Free Republic

If there's one musical style that epitomizes summer, it might be the loping island style of ska. It caught fire in early '60s Jamaica, a precursor to reggae. Player utilities PopoutShare 00:0000:00 download This story is based on a radio interview. Listen to the full interview. But ska has gone through a few iterations. Ska is really a fusion of American R&B with Jamaican jazz, says Brad Klein, a Minneapolis-based filmmaker who traced the history of ska in a documentary, "Legends of Ska. Without Ska, there is no reggae." "Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Jimmy Cliff ... all started in...

Desmond Dekker dies published: Friday | May 26, 2006 Kandré McDonald, Freelance Writer The three-man singing group, Desmond Dekker and the Aces, is seen before departing on a tour of the United Kingdom, New York, Germany and Ireland, at the Palisadoes Airport. From left are Winston Samuels, the leader, Desmond Dekker, and Easton Howard. - FILE DESMOND ADOLPHUS Dacres, more widely known around the globe as Desmond Dekker, is dead. The ska artiste, who was born on July 17, 1941, in Jamaica, died in the United Kingdom at 4:00 a.m. Thursday.According to his manager, Delroy Williams, Dekker, who is...