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ENTITY · RIDDIM

Stalag

Well supported

The Stalag riddim begins as "Stalag 17", an instrumental written and played by Ansell Collins and released on Winston Riley's Techniques label in 1973. It went on to become one of the most heavily versioned rhythms in Jamaican music, and the bed for the single most sampled record dancehall has produced: Sister Nancy's "Bam Bam" (1982) is voiced over Stalag, not over any rhythm of its own.

Tenor Saw's "Ring the Alarm" (1985) is the other cornerstone cut. Riley was shot in Kingston and died in 2012; the rhythm he issued in 1973 is still being voiced and sampled worldwide.

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Connections

In stories

Story · Well supportedThe riddim as database

In Jamaican music a rhythm track is not the background to one song. It is a shared address that dozens of records live at, and it works like an index to the whole archive.

Story · Well supportedOne riddim, many voices: how the version built Jamaican music

In Jamaica the rhythm track, not the finished song, is the durable unit of creativity.

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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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