But little has been known of Okuda’s background, and her face has never appeared in media interviews. Even more remarkably, the preset track that became the Sleng Teng riddim was the work of a young developer who was still in her first year with the company.įor years, her story has been the stuff of legend among afficionados of Jamaican music. In other words, Casio, familiar to millions as the maker of the calculators used in classrooms and offices around the world, played midwife to Jamaican digital dancehall. The Casiotone MT-40, which sold for ¥35,000. It was this preset that Smith and his friends used as the basic building block for their revolutionary song. It was originally a preset rhythm pattern programmed into the Casiotone MT-40, released in 1981. In fact, the history of the riddim goes back further than Smith and his collaborators. Today, 35 years after the original song was released, the conventional version of reggae history holds that the “father” of the riddim was Wayne Smith and his producer at the Jammy’s label in Jamaica. The riddim played a key role in bringing Jamaican music into the digital era, and is known as one of the “monster riddims” that ushered in the golden age of the dancehall era. The “Sleng Teng” riddim, named after the song in which it was first used, has now inspired as many as 450 different songs.

It is common for numerous artists to make their own “versions” (vocal interpretations) of popular riddims, building original songs around the same basic rhythmical pattern. In modern styles, the drums and bass provide the distinctive “riddims” or backing over which a DJ or singer overdubs a vocal. The rhythm section has always formed the backbone of reggae music. The song immediately became a smash hit when it was released in 1985, and its optimistic digital sound and addictive beat soon took the world by storm. Written by Smith and his friend Noel Davey, the pioneering dancehall classic was made using a Casio electronic keyboard. “Under Mi Sleng Teng,” by Jamaican singer Wayne Smith, is one of the milestones in the history of Jamaican popular music. The Casiotone Preset that Kickstarted Jamaican Dancehall

Reggae riddims list