# Ska at the New York World's Fair (c. 1964)

URL: https://allhistories.com/jamaica/timeline/1964-ska-at-the-new-york-world-s-fair
Location: New York, United States
Themes: main-event

Edward Seaga, Minister of Development and Welfare in the JLP government and a former record producer and student of Jamaican folk culture, promoted ska as a distinctively Jamaican music that could represent the new nation abroad. The 1964 New York World's Fair offered a showcase for the island's tourism and culture. In 1964 the Jamaican government sent a delegation to the Jamaica pavilion at the fair, including Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, Jimmy Cliff, Prince Buster, Eric "Monty" Morris and a group of dancers who demonstrated the ska dance steps. The choice of Byron Lee's uptown band rather than the Skatalites, the musicians most closely associated with the ska sound, was controversial in Kingston. The performers also appeared in New York clubs and on American television. The tour did not make ska a lasting craze in the United States, but it marked an early instance of the Jamaican state using popular music as cultural diplomacy and a tourism asset. The Skatalites, formed in 1964 by musicians including Don Drummond, Tommy McCook and Roland Alphonso, broke up in 1965, and Jamaican music soon moved on to rocksteady and reggae, which would eventually conquer the international market that ska had first approached. At this point in the timeline (1964), the Queen of the United Kingdom; Queen of Jamaica (from 6 August 1962) was Elizabeth II (6 February 1952 – 8 September 2022); the Governor-General of Jamaica was Sir Clifford Campbell (1 December 1962 – 28 February 1973). Government: the Prime Minister of Jamaica was Alexander Bustamante (6 August 1962 – 23 February 1967).

## Why it matters
The World's Fair tour showed independent Jamaica adopting its popular music as a national symbol.

Ruler at the Time: [Elizabeth II](https://allhistories.com/jamaica/rulers/elizabeth-ii)

Governor-General of Jamaica: Sir Clifford Campbell
Prime Minister of Jamaica: Alexander Bustamante (Jamaica Labour Party)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — 1964 New York World's Fair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_New_York_World's_Fair)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Ska music](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Ska+music)
- [Ska — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ska)
- [The Skatalites — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Skatalites)
- [Wikipedia — Independence And The Cold War (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Jamaica)