Greetings, Humble,<br> Just a short note to
remind U.K people that shaka is playing at the stratford
rex on the 22nd July...live stage show as well with
Junior Delgado and Yami Bolo....7.30pm to 3am.<br><br>
BLESSED LOVE iyah.
greetings<br><br>i stumbled on a strange russian site months ago<br><br>go to
the bottom and download these 3 wikked shakatunes<br>i'm sure you know
them;-)<br><br>blessings<br>vinnie
At that time it was easy to buy sound<br>
equipment if you were a business man<br> but it took long
years of hard sweat to<br> become a good musician.
Sound<br> systems often play the music of<br> anonymous men
and women. The<br> producers liked to slap their name
on<br> the records and call the musicians All<br> Stars.
My all stars. Sometimes this was<br> necessary as
the musician line-ups<br> were always changing. This
is the way<br> of Reggae. <br><br> In the 1970’s the
sound system<br> became a place to experiment with<br>
new sounds and ways of delivering<br> words. King
Tubby is probably the best<br> know sound of that time.
Tubby ran a<br> small self built studio in Water
House,<br> an area of Kingston. He was a great<br>
experimenter with sound and recording<br> techniques. The
place where he could<br> check the effects of his handy
work<br> were in the sound system dances. The<br> DJ U-Roy
would deliver his chat on the<br> mike over the base
heavy soundscape.<br> Sometimes no vocal was heard
and<br> this became known as dub usually on<br> the B
side of a record. Augustus Pablo<br> was an exponent
of an instrumental<br> style which many have taken
as<br> inspiration for instrumentals known as<br> Dub.
So as opposed to just B sides<br> they have become
compositions on<br> their own. For some Dub has become<br> the
art. In the UK you have sounds like<br> Jah Shaka the
Mighty Zulu Warrior<br> which specialise in heavy Dub
vibes.<br> There are many Dub systems today in<br> the UK
like Entebbe, Manassa HiFi,<br> Abashanti, Freedom
Masses, I and I<br> Oneness and also Disciples and
many<br> more. These are modern roots sounds. <br><br>The
sounds of 2001 and beyond!!!!
The sound system phenomena all<br> started with
American Rhythm and<br> Blues (R&B) being played by
the<br> mobile sound men like Tom ‘The Great’<br>
Sebastian (Reggae Routs, Chang &<br> O’Brien, 1998). He
apparently bought<br> records form a local hardware
merchant<br> to play on at his dances. You at that<br> time
ordinary Jamaicans could not<br> easily get records and
most could not<br> afford record players, So the
mobiles<br> were the place to here the latest<br> tunes.
<br><br> Buying records form American sailors in<br>
Kingston was also a way of getting<br> new tunes. Later
people like the<br> mighty Coxone Dodd would travel<br>
abroad as a cane cutter and bring back<br> R&B records
direct from the US and<br> also his own sound equipment.
He was<br> in competition with Duke ‘The Trojan’<br>
Read who had been running a sound<br> for some time
before Coxone. Lloyd<br> ‘The Matador’ Daley was
another<br> prominent sound man on the scene.<br> There was
big competition for the best<br> tunes. The public
liked a rough rocking<br> kind of tune. The underground
sound<br> from State Side started to mellow late<br> in the
50’s as it became more popular.<br> The Jamaican
audience wanted to keep<br> rocking, so the sound men
started to<br> produce more home made tunes. <br><br> But
of course musicians had been<br> making local music
since time and it is<br> the musicians who really made
it<br> possible for the producers to have<br> tunes to
sell. Producers exploited local<br> talent and
sometimes of course they<br> helped artists and young
people who<br> were only beginners. The music came<br>
from men who were professional<br> hard-core musicians
like Theolonius<br> Beckford, Don Drummond, Baba
Brooks<br> and may others. These were the<br> people who
really made Jamaican<br> music what it is today and they
have<br> only recently gained some of the credit<br> they
deserve. Some of these people<br> went on the form the
mighty<br> Skatalites, one of the finest bands in<br> the
world.
