Okuda Hiroko, Godmother of Sleng Teng

February 2, 2022 3:59 AM

Okuda Hiroko was a recent graduate from the Kunitachi College of Music in 1980 when she was hired by Casio, a calculator company who were developing musical keyboards. She was also a huge reggae fan, having done her thesis on the genre. Within her first year at Casio, she was assigned the task of developing the preset rhythm patterns for the new keyboards, including the MT-40, one of which, some years later, would end up being used in a Jamaican dancehall record named Under Mi Sleng Teng. In a recent interview, Okuda gives an oral history of the MT-40 Rock preset; saying that she was thinking in the direction of British rock she had been listening to, whilst conceding that she did try to create a bassline a reggae DJ could “toast” over, and recounting picking up Under Mi Sleng Teng after reading in Japan's Music Magazine that the preset she worked on had inspired a flood of new Jamaican music.

Previously on the MT-40 and dancehall.

posted by acb (10 comments total)

This article just made me happy. Love her career path and the company's decent relationship with its customers.
posted by evilmomlady at 4:34 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

This is so cool. As a reggae fan I knew about the Casio connection but never really thought about the person creating the preset. That she even meant it to be something to be toasted over is mindblowing. What a treat!
posted by Kosmob0t at 4:52 AM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

There are entire mixes consisting of nothing but songs based on the Sleng Teng riddim.

(For the uninitiated: a lot of Jamaican music is based on "riddims" – a standard repertoire of bass-and-drum grooves. They have names, like "Rice and Peas" or "Cuss Cuss". Typically, the name is derived from the title of the first track to introduce the riddim to the repertoire. The same riddim might be used on dozens or hundreds of different tracks. They lie somewhere between jazz standards, and the way that every hip-hop producer samples the drum break from "Funky Drummer" at some point. This isn't seen as ripping off the original artists – it's just an accepted part of how things are done. Jamaican music has unique ideas about authorship, owing partly to weak copyright laws in the early days of reggae.)
posted by escape from the potato planet at 5:24 AM on February 2, 2022 [10 favorites]

I had no idea. This is so cool. Thanks for this post!
posted by nicodine at 5:34 AM on February 2, 2022

Music producer Wrongtom posted a fantastic Twitter thread this morning about his relationship to Sleng Teng.
posted by General Zubon at 5:37 AM on February 2, 2022

Leaving this here to show what the MT-40 means to dancehall.
posted by Stu-Pendous at 6:09 AM on February 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

just adding to the train of "oh! cool" comments.. the way the internet bestows gifts you didn't know you needed
posted by elkevelvet at 7:37 AM on February 2, 2022

Thanks for the post! It's heartwarming too that she is appreciated and knows she is appreciated. I think most of us would love to have been a big part of something that has brought a lot of joy to a lot of people.
posted by vacapinta at 8:03 AM on February 2, 2022

I enjoyed the Keen On Keys episode on this topic (and that's a bit of a double from me!)
posted by Chef Flamboyardee at 3:27 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

I know it's a super-deep 80s cut, but immediately, I started singing Perfume from Spain over that MT-40 beat.
posted by yellowcandy at 2:00 PM on February 3, 2022 [2 favorites]