Three Animated Children's Songs That Are Performed In The Ska Music Style

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides Information about Ska music and showcases one video of that music genre.

This post also showcases three animated children's videos that are performed in the Ska music style.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are associated with these videos. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post, and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT SKA MUSIC
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ska
"Ska ... is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae.[1] Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. It is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off-beat. Ska developed in Jamaica in the 1960s when Prince Buster, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, and Duke Reid formed sound systems to play American rhythm and blues and then began recording their own songs.[2] Some suggest ska dates to earlier times, however. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods. Later it became popular with many skinheads.[3][4][5][6]"...

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SHOWCASE VIDEO OF JAMAICAN SKA
Keith & Ken with Byron Lee & the Dragonaires - Jamaica Ska



TarAntXon, Published on May 11, 2009

1964 footage of Byron Lee & The Dragonaires with shared vocal duties by Keith Lyn & Ken Lazarus demonstrating the latest dance craze from Jamaica: the Ska!.

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EXAMPLES OF SKA MUSIC CHILDREN'S SONGS
Example #1: Pick it Up (Feat. Alex Désert)



Parker Jacobs, Published on Feb 25, 2010

Yo Gabba Gabba! animated segment. GOGO13 teaches the importance of picking up your room. Pays homage to Prince Buster, The Specials and the like.
Winner 2008 ASIFA-East Animation Festival for Excellence in Humor
Music: GOGO13
Animation: Willy Hartland, Craig Patches
Character Design/ Concept: Parker Jacobs
Dad: Alex Desért
Girl: Darla Jacobs
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/11/gogo13-featuring-alex-desert-of-hepcat.html for the 2015 pancocojams post entitled "Ska Children's Song "Pick It Up!" (with lyrics)"

Information about "Pick It Up!" song and video are included in that post along with information about Ska music.

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Example #2: Bo On The Go Theme Song



Stephen Elmore, Published on Apr 11, 2017
-snip-
The title for this video misspelled the name "Bo" as "Boo".

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/05/bo-on-go-animated-childrens-series-its.html for a 2017 pancocojams post entitled "Bo On The Go!" Animated Children's Series & Its Use Of Ska Music, Made Up Language, & Rhyming".

Part of that post focuses on that Canadian animated children's series' use of Ska for its theme song and for the background music for each of the episodes in this series.

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Example #3: Days of the Week Song | The Singing Walrus



The Singing Walrus - English Songs For Kids, Published on Jun 11, 2015

Our "Days of the week song" is an interactive reggae-style tune that helps children remember all the days of the week in a fun way. Mother Hen leads the children to sing the days of the week in various styles - quiet, loud, and fast.

As the song starts, Mr. Crabby greets the children and asks them to listen to Mother Hen sing the first verse. When the second verse starts, Bear, Cat, Pig, and Dog appear to sing along. Mr. Crabby encourages the audience to repeat after Mother Hen.
The third and fourth verse is sung quietly and loud. Last but not least, Bear, Cat, Pig and Dog appear with their instruments, and the whole song is sung really fast!

Enjoy this song in the classroom or at home with your kids! They will have memorized the days of the week in no time!
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I believe that this style of music is Ska and not Reggae. However, I could be wrong. What style of music do you think this is?

Click for a companion video that is performed using another style of music. That song teaches the months of the year.

As somewhat of an aside, my four year old granddaughter loves both of those songs and the other songs that are featured in this post.

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