Today and tomorrow, we’re listening to Jamaican music. Not new Jamaican music like dancehall. But the old stuff: reggae, ska, rocksteady and dub. For many years, that music was the scene in Jamaica — and many around the world loved it too. And like many scenes, it came to an end. Tomorrow we’ll hear about one place where the musicianship is still alive in Jamaica. Today, The World’s Marco Werman tells us about the BEGINNING of the Jamaican scene.

Jamaica’s cool musical scene in the 60s and 70s took off thanks to a small piece of technology.