Greetings all, as mentioned in earlier
posts,<br><br>I personally have about 150 Shaka tapes of him live
in session, mostly recorded by me on my
walkman.<br><br>Would love to link with all folks here that has shaka
tapes so we can all trade with. I have one member here
so far, that is willing to trade with I.<br><br>Lets
do what we can to keep the Shaka vibes firm and
strong!!<br><br>upfull ites everytime!!!
The most righteous,consistent,sound system of all time.I used to listen to him
in the UK 20+ years ago.His dances would create lightning and thunder.Fi
real.<br><br>Solomon
Just sending positive vibrations here.<br><br>Love to see Jah Shaka get
mentioned on the internet world.<br><br>Nuff Respect to the
founder.<br><br>keep it up.<br><br>Binghi Lioness!!
greetings<br><br>i've heard on different
shakatapes a twinkle selection with the chorus "stand firm"
a great norman grant tune <br><br>i hope it rings a
bell<br><br>could that be the title?<br>has that version been
released?<br><br>blessings<br>vinnie
still forgot one official tape compiled by russ D. with the permission of shaka
<br><br>JSC 01 - Jah Shaka In Session - Boom-Shacka-Lacka - 1989 (hardcore
session year 2000 style)
Bredren, if you want I can link tapes with
you.<br><br>I have approximately 150 shaka tapes from dances I
recorded myself when living in london. Not to mention the
others i have received from various idrens.<br><br>I
must confess, not all are of best quality. Most were
recorded off walkmen.<br><br>Until I moved up a notch and
started arriving dances and hunted around for the free
and available AC socked to plug in my cassette
recorder.<br><br>Email me is you would like some tapes.<br><br>ites.
yes still searching for the very first shakatape No. 1... 1991 and a zillions
unofficials<br><br>me gonna check that adress<br>many thanks for the
info<br><br>guidance<br>vinnie
King of the Zulu Tribe ina Roots & Culture Style
<br> <br> Shaka weaves his spiritual spell, ever
urging the faithful on to further fierce displays <br>
of terpsichorean excess. The huge rhythm booming out
of Shaka`s splintered old boxes <br> offers no
respite to the dancers tireless enthusiasm. I`ve been
here nearly five hours and <br> some individuals have
been at it since I got here with barely a breather,
and the walls <br> are running with sweat and
condensation. Truly this is no place for the weakheart. <br>
`The bass is King.` <br> The bass hits your chest,
thats where you `hear` it rather than with your ears,
they`re <br> under assault from the treble, which is
threatening to take your scalp off. Your rib cage <br>
resonates alarmingly and your trousers appear to shift
round your legs as if in an effort <br> to escape the
fearsome roar that is all around. `Awesome.` <br> <br>
Suddenly, everything is still, after the fourth cut is run
Shaka plucks the unidentified <br> dubplate from his
antiquated old deck...."give thanks and praise to His
Majesty, Emporer <br> Haile I Sellasie King of Kings, Lord
of Lords, Conquering Lion of Judah. Dont forget <br>
this Saturday, 9th of June, Burning Spear and this
sound Jah Shaka at the Town Hall <br> Reading!".... and
drops the needle onto the next selection;
ssssshhhhttttt-pop-crack-sshhtt <br> the run in groove plays a symphony of
surface noise before the familiar intro to the beloved
<br> Kunte Kinte/ Beware of Your Enemies tune is
dispensed with, its peculiar quasi spaghetti <br> western
style whistling intro the calm before the storm. Its
all treble at first, and everyones <br> holding their
breath anticipating the pressure once Shaka drops the
bass. Twice he hauls <br> and pulls up before letting
the rhythm run for about half a minute, all the while
the crowd <br> is screaming its
encouragement...."whip them Shaka!" someone cries.The tune reaches its
<br> first chorus and Shaka finally lets the weight
go, BOOM!!, the crowd succumb to the beat <br> and
abandon their souls to rapture. <br> <br><br> We`re
halfway through the next tune before I recognize it as
