Word of the Day: Skank
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
I'd never heard about this word before I hit the islands (New Zealand) and started listening to their music. Some of my favourites and first encounters were Kora, Fat Freddy's Drop and Katchafire. Which all, I've realised just a few minutes ago, use the word skanking in at least one of their songs. So what is Skank or Skanking? Reasersh shows that its a form of dance:

"Skanking is a form of dancing practiced in the reggae, ska, ska punk, ska-core, hardcore punk, and grime music scenes.

The dance style originated in the 1950s or 1960s at Jamaican dance halls, where ska music was played. British mods and skinheads of the 1960s adopted these types of dances and altered them. The dancing style was revived during the 1970s/1980s 2 Tone era, and has been adopted by some individuals in the hardcore punk subculture. The punk version features a sharp striking out look with the arms, and is sometimes used in moshing to knock around others doing the same. The striking out with the arms while traveling in a circle is also common in psychobilly "wrecking."

The term "skanking" has also been used to refer to a style of rhythm guitar playing employed frequently in reggae music as part of the actual rhythm section, commonly misconceived as a regular up stroke across all six strings of the guitar on every other beat of the measure, frequently exactly accompanied by the keyboard equivalent. It is actually mostly played with a downstroke on every second beat, rather than a up stroke on the off-beat. This would upset the common down-up-down-up motion rhythm guitarists play, with the down on the beat and the up syncopated."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skank_(dance)


Ah! Now I get it! So the word of the day is.... Skankin'. And can be found here:

Katchafire - Skankin'

Kora - Skankenstein

Fat Freddy's Drop

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4 comments:

On Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at 3:15:00 PM GMT+2 , John said...

Two thumbs up at the Kora clip.
one for the music itself, and one for the fantastic video :)

/J

 
On Saturday, May 9, 2009 at 6:36:00 PM GMT+2 , isobelll said...

Yeah, its real cool ey? Gotta get you that music, hun!

 
On Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 11:18:00 AM GMT+2 , Sjales said...

Well In Denmark the word Skank, means something completly different... Completly... Some might call you a skank, where I come from ;) Sweetie

 
On Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 3:40:00 PM GMT+2 , isobelll said...

What are you implying my dear? My definition is the New Zealand or might even be the original one. What's yours?