The 1967 edition of the Dictionary of Jamaican English lists reggae as "a recently estab. sp. for rege", as in rege-rege, a word that can mean either "rags, ragged clothing" or "a quarrel, a row".[1]
I think what your thinking of is a form of classical music called Baroque
The term came from the ghettos of Kingston Jamaica
Overture =)
ska