History of the Term, “Riding a Riddim.”

I have been spending almost every waking moment finishing my latest book with my co-author Adam Reeves and am pleased to report that it will be out later this summer, so get ready for Alpha Boys School: Cradle of Jamaican Music which is coming in at nearly 400 pages! It has been three years in the making. Which is why I have had little time for blogging lately, so this week I offer the words of Hedley Jones on the history of the term, “Riding a Riddim.” Mr. Jones, as you may know, is an electrical engineer and the inventor of the electric guitar with a wood body. One of his inventions can be seen at the Jamaica Music Museum in Kingston, and you can read more about him in my blog post HERE.

Here is Hedley Jones’s take on the term, “Riding a Riddim” from the Jamaica Gleaner, December 17, 1999.