Linton Kwesi Johnson`s <br> `Reality Poem` or at least
its dubwise interpretation thereof. I hardly
recognize it because <br> it does`nt sound like it does
when I play it at home. At the hands of Shaka its
transformed <br> into a huge aural purge of sound thundering
around the room. <br> Another exclusive dubplate is
running and Shaka is at the controls like a man possesed,
<br> his eyes rolling back into his head, body bent at
the waist and rocking heavily to and fro as <br> he
operates his trade mark siren. Its howling, wailing cry,
like some demented fire engine <br> curiously potent
in its ability to enhance the rhythm. Like a clarion
calling the righteous <br> to build a Jerusalem right
here in this Jah forsaken City of Iniquity. <br> Now
he cuts out the top end leaving only the bass to
threaten and rumble, still dancers <br> cavort and frolic,
never missing a step, he cuts the treble in like a
knife, slashing and <br> shearing, all the while the
bass growls, a physical tangible presence. The crowd
hoots <br> its appreciation building into a frenzy
before the rhythm is restored to run unmolested till
<br> its length is reached. This is Jah Shaka, King Of
The Zulu Tribe in session !
His apprenticeship was with Freddie Cloudburst
during the 1970’s which started off what has proved to
be the most <br>incredible cultural journey in
British reggae history. Right from the beginning he was
preaching how sound-system was the<br>true medium of the
people, capable of passing on vital messages unable to be
heard anywhere else. Providing more<br>entertainment
for hordes of weekend revellers never came into it.
Reggae sound-system on Shaka’s terms meant
something<br>entirely different. Music had a role to play in the local
community; it<br>could act as a teacher, news carrier,
historian and liberator of oppressed souls and his
dedication to fulfilling all and more of<br>these social
functions has never wavered.<br>"Shaka, for those who know
their history, is the name of the African Warrior "King
of the Zulus". For those who know their<br>reggae it
is the name of the undisputed king of the sound
system."<br>H.I.M. Shaka’s sound was built back in the black
consciousness era, and was formed as a vehicle for promoting
messages<br>relating to the black struggle. Following his musical
source all the way back to Africa, he established the
Jah Shaka<br>Foundation to carry out assistance with
projects in Jamaica, Ethiopia, and Ghana where the
foundation has bought seven acres<br>of land in Agri, thirty
miles outside of Accra. It has also managed to
distribute medical supplies, wheelchairs, library
books,<br>carpentry tools, drawing materials (and of course records)
to clinics, schools and Radio stations in the Accra
area<br>establishing important links with the <br>local communities,
and his work continues...<br>Text edited from "On
firm foundation" Jon Masouri . Echoes
Well Shaka went for it that night and half way
through<br> the dance, Lloyd Coxsone took the mic and said
“Stop<br> the dance, stop the dance! In all my years in
sound<br> system I’ve never heard a sound like Jah Shaka.”
And<br> that was it, that was the night Shaka took the
crown<br> as number one in England and from then on
nobody<br> could touch him for years...” <br> <br> <br> <br>
Throughout the late 1970’s & early 1980’s the<br>
self-styled “Zulu Warrior” could be seen regularly in<br>
London at venues like Club Noreik in Tottenham,<br>
Studio 200 in Balham, Cubies in Dalston & most<br>
famously in the basement at the legendary Phoebes in<br>
Stoke Newington, a former drinking club owned by
east<br> end gangsters the Kray twins, where he had a
Friday<br> night residency for several years. When Shaka
gave a<br> lecture at Stamford Hill Library in the mid
80’s, the<br> place was full of soundmen & assorted
dreads, one of<br> whom summed up the Phoebes sessions by
saying, “I<br> received my spiritual education there –
Phoebes was<br> my church and Shaka was my preacher”.
