- Riddim
A riddim is an
instrumental version of a song, which applies to Jamaican music (mostly dancehall and reggae) or other forms of Caribbean music. Riddims usually consist of adrum pattern and a prominentbassline . TheJamaican Patois term "riddim" is from the English word "rhythm ".Riddims are the instrumental backgrounds of
reggae ,lovers rock , dub,ragga ,dancehall , and sometimes ragga-soca compositions. Also, rare cases inreggaeton , which itself is largely based on the "Dem Bow" riddim from the early 1990s, feature a riddim, such asIvy Queen and Sasha's "Dat Sexy Body", which uses the "Bookshelf" riddim produced by Tony Kelly of the K-LICIOUS reggae label. In other musical contexts, a riddim would be called agroove or beat. In most cases the term "riddim" is used in reference to the entire background track orrhythm section , but in older roots riddims, "riddim" is used to reference a certain bassline and drum pattern. Often amelody is associated with the riddim, and occasionally an artist will produce two different songs with the same riddim (e.g. Elephant Man's "Ele Melody" and "Father Elephant" were both produced using the "Kopa", produced by Supa Dups).Types of Riddims
Riddims can generally be categorized into three types. The oldest type of riddim is the classical riddim providing
roots reggae , dub and lovers rock with instrumentals, e.g., "Bam Bam" produced bySly & Robbie . The second type is the ragga riddim backing raggamuffin and dancehall tunes, e.g., "Juice" produced by Richard "Shams" Browne. The third type is the digital riddim, e.g., "Sleng Teng " produced byKing Jammy .So-called digital riddims refer to riddims created around the time that Jamaican producers incorporated
drum machine s andsynthesizer s into reggae-music production. Nowadays, however, most dancehall and Soca riddims are created by electronic instruments, so, in essence, most are digital.The Producers
Different producers often develop their own versions of the same riddim, and different artists often perform on top of the same riddims with different lyrics and different vocal styles, ranging from singing to
toasting . As an example,Beenie Man 's song "My Wish",Mr. Vegas ' song "Go Up", andT.O.K. 's "Man A Bad Man" are all based on the "Juice" riddim. Many riddims are named after the song that was recorded on that instrumental track for the first time (or, in some cases, the song that becomes the most popular on a given riddim). For example, the "Satta-A-Masagana" riddim is named after The Abyssinians' original song "Satta-A-Masagana."Several notable producers include:
*Dj Soxx
*Christopher Birch
*Stephen McGregor
*Black Chiney
*DJ Pro
*Don Corleon
*Fire Links
*Bobby Digital
*King Jammy
*King Tubby
*Henry "Junjo" Lawes
* Joe Gibbs
*Donovan Germain
* Dave Kelly
* Tony Kelly
* Daseca
* Arif Cooper
* Rohan "Jah Snowcone" Fuller
* Ward 21
* Baby G
* Daddy Jones
* Boyie Aka MoBuddz
* Mohan Dindial
* Daddy Ez
* Rondell Ruiz
* Renaissance Disco
* Andre Dixon
* Justin "Jus Bus" Nation (Antigua)ee also
*
Music of Jamaica External links
* [http://search.dmoz.org/cgi-bin/search?search=riddim Riddim] at the
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