SKA
As seen by “The Rev” Paul Jackson
Ska has nine lives and is inherently lucky because of her trickster qualities.
She is as old as the universe and as young as revolution. As one thinks she’s been sussed out, one finds only more depths around each corner. Ska is comedy, tragedy, a stage for the fantastic and mundane. You cannot touch ska;
you are ska.
Ska is simple:
Ska is complicated.
Ska is immediate;
Ska is sublime.
Ska is oval and not square.
Ska is a method of learning to live in the moment.
Ska is stupid:
Ska is smart.
Technically, Ska is the ultimate expression of syncopation: In a bar of four beats, all big drum accents are on the backbeat (2 and 4), this includes the bass drum, no accent on the downbeat (1 and 3); secondary accents hit on the upbeats (1 and 2 and). Of course there are derivatives of this beat but this is where you start. It’s all from the backside of the beat and about lifting spirits up and dancing while grounding soul deeply.
Pelicans are very ska.