Ska update

The hunt for the earliest mention of the word Ska took a new turn on last night's Balderdash and Piffle update (BBC2 last night). A record by Tommy McCook called Ska-Ba was issued on the Island label in the UK in 1963 - a year before the previous earliest recorded date for the word. Sax man McCook was a mainstay of early Jamaican music. He was a member of the Skatalites and his name appeared on many great instrumental records of the period. But we're still no nearer to identifying where the word Ska came from. There are a number of theories, including the resemblance to the sound of a guitar riff and Ska-voovie, a DJ catchphrase at the time, but nothing definitive. The search continues.