Fifty years after he recorded a song that gave a genre of music its name, Toots Hibbert is calling for a thrust in Jamaican schools to educate youth on the true history of Jamaican music.

The veteran singer used his song, Do The Reggae, as an example of pioneers not getting rightful due in their country. He plans to set the record straight when he kicks off a six-date trek in the United States next month. The 75-year-old artiste insists he coined the word “reggae”, and Jamaican children ought to know his role in crafting an international sound.

“Di whole worl’ know sey me create it, but Jamaica nuh know. Di youth of today need to know about people who do good on dis island,” he told the Jamaica Observer. “Dem mus’ learn these things in school.”

Hibbert recorded Do The Reggae in 1968. He recalls cutting the song with Raleigh Gordon and Jerry Mathias (his colleagues in The Maytals) at Federal Records in Kingston, with guitarist Hux Brown, bassist Jackie Jackson, and drummer Winston Grennan among the musicians backing them.

Though Leslie Kong is credited as the song’s producer, Hibbert claims he produced it. Kong, he added, was an executive producer.

As for a copyright on the word reggae, he said: “It’s registered already. When yuh record a song it’s automatically registered.”

According to Hibbert, reggae was based on ‘streggae’, a derogatory Jamaican slang for a loose woman. Do The Reggae was never a big hit in Jamaica, but Hibbert is associated with the song and reggae’s creation in Europe, Japan and Australia, areas where his fan base is massive.

The origins of reggae have baffled students of Jamaican popular music for decades. Many musicologists point to Nanny Goat, also recorded in 1968, as the first reggae song. Produced by Clement “Coxsone” Dodd at Studio One, it was done by Larry and Alvin and remains a dancehall staple.

Do The Reggae and Nanny Goat have slower bass lines compared to the uptempo patterns of rocksteady, the dominant sound in Jamaica from late 1965 to 1967.

The Maytals formed in the early 1960s as a ska group, and first recorded at Studio One. They also did songs for Prince Buster, Leslie Kong and Byron Lee.

Most of their classic sides, including Monkey Man, Pressure Drop and Funky Kingston, were done for Kong’s Beverley’s Records. They won the first Festival Song Contest in 1966 with Bam Bam, produced by Lee.

Toots and The Maytals kick off their latest round of shows on January 10 at Janus Live in St Petersburg, Florida.