Originated from Jamaica in the 1960's and was developed from traditional African Caribbean music such as mento, calypso and ska. The genre was made world famous by Bob Marley who popularized the style on a world-wide basis. As far as Jamaican record buyers were concerned, the origin of the word reggae was the 1968 Pyramid single by Toots and the Maytals "Do the Reggay" (sic). Other possibilities as to the origin of the word include Regga, the name of a Bantu speaking tribe on Lake Tanganyika and a corruption of "streggae," which is Kingston street slang for prostitute. According to Bob Marley, the word is Spanish in origin, meaning "the king’s music" but according to veteran session musicians the word is a description of the beat itself. Hux Brown of the Skatalites and lead guitarist on Paul Simon’s 1972 hit "Mother and Child Reunion" says that it is "just a fun, joke kinda word that means ragged rhythm and the body feeling." The influence of ska, reggae and dub music is still strongly evident in contemporary music today as a new generation continues to evolve from the legacy handed down by the great luminaries such as Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and lesser known artists. Internationally, new artists like Ben Harper and Finlay Quaye display strong reggae influences in their work and New Zealand acts embracing these sounds today include the likes of Salmonella Dub and Pitch Black.

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