Rocksteady made going to clubs a joy during the 1960s. Reggae helped make the 1970s a time of consciousness, while dancehall shocked the pants of conservatives. Each beat represents the evolution of Jamaican popular music.

They will be represented at the inaugural Rocksteady Meets Reggae and Dancehall at the Jamalco Sports Club in Halse Hall, Clarendon, on Saturday, May 23.

Tommy Cowan has been in the music business since the 1960s and has worked in rocksteady as an artiste, and managed many reggae and dancehall artistes. He believes the success of each beat is a compliment to the durability of Jamaican music.

"Rocksteady was about songs, it had good melodies. Just listen to songs like Dancecrasher (by Alton Ellis); a great melody! People never get tired of rocksteady because of that," Cowan said. Rocksteady emerged in the wake of ska and lasted for only three years (1965-68), but produced a flood of singers and harmony groups such as Ellis, Delroy Wilson, Desmond Decker, Ken Boothe and The Heptones, who recorded classic songs that are still being covered.

The rebellious reggae beat took off in the early 1970s when Jamaica was shedding the last chains of its colonial past. A hit movie (The Harder They Come) showcasing a talented Jimmy Cliff and a free-spirited Rastafarian singer named Bob Marley introduced Jamaican pop culture to a world audience.

Setting the pace

Cowan says Marley set the pace for similar roots performers such as Burning Spear, Dennis Brown and The Mighty Diamonds. "Marley dramatised the music, he single-handedly brought it to prominence. Reggae was marketed in a way that foreigners started covering our songs," he said.

Throughout the 1970s, several big names re-worked songs done by Jamaicans. The Rolling Stones covered singer Eric Donaldson's Cherry Oh Baby, while Eric Clapton's version of Marley's I Shot The Sheriff went to number one in the United States. Paul Simon recorded his reggae song, Mother and Child Reunion, in Jamaica.

If rocksteady had classic melodies, reggae of the 1970s espoused rebellion. Dancehall is simply outrageous. The music has shocked conservatives and confounded naysayers who said it would never last. Cowan is not surprised. "Dancehall really mirrors our society. It indulges sex, 'badmanism' and dance," he explained. "Many people would be afraid to do what these guys are doing. They are brave enough to carry this anti-society sound to the world."

The modern dancehall's roots can be traced to the early 1980s when a brash Albino deejay called Yellowman and a teenage singer named Barrington Levy scored underground and radio hits for Henry 'Junjo' Lawes, a colourful producer who operated the Volcano label and sound system. Singers, such as Sugar Minott and Tenor Saw, and deejay Super Cat, also came of age during the 1980s. A decade later, as American record companies began recognising dancehall, the beat invaded the Billboard charts, through Shabba Ranks, Patra, Mad Cobra and Super Cat.

That momentum has continued into the 21st century, mainly through the deejays. Shaggy and Sean Paul's Hot Shots and Dutty Rock are two of the best-selling albums of the last 10 years, while Junior Gong's Welcome to Jamrock is one of the decade's most powerful statements.

All three genres will be presented at the musical collage, Rocksteady Meets Reggae and Dancehall.