UK funky (sometimes known as UKF or funky) is a genre of

electronic dance music Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...

which originated in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

that is heavily influenced by soca, soulful house, tribal house,

funky house Funky house is a subgenre of house music that uses disco and funk samples, a funk-inspired bass line or a strong soul influence, combined with drum breaks that draw inspiration from 1970s and 1980s funk records. It often includes disco strings ...

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house and jungle production methods, but also incorporates elements from ...

, broken beat and grime. Typically, UK funky blends beats, bass loops and synths with African and

Latin percussion {{for, the company, Latin Percussion Latin percussion is a family of percussion, membranophone, lamellophone and idiophone instruments used in Latin music. Instruments Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican styles Folkloric and Santeria * Trap drums * Abaku ...

in the dembow rhythm with

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music Music genre, genre, originating from African Americans, African-American musicians in the 1980s that combines rhythm and blues with elements of Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, funk, Hip-hop, ...

-style vocals.

Characteristics

UK funky uses tempos of around 130bpm. Drum patterns vary between tracks, using either " 4 to the floor" or a syncopated style. The drum patterns commonly also include percussion playing African inspired rhythms. Instrumentation varies widely, but

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

s and

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s are common. There are similarities to garage in rhythmic, musical and vocal styles. UK funky is highly influenced by the

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

, soulful and

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, and classical music, for the low-pitched P ...

house subgenres. Similar genres include afro house, broken beat, electro and garage.

History

US house producers such as Masters At Work, Karizma (with "Twyst This"), Quentin Harris and Dennis Ferrer (with a remix of Fish Go Deep's "The Cure and the Cause"; and with "Hey Hey") have had an influence on UK funky. Hits from this genre include the Crazy Cousinz songs " Do You Mind?", "Bongo Jam" and "The Funky Anthem", and Fuzzy Logik featuring Egypt's "In The Morning". Popular songs have also produced dance crazes, such as "Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes", "The Tribal Man Skank" and "The Migraine Skank". Other notable artists include Apple, Marcus Nasty, Tribal Magz, Donae'o, KIG, Roska, Champion, iLL BLU, Lil' Silva and Funkystepz. DJs and MCs that have played a role in UK funky include DJ Pioneer, Supa D, MA1, Cameo, NG, MC Kaos Spidey G, Coldstepz, and Dogtaniaun & Versatile. Funky Dee's "Are You Gonna Bang Doe?", recorded in 2009, achieved mainstream success and was signed to

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

. It was interpolated by

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

in his viral 2010 freestyle alongside

Example Example may refer to: * ''exempli gratia'' (e.g.), usually read out in English as "for example" * .example, reserved as a domain name that may not be installed as a top-level domain of the Internet ** example.com, example.net, example.org, an ...

, the "Nando's Skank", and was later interpolated by Sun Bingo for their 2018 "Are You Gonna Bingo?" advertising campaign. The track was described by Tim Westwood as "the summer soundtrack" which "replaced oy Better Know's"Too Many Man" in the clubs" and by ''TRENCH Magazine'' as an "Ayia Napa anthem". Critics included ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

s Sam Diss, who considered it to be one of several tracks "that practically confirmed K funkywould soon become the novelty soundtrack to every bad freshers week in the country, eventually leading to its demise", and Marcus Nasty, who claimed it contributed to the genre becoming "kiddies' music".

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *Clark, Martin
'The Month In: Grime / Dubstep'
Pitchfork, August, 2006. *Clark, Martin

Blackdown, December, 2007. *Prancehall 'What happened to grime? It turned into funky house', NME, February, 2008. *McDonnell, Joh

Guardian, February, 2008. *Finney, Ti
'Peering Through The Front Door Of Funky House'
Idolator, May, 2008. *Wilson, Maked
'The rise of Funky'
Beatportal/D101 Magazine, July 2008. *McDonnell, Joh
'Broken beat meets tribal house? Now that's what I call... funky?'
Guardian, August, 2008. *Clark, Martin

Blackdown, September, 2008. * Wilson, Makeda - 'Nah That's Funky, It's leaking.... It Stinks!!' - D101 Magazine, October 2008. Article Available on request from D101MAGAZINE * Wilson, Makeda - 'Keep It Funky!!' - D101 Magazine, February 2009. Article Available on request from D101MAGAZINE

External links

bassmusic.me
is an online magazine shedding light on various forms of bass driven music such as: Dubstep, UK Funky, Garage, Drum & Bass, House, Juke, Techno and more. {{Funkmusic English styles of music Electronic dance music genres House music genres 2000s in music 2000s in British music