Collection: Ska / Two Tone

Ska was brought over to England during the long aftermath of World War II. England needed workers to help rebuild London and other areas that had been devastated during the Blitz. They encouraged immigration from a number of Caribbean nations, including Jamaica, which was a colony of the UK until 1962. This wave of new Jamaican arrivals, which later came to be called “the Windrush generation,” brought over its music with the influx.  This created new points of contact between Jamaican and British working class culture.

The term “two-tone” refers to second wave ska’s interracial scene where young Black and white music fans went to shows and jammed together.