LIQUIDATOR TALKS REGGAE

Check out this interview with Liquidator Music's head honcho Toni Face where we talk social media, funny and Reggae. MORE ›››

100 GREATEST ROCKSTEADY TUNES

DanceCrasher.com has done an exhaustive list of the top 100 Rocksteady gems of all time with label scans and sound clips. MORE ›››

THE SKATALITES STORY

Check out the liner notes from the Heartbeat Records release "Foundation Ska" that help to tell the long history of the originators! MORE ›››

HIS STORY OF US SKA

David Hillyard (Slackers, Hepcat, Donkey Show, Rocksteady 7) gives his perspective on the history of US Ska. MORE ›››

Gleaner: The Rhythmic Innovation of Lloyd Knibb; Urges Kids To Follow His Lead

By Lawless On May 16, 2011 · Leave a Comment

The Jamaica Gleaner posted an amazing summary of the life and gifts of Lloyd Knibb today.

I especially like this part:
We, as music lovers, musicians and musicologists, are grateful that Lloyd Knibb established an authentic Jamaican rhythmic structure. For, he too, like the music he made and his achievements, has become a symbol of hope.

The Rhythmic Innovation of Lloyd Knibb
Written by Herbie Miller
Jamaica Music Museum
Kingston, Jamaica

Virtuoso Skatalites drummer Lloyd Knibb died on May 12 at his home in Harbour View, St Andrew. Knibb was simply the most important and influential modern drummer this country has produced. A master percussionist, he contributed to every style of this nation’s popular and not so popular musical forms, including jazz, mento, burru, nyabinghi, rock steady and, by extension, reggae.

As a drummer, he established rhythmic syntax through bold innovative advances; a synthesis of styles that set the rules for rhythmic structure that later informed every drummer (interested in Jamaican beats) in terms of the logic and structure of popular dance-floor rhythms.

Because of that, he was known as the world’s greatest ska drummer.

They also talked to Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, minister of youth, sports and culture with responsibility for entertainment who went on to say “The passing of Lloyd Knibb has left a void in the music industry that will not be filled easily…. I am encouraging young musicians, though, especially drummers, to aspire to the standard set by Lloyd Knibb, a musician of pure class and a gentleman.””