Digital revolution for the ghetto

For one generation of music consumers the duo Steely and Clevie is associated strictly with the bare bones drum and bass-heavy rhythms of dancehall. However, but for another generation of music makers, the duo's venture into digital beats was a betrayal of their pedigree.

After all, they had worked at Lee 'Scratch' Perry's legendary Black Ark Studio since starting to work together in 1973 and played on sessions at several top studios. One of the first sessions they played on was Hugh Mundell's Africa Must Be Free By 1983. And Clevie was from the 'Browne Bunch' of singing and musician brothers.

Drummer Cleveland 'Clevie' Browne tells The Sunday Gleaner that their taking a minimalist approach to dancehall beats was deliberate and not a compromise as many of their musician friends may have thought, or a limitation as those who did not know them from pre-Jammy's days may have misconstrued.

He points out that, especially from the Trench Town background of Steely, they believed in creating opportunities for persons.

"These beats gave persons with a more limited musical ability a chance to express themselves," Clevie said. He spoke about Jamaica's class divisions and said it was important that the person from the ghetto has a voice and an opportunity to earn.

Music movement

So the beats were constructed that even if someone was somewhat tone-deaf or off-key they could still put a vocal on the track. And Clevie points out that while they were criticised by musicians, they were congratulated by academics who studied music movement across the continents. "They said we achieved what many people have gone to school for many years to try to do. We had got the music in a form that people were listening," Clevie said.

He put forward the Leroy Gibbons version of the Drifters' Magic Moment as an example of how the music was changed but still retained the sound of the original.

"We took that song and broke it down to one chord," Clevie said.

According to Clevie, there is evidence that the minimalist beats also impacted the Caribbean.

Reggaeton craze

They made the rhythm for Poco Man Jam (Gregory Peck), on which Red Dragon did Kru Koom Koom and Bobby Digital reshaped for Shabba Ranks' Dem Bow.

And it is the latter track which inspired the reggaeton craze that swept the Latin American market especially in the late 1990s to early 2000s.

Clevie also notes the beats that they have continued to inspire, among them the Throwback Gigi, a remake of their original, on which Leftside and Esco recorded Tuck In Yu Belly and Buju Banton did Too Bad.

VP Records has released the Steely and Clevie: Digital Revolution double CD collection in their Reggae Anthology series, which has 42 of their digital productions. These include Call The Hearse (Bushman), Caan Done (Shabba Ranks), Ram Dancehall (Tiger) and Murder Dem (Ninja Man). There is an accompanying DVD with a 1988 interview and studio demonstration by Steely and Clevie, as well as a 2005 interview sponsored by Red Bull Academy.