Lately, there has been a resurgence of an older form of music, invigorated by the efforts of bands who refuse to go along with the times.

No, I’m not talking about the neo-’70s grunge movement or the return of the New Wave 1980s. The music is ska, and the revival has been spearheaded by the Toasters, who pop up in Carbondale Sunday.

Ska, characterized by staccato guitar notes, horns and dancing bass lines, has seen an increase in popularity with little help from radio and video. It has been through the efforts of bands like the Toasters, Blue Meanies and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones that the genre, as rich in its history as the Jamaican culture that spawned it, has seen renewed interest.

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Rob Hingley, singer/guitarist/founding member of the Toasters, is an unofficial ska historian. He said the music is as old as rock and roll, and it has seen about as many changes.

Ska dates back to Jamaica in the late ’50s, the British-born Hingley said. It came out of a fusion between African rhythms and New Orleans rhythm and blues, which they were listening to on the radio and it’s what they were playing down there.

Originally, it was purely an instrumental form, and what a lot of people call rapping today originally took place down there in the 60s, Hingley said.

He said that proto-rappers such as Prince Buster and King Stitt began toasting rapping over the instrumentals as far back as the early 1960s.

Reggae stars including Bob Marley, Toots and the Maytals and Jimmy Cliff began playing ska before turning to reggae, which got its start in 1967, Hingley said.

While a renewed interest in reggae has been propelled by the immortal songs of Marley and its younger dance-hall and jungle cousins, ska relies on its tradition-rich history for its popularity. Hingley credits the underground network of ska fans with upholding its vitality, rather than a pre-packaged corporate drive.

Through the years, (ska) has always been here, more or less, he said. The major labels and the media are turning on to it through the efforts of bands like the (Mighty Mighty) Bosstones and Rancid.

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People have been writing off ska for years as just being a revival. They’re ignoring the fact that it has a rich cultural heritage that stretches back over 40 years.

Although major labels are quick to pounce on anything that will make them a buck, Hingley does not feel ska will have its own section down at the local mall outlet store anytime soon because there is no easy way to sell the form.

But in the interim, the Toasters will keep spreading the faith.

The Toasters play at 7 p.m. Sunday at Patty’s Place, 760 E. Grand Ave. Murphy’s Law, MU330 and Nitro Jr. will also perform. Admission is $5.