The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae
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Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae
#2No post body was provided.
Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae
#3Most late 20th century western musical movements and the cultural changes that came with them was down to manufacturers of instruments. It was usually a box, synthesizer or effects unit. Surely the R&D for new sounds is what music depends on?
Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae
#4For those who don't know, "Riddim is the Jamaican Patois pronunciation of the English word 'rhythm'. In the context of reggae and dancehall it refers to the instrumental accompaniment to a song and is synonymous with the rhythm section... A given riddim, if popular, may be used in dozens—or even hundreds—of songs, not only in recordings but also in live performances."
The actual riddim sounds completely uninteresting to my American ears. But the novelty and catchiness obviously connected to millions of people at the time.
Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae
#5Most late 20th century western musical movements and the cultural changes that came with them was down to manufacturers of instruments. It was usually a box, synthesizer or effects unit. Surely the R&D for new sounds is what music depends on?
I don't think it's necessarily the sounds, but what the article describes, "bringing the pleasure of playing a musical instrument to everyone". New ways of creating music end up in the hands of people that otherwise may not have gotten started, and new styles emerge.
Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae
#6Most late 20th century western musical movements and the cultural changes that came with them was down to manufacturers of instruments. It was usually a box, synthesizer or effects unit. Surely the R&D for new sounds is what music depends on?
I think it was always the case that the development of instruments is a major influence on musical styles. Sacred music and the church organ, Baroque music and the harpsichord, Romantics and the piano, Jazz and sax, the list goes on and on.
Today however, synthesizers can create any sound imaginable so we probably reached the end of the cycle. Who knows what will guide the future of music.
Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae
#7The Sleng Teng riddim is one of my favorite reggae riddims.
Americans might best know it as the bassline from Sublime's Caress Me Down (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_LP4IU6XD4).
But you might really love the lyrics of Tenor Saw's Pumpkin Belly, which a song of the "old time proverbs":
"Whatsover you want / You have to work very hard to gain."
Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae
#8There's no decent reggae after the early 1980s, apart from UB40 knock off bands. Give me the Pioneers, Dave and Ansel Collins or Justin Hinds any day.
Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae
#9As someone who dj'd almost exclusively early (and late) dancehall and dub back in the early 00s, I can attest that this riddim has absolute magical properties. It is just one of those things where the tone, the key, the hisses, the bass frequency, the everything just clicks. The room will never not pop off when Sleng Teng drops. That, and it's sister riddim, Stalag. Like best buds, those two.
Re: The Casio employee behind the “Sleng Teng” riddim that revolutionized reggae
#10Most late 20th century western musical movements and the cultural changes that came with them was down to manufacturers of instruments. It was usually a box, synthesizer or effects unit. Surely the R&D for new sounds is what music depends on?
This implies that the manufacturers had a decent grasp of "where things would go," and I think that couldn't be further from the truth? All the good (or at least interesting) stuff came from "hackers," aka the scratching DJs, the guys who had to scrape for beat machines, etc. etc. Limitations being the inspiration and all that.