<br><br> Shaka also travelled the length and breadth of
West<br> Indian Britain, from Huddersfield to Bristol to
teach<br> the ‘country’ sounds how it was done. In 1980
he<br> featured in a brief but memorable sequence in the
film<br> “Babylon”, sirens blazing through Johnny Clarke’s
title<br> tune. In an NME feature on sound systems the
same<br> year, Shaka was amongst those interviewed,
stating,<br> “The National Front and me would have a lot
in<br> common. We want to go back to Africa and they
want<br> to send us there…” <br><br> <br> <br> There are
many legendary stories surrounding Shaka;<br> like the
night in Northampton when Coxsone’s mcs<br> were
mouthing off about a Lee Perry dub they had and<br> Shaka
silenced them by just looking over, shaking his<br> head,
and putting a finger to his lips; the night at<br>
Acton Town Hall when Soferno B announced that they<br>
were the only sound in the world to have Ijahman’s<br>
“Moulding” and Shaka responded to their 2 average<br> cuts
by playing 15 killer cuts of his own; the night
at<br> Southall just after King Tubbys death when Joey
Jay<br> tried to do a tribute to King Tubbys with a
minutes<br> silence and Shaka repeatedly interrupted him
by<br> saying “No man, Tubbys was my bredren and he
never<br> liked silence, he always had music playing…run
a<br> music.” Joey Jay tried his silent tribute again
and<br> failed and was forced to play a King Tubbys
plastic<br> before Shaka hammered the message home with a<br>
murderous Tubbys dubplate; The night in Phoebes<br> when a
dread walked in wearing a dress and carrying a<br>
broom handle with a doll tied to the end and spent
the<br> entire session standing in the middle of the
dancefloor<br> twirling the long handle round and round his
head; the<br> night when singer Errol Dunkley is
reputed to have<br> thrown bottles at Shaka for,
according to different<br> versions of the story, either
playing too many cuts of a<br> riddim, or refusing to
play an Errol Dunkley tune, and<br> Shaka responded
by…… but that’s another story.
I consider<br> him to be the most important
figure on the dub scene<br> today, not only in the UK
but also internationally, for<br> without him the
scene would have died a death many<br> years ago. Every
single person without exception who<br> has produced dub
music or started a roots sound<br> system in the past
10 years has been directly or<br> indirectly
influenced to do so by Shaka, and his dances<br> have become
a phenomenon, attracting a large,<br> diverse and
multi cultural audience, taking in venues<br> which
would previously have been considered<br> unthinkable
to host a reggae sound system. <br><br> <br> <br>
The story of Jah Shaka really started in the mid<br>
1970’s. Here are some reminiscences on that period as<br>
related to me by a former member of his sound crew in<br>
that era: <br><br> “Shaka used to get his dubs from
the producer<br> Winston Edwards. He had an
arrangement where any<br> good tune being made in Jamaica, he
was the first to<br> get it, long before it was
released. He also got more<br> cuts than anyone else and
better cuts then anyone<br> else. That’s how he made his
name. At one time he<br> used to sign on with 12 cuts
of Kill Nebuchanezzar by<br> Fred Locks when he was
playing with another sound.<br> There was no way that
anyone could match it, so that<br> was that, he’d
finished the other sound off before the<br> dance had even
begun... Eventually he’d worked his<br> way round every
sound in the country and dealt with<br> all of them...
except one, Sir Coxsone. Coxsone was<br> regarded as the
number one then and they’d heard<br> about Shaka and
they’d been avoiding playing him<br> until finally a
dance was arranged and they played<br> together for the
first time. It was in Croydon in 1976.
