The types of music whose genealogical trees are rooted in New Orleans are about as many as the number of bands you can see on any Saturday night. Blues, jazz, zydeco, and rock 'n' roll all owe some degree of parental debt to the Crescent City. One type of music not traditionally associated with New Orleans is reggae and the music of the Caribbean.

What we today know as reggae, however, finds in its origins the synthesis of two distinct sounds: mento, a music popular among the poor...