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ENTITY · CONCEPT / TERM

Panamanian roots of reggaeton

Probable

The lineage tracing reggaeton back to Panama, where Afro-Panamanian artists first recorded Jamaican dancehall in Spanish in the 1980s; Nando Boom's 'Ellos Benia' (a Spanish version of Shabba Ranks's 'Dem Bow', produced from Bobby Digital/Steely & Clevie's Dem Bow riddim) gave the genre its foundational 'dembow' rhythm before the music spread to Puerto Rico. Documents how the Jamaican dancehall diaspora seeded a global Latin genre (Remezcla; Wayne Marshall 'Dem Bow, Dembow, Dembo'; Bad Bunny Syllabus).

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At a glance

Confidence
Probable

Coverage areas

Diaspora & global influence

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In stories

Story · Well supportedWho owns the riddim?

A rhythm built in a Kingston studio in 1989 travelled to Panama, through New York, into San Juan, and became the pulse of the biggest Spanish-language pop music on earth. A Los Angeles court is now preparing to put the question of who owns it to a jury.

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Compiled and researched by The Jamaica Music Atlas music desk. The sources that informed it are credited above.

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