Under Mi Sleng Teng - Wayne Smith
Sleng Teng is a line in the sand for reggae history - it was the first fully digital riddim ever released and it ushered in sweeping changes to the Jamaican music scene.
It was released in 1985 and after roughly 15 years of roots dominance, there was an air of change in Jamaica. The riddim was created entirely on a Casio rhythm box keyboard - with an obscure keys riff and bass pattern layered over a rudimentary built-in drum beat.
Supposedly Wayne Smith was just mucking around with a few ideas for lyrics on Noel Davey's cheap Casio machine. However he decided he had come up with an interesting sound so he decided to head over to Jammy's.
Jammy quickly saw they were on to a winner so he instructed his engineer Bobby 'Digital' Dixon to get tracking. The resulting song was first unleashed by Jammy in a soundclash against the Scorpio Soundsystem on February 15. The new sound literally mashed up the dance - leaving his opponents vanquished and reggae music forever altered.
For many people this was a great moment in music history - reggae was sent into exciting new digital-directions such as modern bashment, UK steppas, jungle and eventually dubstep. However others feel that Sleng Teng was a bit of a nail in the coffin for reggae - one that killed off Jamaica's gifted studio bands and spelt the end of the glorious era of roots and culture.
Naram
« back to tracks of the week
Comments
Nice write up bro!
just imagine being at that sound clash!! BIG!!
bless!
just come across this page lookin for info.
respect.
Add a comment