Q 01/05

Bob Marley's 'No Woman, No Cry' recalls a government yard in which neighbourhood?

A) August Town

B) Tivoli Gardens

C) Half Way Tree

D) Trench Town

Answer · why

D) Trench Town

Trench Town was also home to Vincent Ford, who ran a soup kitchen there; Marley is said to have given him the song's writing credit so the royalties c...

Q 02/05

Which Jamaican group's 1968 single, spelt 'Reggay', was the first song with the genre's name in its title?

A) Desmond Dekker and the Aces

B) Toots and the Maytals

C) Justin Hinds and the Dominoes

D) The Heptones

Answer · why

B) Toots and the Maytals

Toots and the Maytals called it 'Do the Reggay'; Toots Hibbert said he took the word from 'streggae', street slang for someone looking raggedy.

Q 03/05

Which genre came immediately before reggae in Jamaica, slower than ska and with more romantic lyrics?

A) Rocksteady

B) Calypso

C) Bluebeat

D) Mento

Answer · why

A) Rocksteady

Rocksteady lasted barely two years, yet slowing ska down pushed the bass line to the front, a trait reggae kept.

Q 04/05

What is the name for the short, scratchy offbeat guitar chop that defines reggae?

A) The riddim

B) The toast

C) The skank

D) The dubplate

Answer · why

C) The skank

The skank descends from ska's offbeat guitar chop, which imitated the boogie-woogie piano vamp of New Orleans rhythm and blues.

Q 05/05

Reggae is closely associated with which Afrocentric religion that emerged in Jamaica in the 1930s?

A) Rastafari

B) Candomblé

C) Vodou

D) Santería

Answer · why

A) Rastafari

Rastafari is the movement reggae grew out of, and the music's worldwide success, led by Bob Marley, carried the faith far beyond the island.