Sleng Teng: How a Japanese woman influenced Jamaica’s reggae

By YURI KAGEYAMA
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — A musical revolution in Jamaica has a connection with a rhythm pattern that came off a portable electronic keyboard that’s the brainchild of a Japanese woman. The bouncy rhythm heard in the 1985 reggae hit “Under Mi Sleng Teng” by Wayne Smith came from Casiotone MT-40, which went on sale in 1981. It was the first product Hiroko Okuda worked on after joining Casio, the company behind G-Shock watches. Okuda says the MT-40 feels like her first child. She doubts the famous reggae musicians know her. If she ever gets to meet them, she just wants to thank them for the great music they created.