Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, “Do the Reggay” was the first popular song to use the word “reggae”, effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. When reggae emerged in the late 1960s, it came as a cultural bombshell not only to Jamaica but the whole world.
Reggae has influenced societies throughout the world, contributing to the development of new counterculture movements, particularly in Europe, in the USA and Africa. Indeed, by the end of the 1960s, it participated in the birth of the skinhead movement in the UK. In the 1970s, it impacted on Western punk rock/ pop cultures and inspired the first rappers in the USA.
Finally, since the late 1970s onwards, it has also influenced singers originating from Africa, Alpha Blondy, Tiken Jah Fakoly and Lucky Dube being perfect examples