Stephen Cheng: Rocksteady's Untold Pioneer
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- čas přidán 26. 03. 2024
- Rocksteady is the direct progenitor of Reggae music and emerged from Ska in the late 1960s. Though most fans of reggae remember Rocksteady stars like Derrick Morgan and Hopeton Lewis, it's hardly remembered or known that a musician from China is among the earliest or even THE first musician to put out a Rocksteady record
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Big up yourself ❤️💛💚
@@ReggaeAppreciationSocietymay Lord Min bless you
The first time I played bass with Alton Ellis, I asked him about this. As he told it to me - "Girl I've Got A Date" and "Why Birds Follow Spring" was the first rocksteady recording session. According to him, the reason they decided to slow the music down was to make room for Lynn Taitts muted picking lines, particularly in "Why Birds Follow Spring" where they play around the bass line outlining the arpeggios of the chords. To his credit, "Girl I've Got A Date" was released in late 1966. Although, to be fair, Hopeton Lewis' "Take It Easy" was also released around the same time and featured the same band, so it's possible that session was first and Alton wasn't aware.
But, to be completely honest, trying to put it down to one recording may be futile really. There's foreshadowing of Rocksteady in a number of Ska recordings - Jackie Mittoo's "El Bang Bang" and Justin Hinds & The Dominoes' "The Higher The Monkey Climbs" being two obvious examples. Certainly the musical elements were there already and given how fast some Ska recordings were getting, slowing down was really the only musical direction to go. Plus I've heard it said that the summer of 1966 was particularly hot and dancers were getting tired more quickly.
Respect.
Respect sir 🙌 Thanks for sharing this
I particularly like that year 1966, there's a few classic songs that were not quite ska, but not slow enough to be rocksteady. A golden era.
@watsonunlimitedmusic Yes, sir, I wholeheartedly agree that pinning it down to one song is futile. I'm by no means a true music historian, but I have heard several ska tunes from around that time which straddle the line between the genres: more than the slowing down of the rhythm, more important, in my opinion, is the fact that they have the loud "clack" on the third beat which immediately identifies a song as rocksteady and which is not at all as prominent in ska tunes. Still, it is good to learn about this Chinese brother, as Chinese contributions to the progression of Jamaican music (some extremely important!) are not widely known.
@ReggaeAppreciationSociety Raspect in every aspect 🙏 I really like your channel. Great work !
Superb, your editing and research are sensational, combined with a deep love of the music. Thank you
Excellent. Thank you!!!!
Blessings mon ✌️ I'm glad you liked it
Listened to it, and it sounds pretty rock steady to me...
Thank you R A S❣️ Will have to check this guy out, never heard of him before this. On another note: I’ve noticed melodies in early Jamaican songs that remind me of some of the German lullabies and folk songs of my youth.
Blessings ❤️💛💚
Please do a segment on Lynn Tate and his influence on rock steady and the reggaea scene. Who is he and how he impacted the reggae scene. with the scatting on Toots and the Maytals etc.
Definitely. It's way overdue
@@ReggaeAppreciationSociety Give thanks anticipating it's release. very prompt results. Ises.
Big ups RAS...thank you for this!!!! Stephen was the main player behind the Rocksteady Movement. Praises due to Stephen and yourself...cheers from California
Boss, your channel is the great
Also released in 1966 were Dont Stay Away by Phyllis Dillon and Happy Go Lucky Gir & On the Beach by the Paragons among many others .... So no 1967 song release can be considered to be the first Rock Steady release.
😂It’s such a good thing dates are on most of these records and few veterans are still with us to give us the facts and reality about the creation of the music, otherwise some people would credit the creation of Jamaican music in its various forms to Opportunists who had very little to do with the music.
It’s still a mystery to some people how this little Island gave the world a music… (some other people must have made BIG contribution, this cannot be so).
😅I remember, over 20yrs ago Hip hop was highly but not totally credited to Clive Campbell aka Kool Herc. However, that has changed slowly over the years as Hip hop becomes more lucrative with every race, creed and nationality making claim to the genre.
