Clement "Coxsone" Dodd. The originators of the ska beat were the drummer, Lloyd Knibb and the bassist Lloyd Brevett. The music of ska is known for the placement of the accented guitar and piano rhythms on the upbeats. The word ska may have a onomatopoeia origins in a tradition of poetic or possibly even musical rythms. It is reported that the phrase "Skavoovie" was a greeting used by "Clue J," whenever greeting the Skatalites and Coxsone Dodd. Cluett Johnson, better known as Clue J. Johnson, or "Clue J" was the bassist and leader of "Clue J and the Blues Blasters." He lead that late 1950s Jamaican musical group. That music group spawned some of the greatest musicians of the ska era (1962-1966). (Reference: THE UNTOLD STORY OF JAMAICAN POPULAR MUSIC By Lloyd Dewar, pub.2001:all rights reserved; URL http://www.bluejuice.dhs.org/skareggae/Boogie.php ).

It should be noted that some forms of onomatopoeia served as a mnemonic tool for musicians and was used in various forms of traditional Anglo-Saxon, Irish, Turkish and Middle Eastern mouth music. Such mouth music existed prior to the 1200s and the First Crusade into Palistine and the city of Jerusalem, possibly even before 900AD/CE. Onomatopoeia-based music uses the mouth and vocal cords as the primary musical instrument. A common European and American example of such a musical tool is "Doe-Ray-Me-Fa-So-La-Tee-Doe" or even the various skat (also called scat) music tonals, vocals & rythms found in the scat singing of jazz, dixie delta blues and also rock-n-roll music.

Ska's popularity has waxed and waned since its original inception, and has had revivals of note in England in the 1980s (known as Two-Tone), and another wave of popularity in the 1990s (referred to as Third Wave Ska).

One of the most commercially successful bands of Two Tone ska music was Madness.

The biggest selling American bands of Third Wave Ska were the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and No Doubt, both of whom fused ska with rock music to the point of losing almost all Jamaican elements in their musics.