Under Me Sleng Teng
By Wayne Smith
““Under Me Sleng Teng” is a classic 80s Jamaican music master cut.”
A revolutionary piece of music that started the "digital" age in Reggae music, generating a new modern style called Ragga that incorporates electronic sounds and samples.
The track's "Sleng Teng" riddim became the most used instrumental in Reggae history: it has been covered in more than 500 songs. Yes, it's incredible, especially knowing that creating this particular riddim was a coincidence.
Musician Noel Davy created this track by accident using a Casio MT-40 electronic keyboard.
In 1984 a Jamaican musician named George "Buddy" Haye went to the United States to perform with a band called The Wailing Souls. He promised Noel Davey to buy him a music synthesizer.
“George “Buddy” came back to Jamaica with a new Casio MT-40 and gave it to Noel, that started playing with it, trying to create a song with singer Ian “Wayne” Smith (Rest in Power). ”
Noel was disappointed with George "Buddy," who promised him a more expensive and customizable synth called Yamaha DX7. Still, Noel did not give up and started using the keyboard.
Noel was messing around with the Casio MT-40 when he suddenly pressed some buttons, and a bass and drum pattern started to play. Noel later forgot what he pressed and could not replicate it, but he eventually found a way to play it again after a week.
Noel discovered that to activate the sequence, he needed to press the 'synchro' button, the start-stop button, and then the "D" key on the tiny bass keyboard on the left.
After discovering the pattern again, Noel and Wayne started working on the song. Wayne got inspired by the lyrics of Barrington Levy's "Under Mi Sensi," which celebrated the love for cannabis, disapproving much more potent and addictive types of drugs like cocaine.
Later, the duo brought a demo to the famous producer and dub master Lloyd James, aka "King Jammy." In the beginning, Lloyd was not convinced with the demo. He thought it had a too-fast tempo for a reggae song. King Jammy later slowed the song tempo and added some piano overdubs to it, and the rest is history.
Some days after the release, King Jammy brought the record to a Reggae Soundclash music contest, and the crowd started vibing with it, really loving the song.
So, as a classic Reggae tradition, King Jammy immediately thought to create different song versions by recruiting different singers.
That also contributed to the riddim becoming a staple in Reggae music, helping create the new digital Ragga-Dancehall style.
"Under Me Sleng Teng" completely changed how reggae music was made. Before this song was released, reggae songs were created by a singer writing hooks and lyrics working together with session musicians on the song. This then-new "Sleng Tem" riddim revolutionized the sound of reggae forever.
“After the “Sleng Teng” riddim, Reggae producers started creating new tunes without the input of the singers - toasters. ”
The singers only got the instrumental later on the production stage and only then wrote the lyrics, instead of working together on a song with session musicians like they did in the past.
Few people know that a Japanese female engineer was partially responsible for creating this song. Her name is Hiroko Okuda. The bass and rhythm tracks were a pattern (The Rock preset) created by Hiroko for the Casio keyboard that Noel Davey used for the song.
In the early 80s, Casio started producing electronic keyboards targeted at the consumer market, and the MT-40 model used in this song was among the first created by the Japanese company.
Hiroko was responsible for creating the preset sounds for the keyboard. She was very fond of Reggae music, and she even saw Bob Marley and the Wailers playing in Japan in the late 70s.
Hiroko was surprised to find out some years later about the success of the Sleng Teng riddim worldwide, and she felt very proud of what she did with Casio Keyboard's presets.
This classic Reggae jam was sampled and covered in countless songs, including. Many artists got inspired and sampled it, including The Prodigy, 2 Live Crew, Todd Terry, Rancid, M.I.A., etc.
"Under Me Sleng Teng" opened the doors to new musicians who could not afford to rent a studio in Jamaica.
By owning an affordable electronic keyboard and a multitrack recorder, they could start creating new exciting songs, leading to a new creative era of new great, and exciting Jamaican music.
Which one is your favorite Reggae song and why?