I always felt that Roy Shirley's *"Feel Good"* was the first rock steady record, which came out in 1966.
THANK YOU. MR.CHENG.
Thanks For the information,, Blessed Love,, Rastafari,, 🇱🇨👊🏽🇯🇲👍🏽❤️
Excellent video , tanx
Blessings ❤️💛💚 I'm glad you liked it
Here for my lesson in music history🎓
I must disagree with you. Hopeton Lewis recorded the first song that was recognized as Rocksteady. As he explained it, he simply wanted to slow down the pace of Ska. The song was “Take It Easy.”
You are absolutely correct.
Hopeton Lewis(Take it Easy), Alton Ellis(get ready,do the rock steady), Desmond Dekker(Rudeboy Train) are examples of early rocksteady. Nearlin(Lynn) Taitt, a trinidadian guitarist who moved to Jamaica, is said to be the first to suggest slowing down the ska beat to form rocksteady. His band, Lynn Taitt and the Jets, backed many of those early rocksteady records. He also recorded many rocksteady instrumentals. Unfortunately, he migrated to Canada in the late 60s as reggae was starting to emerge.🎶🎸🇯🇲
Jah know, not even a sample of it or lead us to some link presenting it. Good coverage "mi hydren", really love to hear it here first. Good vid!
I always thought Hopeton Lewis' Take It Easy is the defining early rocksteady track, as well as something like The Wailers' Let Him Go. In terms of less obvious ones I've often felt Mighty Sparrow's The Rebel is up there, as even though he's a calypso musician the beat's clearly rocksteady.
"Take It Easy" is often credited. But no one knows really. Having played with some of the people there at the time, I can say their memories were as foggy as anyone's would be 30yrs later and these things weren't cataloged well at the time. So we may never really know.
Interesting 🤔 Thanks for sharing this
"Take It Easy" was recorded in October of 1966. That information was confirmed by Hopeton Lewis and the producers of the song
I should have read the comments before adding mine a minute ago. I agree. “Take It Easy” was the first Rocksteady recording.
Great information dude. Your sound track is sweet, please let me know who did it.
Rock Steady wasn't sweet until the young U Roy chatted to the song, "You've Caught Me Baby" Now, that's talent. De bwai rode that rythm like a borrowed mule.
Good msg me boss ,but I notice Derrick Morgan was looking into the camera I thought he said he was blind from he was a child !!smn nuh right him look handsome dem time deh doh.
Another great video - the original song is a well-known Taiwanese folk song. Here in Taiwan there is a Jamaican style Soundsystem (called Formosa Sound System, have a look czcams.com/video/EMSwxbYNxhI/video.htmlsi=FPzVhxyIf3fSe8bW ) and the boss proudly owns and plays the original 7 inch.
Respect - but wary to credit Byron Lee of all producers for being “the first”…of a a genre.
This guy was not the creator or the first to bring about rockstead.
Rastafari
hes not the pioneer thats why he isnt talked about as being such
There are some incorrection in your video. Firstly, Ska was created in 1959. Jamaica's Independence had nothing at the time in the creation of the genre. Actually, the creation of Ska was an accident. Prior Ska, a little known Genre, 'Jamaican Blues' aka Blue Beat 1957-8. They were copying the Jumping Blues in New Orleans. T. Beckford, Easy Snapping, didn't get it quite right. Nonetheless, the producer allowed it to be pressed and sold. This staccato like sound was given the name Ska. Mento played if any, a very minimal role in this genre. Calypso, none. These are the main influence of Ska; Rhythm n' Blues (Jumping Blues), Jazz, Cuban Music. There was a handful of artists, Lord Tanamo, Derrick Harriott and a few more made some Mento versions to Ska. This happy music ushered in referendum and independence. You said, Stephen Cheng was the first Rocksteady song 1967, well Rocksteady came about in the last quarter of 1966. Alton Ellis, The Paragons, Bob Andy and others were doing Rocksteady during that period. (Added) I wrote this before listening fully to the video... This was a good video.