So did BB come directly out of the garage/2-step end of the 'nuum, or does it also have a shared history with that London soul-funk-(Acid)jazz 'nuum? (which is what it looks like from that video; all those carnival good-time summer vibes)
And is it a big scene (compared to, say, dubstep)?
The whole BB scene is small - even after 10 years - although there's a growth producers/artists from diverse areas such as New York, Tokyo, Austria, Brazil, who just make music that can be regarded as "Broken". But it's still dependant on a few producers/artists and labels based around West London to survive....some people still call it "The West London Sound".
As mentioned before, "broken" partially grew from garage/2-step (in the US house sense) - people often say that Nuyorican Soul's (MAW) "Nervous Track" was the first ever "broken" track - but the main producers of "broken" come from all styles of black music including DnB, HipHop, Soul-Funk, Dancehall, Nu-Jazz, RnB, Techno, Soulful/Deep House. There was a common idea that they felt stifled by sticking to one kind of music/genre and just decided to experiment...and this all happened by accident in West London around '97-'99.
The idea behind "broken beat" is to use any musical influence past or present - but give it a future soul-funk edge. It's about, for example, mixing up Herbie Hancock/Billy Cobham/Roy Ayers, with some Detroit Techno, with early'90's HipHop, with '80's Soul, with some Strata East Jazz, with DnB, with some Sly & Robbie, with Nigerian Afrobeat, with Brazilian Batucada........then leaving it to the producer to give their own progressive element.
For this reason, it's hard to define the music (afterall, it still gets racked alongside "Nu Jazz") - and many prefer that....thinking that if it becomes easily defined, then BB is dead.
But then, this is why they may only struggle to sell 300-500 12"'s of a new release worldwide.....I must admit, even after 10years, the scene is still struggling to break out from the shadows.
Video:
