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#285037 - 04/06/10 10:25 PM Need reggae, calypso type styles for T2. Also questions on this kind of music
Scott Langholff Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 06/09/02
Posts: 3163
Loc: Pensacola, Florida, USA
The club manager is wanting "upbeat" music and reggae was mentioned. All the reggae music I am aware of is kind of slow ho hum sounding to me. So, is there something I haven't come across yet so this combination makes sense.

Just went to youtube to see if there was some fast reggae and you know all I heard was this slow Don't Worry Be Happy kind of beat. I can see this once in a while, but this stuff sounds so boring. Some real nothing tunes.

If you can steer me in a better direction on this I'd appreciate it.

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#285038 - 04/07/10 05:27 AM Re: Need reggae, calypso type styles for T2. Also questions on this kind of music
montunoman Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 10/20/09
Posts: 3208
Loc: Dallas, Texas
probably the club owner isn't refering to the tempo but just the vibe of reggae. You know it's music that people like to party to . maybe he means ska? But probably he wants Bob Marely tunes. Sometimes it's hard hard for us musicians to understand laymen terms. Good luck!
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#285039 - 04/07/10 05:47 AM Re: Need reggae, calypso type styles for T2. Also questions on this kind of music
Tonewheeldude Offline
Moderator

Registered: 01/21/10
Posts: 1537
do a little research into SOCA. this is a great modern style mix that is very dance oriented. you will here it at Carnivals and Mardi Gras. Your boss might like it.

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#285040 - 04/07/10 01:17 PM Re: Need reggae, calypso type styles for T2. Also questions on this kind of music
Diki Offline


Registered: 04/25/05
Posts: 14182
Loc: NW Florida
If you are playing reggae for white audiences, you might want to check out a bunch of UB40. Red, red wine, Here I am Baby, things like that (they did a LOT of covers of popular tunes as well as originals). You might want to listen to some live cuts of Bob Marley. His band took the tempo up quite a bit on some of his slower hits.

Ska is a bit risky, unless you have a college crowd. A bit TOO fast for many older partiers. But you might want to listen to some Madness (One Step Beyond, Night Boat to Cairo) or stuff from the late 70's early 80's ska revival. And if you learn ONE ska tune for the youngsters, try Santeria, by Sublime (sort of a ska/reggae cross, really). A college anthem, to be honest...

Calypso is REALLY dated. Mostly only the 50's and 60's up crowd remembers that.

Soca and Dancehall are very upbeat styles, but you've got to have some REALLY determined dancers for that to work with an older crowd. Google some Sparrow, or maybe 'Hot, Hot, Hot' is a good soca one to get ALL the people dancing.

But there IS quite a bit of uptempo reggae (more uptempo than dub, anyways!), you just have to hunt it down.
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