STEVEN "LENKY" MARSDEN

When it first came through your sound system, you cocked your head to the side to have a good listen. This didn’t sound like any dancehall riddim you’d heard before but you recognized the voice singing over the beat as a distinctly dancehall deejay. The mystifying rhythm that flooded every radio station and played at every barbecue this summer was the famous Diwali. That very simple synthesized beat with a repitituous hand clap ushered dancehall music into the limelight and made 2003 the Year of Dancehall. Three records, starting with Wayne Wonder’s ‘No Letting Go” (VP Records) rode the Diwali riddim straight to Billboard’s Top Ten and two of those songs, Sean Paul’s “Get Busy” (VP Records) and Lumidee’s “Never Leave You (Uh Ooh!)” (Straight Face/Universal Records) are still in the Top 50 R&B / Hip-Hop Singles charts after over 18 weeks! And “Get Busy” just went #1 in Canada! Of course we credit the talent and appeal of the artists with the amazing success of their singles, but what about the producer?

Jamaican keyboardist Steven “Lenky” Marsden is the mastermind behind dancehall music’s extraordinary crossover rhythm. All this unexpected success was born out of his unwillingness to conform and create within the imagined constraints of what dancehall music should sound like. Lenky’s professional music career started in the late 1980’s when he began playing the keyboards with veteran reggae band Lloyd Parks and We The People, backing the late Dennis Brown. He started touring as part of Buju Banton’s famed Shiloh band in 1996 where he remained until 2002.

The first big reggae hit featuring his work was the late Garnet Silk’s “Oh Me, Oh My”. After that the industry leaders started to call him. Sly Dunbar, Shocking Vibes, and Penthouse started requesting him for studio work. He worked his keyboard magic on several big tunes including Beenie Man’s “Maestro” and Tanto Metro and Devonte’s standout success “Everyone Falls in Love”.

The Diwali Rhythm took flight in 2002, but it was actually one of Lenky’s earliest productions. He created it in 1998 while in the process of building a selection of rhythms. However, when touring schedules were interrupted by the September 11th tragedies, Lenky decided to revisit some old tapes. He reworked this rhythm from September to December, but he was having a hard time finding deejays to voice on it. “At the time it sounded so different, they wondered what I was doing. I got frustrated so I started voicing lesser known artists like Zumjay (Greensleeves Records) and Assassin (Greensleeves Records) and I gave it to radio people to play. Then the big names heard it and decided to voice on it.”

Now in fall 2003 record sales and fan support uphold the Diwali rhythm as one of the most defining riddims in dancehall music to date. “Diwali brought in something new because people are getting creative and trying a lot of different stuff now”, says Lenky. “I am very happy for artists like Sean and Wayne, those guys being in the front is good for up-and-coming Jamaican artists and the reggae/dancehall business, and as more American artists come onto Jamaican rhythms, that will help sustain dancehall’s popularity in America.”