the origins of Diwali riddim?

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India...?

― helixu, Sunday, 14 September 2003 20:29 (twenty-two years ago)

jamaica, i should think.

― gabbo giftington (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 14 September 2003 20:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I read somwehere that diwali iz traditional indian beat, borrowed at the beggining of bhangra-mania in dancehall (shortly after indian hip hop craze, started with get ur freak on...), at the same time as tabla riddim came out... I just wonder if that is true...

― helixu, Sunday, 14 September 2003 20:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Some help here.

― JesseFox (JesseFox), Sunday, 14 September 2003 21:37 (twenty-two years ago)

In the special dancehall 2003 issue of the Beat Magazine there's also a profile of Jamaican Stephen "Lenky" Marsden who has been keyboardist for Buju Banton's Shiloh band for 7 years and who co-produced some of Buju's cds. He says he created the Diwali rhythm(named after a Hindu Festival) in 1998 and only later was able to get folks to rhyme over it.

― Steve Kiviat (Steve K), Monday, 15 September 2003 01:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, Lenky got some notice for all his stuff on Mo'Wax's "Now Thing" comp, went back into the studio and dusted off some old riddims which had been consigned to the archives, one of which was Diwali, starting floating it around at the beginning of 2001 - took about six months to a year before bigger names like Elephant Man jumped on board. "Get Busy" is actually the most recent variation.

I think the name is associative rather than a strict delineation of the rhythm's orgins.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 15 September 2003 01:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah..riddims never seem to necessarily be named for any particular reason. Especially these days...

― cybele (cybele), Monday, 15 September 2003 03:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Maybe another post, but can someone give me the official sanctified definition as to why 2-Step is so called. I've got some ideas from, well, listening to it. But what's the party line? Who started it? There should be a UN organisation maybe that defines musical genres.

― mentalist (mentalist), Monday, 15 September 2003 03:42 (twenty-two years ago)

basically because of the beat structure, although i'm too drunk to really explain in great detail.

― gabbo giftington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 15 September 2003 03:44 (twenty-two years ago)

i would like to think that in an alternate universe there are some nepali people drunk-dancing to an innovative sound of polka-deep-dish or something and calling it "Christmas riddim"

[Diwali is not "a" Hindu festival - ie, not just another festival - it is THE Hindu festival, etc]

― Vic (Vic), Monday, 15 September 2003 09:11 (twenty-two years ago)

lenky is himself of half south asian origin (i think on his mum's side), though, so this may have something to do with it. the diwali rhythm is v heavily influenced by bhangra, but not so much moreso than a hell of a lot of other rhythms before and since

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Monday, 15 September 2003 09:25 (twenty-two years ago)

and the reason he had trouble getting artists to voice it is apparently because it was too fast, or so he says

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Monday, 15 September 2003 09:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Interesting, I don't think it's nearly as fast as Clappas, is it? I've been trying to mix that sucker with shuffle tracks, since it's the same structure, but even with Clappas at -8 and shuffle at +8 you're still screwed...

― philip sherburne (philip sherburne), Monday, 15 September 2003 09:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Duh, but of course Clappas slows down into a half-time lope, it's only fast compared with other shuffle tracks. Forget I said anything, I'm going back to drinking my coffee.

― philip sherburne (philip sherburne), Monday, 15 September 2003 09:30 (twenty-two years ago)

actually that diwali = christamas analogy is wrong since to different south asians different festivals are important so i guess it is just "another" festival but it's still pretty damn important

― Vic (Vic), Monday, 15 September 2003 09:32 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah i think diwali opened the door for a lot faster rhythms, but both clappas and diwali are pretty damned pacy compared to most other rhythms...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Monday, 15 September 2003 09:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Isn't Diwali the Hindu festival of light, and therefore it's Christian equivalent would be Christmas? I dunno, just something I remember from RE in school.

― Nick H, Monday, 15 September 2003 14:12 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah a better analogy i guess is Hanukah (sp?) since there's candle-lighting involved

― Vic (Vic), Monday, 15 September 2003 14:19 (twenty-two years ago)

well, it's more like bonfire night, but hey...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Monday, 15 September 2003 16:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Once again I must express my disdain for 'riddim'.

Let's dumb down anyting dat be 2 hard 4 me G.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Monday, 15 September 2003 16:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, come off it Mr. Noodles.

― cybele (cybele), Tuesday, 16 September 2003 00:16 (twenty-two years ago)

It took me two years to get over 'Emo' which is the only thing I think is worse.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 16 September 2003 00:18 (twenty-two years ago)

if that's the beat I think it is, it sounds an awful lot like a offkilter looped "iko iko"

― autovac (autovac), Tuesday, 16 September 2003 08:24 (twenty-two years ago)

three months pass...

diwali riddim is a massive one man.keep dem tunes rolling in and wewill support you all the way.
one love tkjunior

― towana kaizer, Thursday, 15 January 2004 15:47 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

examples of da beats of diwali riddim are:

no letting go- wayne wonder
get busy- sean paul
never leave you- lumidee
officially missing you (midi mafia remix)- tamia ft. talib kweli

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~sumtin lk dat____:0

― ayannah kaluban, Tuesday, 17 February 2004 09:53 (twenty-one years ago)

_-_-____--____---___--___---__---_--___----~~~~~~~~~~~~~sssssss

pEacE!! awT!!! JAMAICA!!!!! yumm .... we lav dem patties.......(you should try our jamaican patties) its good.......hehehe....... =)

~å¥ªh~

― ayah ramise joanna crooke kaluban, Tuesday, 17 February 2004 10:12 (twenty-one years ago)

AYANNAH RAMISE JOANNA CROOKE KALUBAN

AYANNAH RAMISE JOANNA C. KALUBAN

AYANNAH C. KALUBAN

Nicknames:

ram
joan
ayah

Ar-jay.....

EMAIL MEEH!!!!!!! bye!!!

― ayah agen....wutevah, Tuesday, 17 February 2004 10:15 (twenty-one years ago)

dis is Ram.....(ayah) yap! wazzup ppl!!!

email me: ayah_qt22_suppastah88@hotmail.com

― WAzzuPP, Wednesday, 18 February 2004 05:38 (twenty-one years ago)

wazzup3x........ppl!!!! ey! email me!!!!
.....................................................................

lukin 4 an e-buddy......chooze meeh!!!

ayah_qt22_suppastah88@hotmail.com

― Ar-Jay, Wednesday, 18 February 2004 05:41 (twenty-one years ago)

What just happened?

― Mike Ouderkirk (Mike Ouderkirk), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 06:04 (twenty-one years ago)

twelve years pass...

Akash Chohan's history of this riddim was lovely:
http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/10/diwali-loop-history

― etc, Tuesday, 14 June 2016 01:02 (nine years ago)

a nice read, but some of his timelines are mixed up.

he seems to call everything desi and diasporic bhangra. which is not to deny the importance of bhangra on UK desi music, its undeniable, but to say that "by taking instruments like the Dhol and the Tumbi and experimenting with UK-centric electronic music genres such as garage", he is skipping forward many years. when jay sean came out, thats the desi beats era.

bhangra was already a big thing in asian communities in the 80s, while garage didnt really intersect with it until the late 90s. also a bit peculiar that in his list of indian music-sampling/influenced music, he omits get your freak on, a virtual ground zero in terms of indian sounds in modern western black/urban music. also doesnt mention the other indian-inspired dancehall riddims of that period, like tabla riddim (which is more obv timbo-inspired).

― StillAdvance, Tuesday, 14 June 2016 14:18 (nine years ago)

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