REGGAE, Pronounced "reg'-ay", reggae is a Jamaican musical style based on American soul music but with inverted rhythms and prominent bass lines. Many performers are rastafarians. The themes of reggae lyrics include Rastafari, political protest, and the 'rudie' (hooligan hero). Bob Marley (1945-81) and his group, the Wailers, were largely responsible for the widespread popularity of reggae. The film The Harder They Come (1973) brought the style to the United States. Reggae influenced a generation of white musicians - notably Paul Simon and Eric Clapton - and reggae modes can often be detected in today's rock and rap music. After the death of Bob Marley, the style lost much of its international energy, with the exception of a few bands such as Black Uhuru and Steel Pulse, and singer Linton Kwesi Johnson, a Jamaican poet living in England. The merging of rap and reggae into a style called dub or toasting, as well as the appearance of younger performers such as Ziggy Marley (Bob's son), revitalized reggae in the late 1980s and 1990s. In the 1960s the term reggae was used in reference to a “ragged” form of dance rhythm popular in Jamaica. The music and its rhythms were comprised of elements of American rhythm and blues, soul, and rock being heard on local radio stations and in dance halls; Afro-Caribbean rhythms (calypso, merengue, rhumba); and a folk music style called mento, which was rich in African heritage. Early forms of reggae (ska, rocksteady), reflected stronger influences from African-American music, although the guitar scratched chords on the offbeats, and the drums played complex cross-rhythms. Contemporary reggae draws from Rastafarian ritual drumming, chanting, and mysticism, thus slowing down the tempo and giving emphasis to the music’s social, political, and humanistic messages.