Roots Archives Forum

I heard the old Shirley Ellis tune 'The Clapping Song' the other day, and it got me thinking. Handclaps get used in soul and rock music regularly enough, but I can't think of any reggae tunes that feature them. There must be a few, and I'm just being foggy-brained, but I'm drawing a blank. Anyone think of any examples?

Jo Jo Bennett - "The Lecture"

Sugar Minott - "Raggamuffin Man" (this one is super clappy!)

Lots of rub-a-dub Studio 1 materials.

Real hand claps or the sound of the drum machine?


Wailers - Slave Driver

2 completely diferent tunes:

Toots & The Maytals - Reggae got soul

and I read about Jammy programming drum machine claps in the Sleng Teng riddim

Sleng Teng doesn't have that sound, is just the straight pre-set of the MT40, but the next Jammys cut ( Pinchers' ''Agony'') a couple of years later it had indeed.
Many Prince Buster Ska productions used handclaps.
Not that common in Rock Steady / Reggae classic eras.

You are right about it not being that common in the rocksteady/reggae era. I wonder if that's due to the rhythm guitar marking out the offbeat (where handclaps often seem to go) during the late 60s and all through the 70s? They do seem to be a lot more common on the dancehall and digi stuff.

Surprised I forget the Jo Jo Bennett tune though!

Rita Marley / One Draw

has some nice 80's style clapping

Brother Justin wrote:Rita Marley / One Draw

has some nice 80's style clapping

This tune has a nice 12" mix. Students in a classroom tell their holiday/ganja-stories (sorry for being off topic).

toots and the maytals - country road