ROOTS | Okuda Hiroko – The Roots of Sleng Teng

ROOTS The Roots of Sleng Teng

Okuda Hiroko

The Roots of Sleng Teng

Fresh out of college, having graduated from the Kunitachi College of Music in 1980, Okuda Hiroko was hired by Casio, a maker of calculators. Casio was developing musical keyboards and assigned Okuda Hiroko to develop the preset rhythm patterns for these new keyboards, including the MT-40.

Okuda Hiroko was a big fan of reggae music, having completed her thesis on the genre.

As Casio’s product development and music engineer, Okuda Hiroko, would eventually create one particular preset rhythm that would cause a revolution.

You see, that preset would end up being first used in a Jamaican dancehall record by Wayne Smith called Under Mi Sleng Teng in 1985. As a result, Sleng Teng was born, and for Okuda Hiroko, she would become known as the Godmother of Sleng Teng.


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