I first heard Jah Shaka in June 1981 at The
Havana<br> Club in Derby. It was a Wednesday night and
the<br> place was packed. I’d heard a lot of sounds
before like<br> Sir Coxsone, Fatman, Quaker City and Jah
Tubbys and<br> I’d heard a lot about Shaka so I was
eagerly<br> anticipating it. I wasn’t disappointed. He was
playing<br> with another sound from Derby whose name I’ve<br>
forgotten. They were good - crisp, clean and heavy<br> with
some good music, but when Shaka started<br> playing it
was like an earthquake in the place. He<br> played
one piece of plastic to sign on with and then<br>
pure dubplate the rest of the night - vintage
Twinkle<br> Brothers, Pablo, Johnny Clarke, King Tubbys,
Scientist<br> etc. I was standing a few feet away from his
ampcase<br> and was transfixed by “the little shortman”
bobbing up<br> and down in the air, eyes rolling like a
man possessed<br> as his speakers literally shook the
walls to their<br> foundations and the sirens and
syndrums cut through<br> your ears like piano wire. I was
also amazed to see<br> his deck vibrating up and down
several inches yet not<br> jumping on a track once; such
are the tricks of<br> soundmen. After each tune he
played the crowd just<br> stood in silent admiration -
awe, even. To this day I<br> still regret not having
carried my tape machine in<br> there. Four hours later,
the dance finished and I was a<br> confirmed Shaka
follower. As a final footnote, my ears<br> didn’t stop
ringing for three days afterwards. <br><br> <br><br> Jah
Shaka is a dub extremist, taking the music beyond<br>
the limits of excess. Concentrating on the
stomach<br> churning frequencies of bass and ear piercing
tops, he<br> hammered dubs home with a vengeance and
added his<br> own extra dimensions of sonic madness
with the<br> sirens, syndrums and chants which were
fed through a<br> pair of H&H tape echos and bent
into splinters of aural<br> excess reverberating
throughout the dance.
I first heard Jah Shaka in June 1981 at The
Havana<br> Club in Derby. It was a Wednesday night and
the<br> place was packed. I’d heard a lot of sounds
before like<br> Sir Coxsone, Fatman, Quaker City and Jah
Tubbys and<br> I’d heard a lot about Shaka so I was
eagerly<br> anticipating it. I wasn’t disappointed. He was
playing<br> with another sound from Derby whose name I’ve<br>
forgotten. They were good - crisp, clean and heavy<br> with
some good music, but when Shaka started<br> playing it
was like an earthquake in the place. He<br> played
one piece of plastic to sign on with and then<br>
pure dubplate the rest of the night - vintage
Twinkle<br> Brothers, Pablo, Johnny Clarke, King Tubbys,
Scientist<br> etc. I was standing a few feet away from his
ampcase<br> and was transfixed by “the little shortman”
bobbing up<br> and down in the air, eyes rolling like a
man possessed<br> as his speakers literally shook the
walls to their<br> foundations and the sirens and
syndrums cut through<br> your ears like piano wire. I was
also amazed to see<br> his deck vibrating up and down
several inches yet not<br> jumping on a track once; such
are the tricks of<br> soundmen. After each tune he
played the crowd just<br> stood in silent admiration -
awe, even. To this day I<br> still regret not having
carried my tape machine in<br> there. Four hours later,
the dance finished and I was a<br> confirmed Shaka
follower. As a final footnote, my ears<br> didn’t stop
ringing for three days afterwards. <br><br> Click here
now to listen to Shaka<br><br> Jah Shaka is a dub
extremist, taking the music beyond<br> the limits of excess.
Concentrating on the stomach<br> churning frequencies of bass
and ear piercing tops, he<br> hammered dubs home with
a vengeance and added his<br> own extra dimensions
of sonic madness with the<br> sirens, syndrums and
chants which were fed through a<br> pair of H&H tape
echos and bent into splinters of aural<br> excess
reverberating throughout the dance.
Jah Shaka is one of the most important<br> roots
reggae and dub artists. He's a<br> composer, musician,
singer, mixing<br> engineer, producer, record label
owner,<br> and the operator of the heaviest roots/dub<br>
sound system in the world!