Ska Boom Interviews - Heather Augustyn: Ska Historian & Author

Welcome to Ska Boom Interviews, which is the audio companion to my new book Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History now available through DiWulf Publishing and Amazon.   In this episode, I’m speaking with Heather Augustyn who writes extensively about the history of ska music in Jamaica, the U.K., the U.S., and all over the world. Her books, scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, and online publications aim to give recognition of these artists and this marginalized genre of music. She has also established a collection of ska oral histories and artifacts at the Archive of African American Music.Heather has written seven books about ska and reggae, was the writer for the "Pick It Up: Ska in the 90s" documentary  and is currently researching and writing her latest book "Rude Girls: Women in 2Tone and One Step Beyond" which is due out in the Summer of 2022.We discuss Heather's ska "lightning bolt moment,"  what inspired her to write her first book "Ska: An Oral History" in 2010,  how American ska bands of the 80s and 90s had an obsession with spies and spy imagery and her take on women in ska and how 2021 seems to finally represent an inflection point for women ska musicians. We also talk about The Specials new album "Protest Songs." Please note: The music clips included in this podcast fall under the “Fair Use Doctrine” as defined by Section 107 of the Copyright Act. The law allows for use of music clips for purposes of criticism, comment, and news reporting.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Om Podcasten

Ska Boom - An American Ska & Reggae Podcast is hosted by Marc Wasserman, author of Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History published by DiWulf Publishing. Wasserman helped to found Bigger Thomas -- the first ska band from New Jersey -- in 1988 and had a front row seat to watch the growth of American ska. Ska Boom is the audio companion to the book, which tells the origin stories of 18 American ska and reggae bands and one national tour from the early 80s through the mid 90s that helped to give birth to and define a uniquely American version of ska and reggae. The podcast explores the impact of ska and reggae on popular music and features interviews with key ska and reggae musicians, audio documentaries about the history of ska and reggae and special episodes based on news and developments in the world of ska.