Jonah Dan – Meditation Rock & Versions – Abba Christos Tafari Records – 1996
Jonah Dan in the studio along with Russ of the Disciples, one-time Jah Shaka studio rhythmite, and full time Boom Shaka Lacka selector. The result, a pleasantly bass heavy drone with added horns every now and again, lasting fifteen or so minutes across both sides.
Bass heavy is a ‘thing’ for Russ and the Disciples, and for his sound system. And all the better for it!
The UK digi-dub scene was well worth a punt throughout the nineties. I was at dozens and dozens of sound system dances during that decade. Jah Shaka, Eastern Sher, Manassah, Conscious Sounds, Iration Steppas, and of course Boom Shaka Lacka. I even had a small time DJ set up myself alongside my old mate Kevin, ex of the punk band Conflict and Ned!
Text below from www. reggaenews
“For us, the bass is all important and comes secondary to nothing. We do manipulate the sound, sometimes rolling in the bass so it seems to be coming in from beneath, other times we just draw for the hardest possible bass we can create, lifting up the upper bass frequencies, powering them into distortion, twisting the sound from hard, to deep, and back again, then onward to air shaking proportions. This is pure vibration rather than tone. Bass dynamics in all its possible ranges.”
“Reggae bass holds the melody of the whole tune, probably more so than in any other music forms. And it does so hypnotically. It does so relentlessly. However, the WHOLENESS of this music, all that it implies and involves, mustn’t be overlooked or overshadowed by complete emphasis on bass resonations alone: When I first heard reggae many years ago, I heard Dr. Alimantado chanting, I heard Pablo’s floating melodica melodies, I heard King Tubby doing things with music that very few others had ever done before. It was many years later when I experienced Shaka, that I fully realised the full impact of bass.”
“Currently in the UK sound system scene you have sounds that use a massive amount of speakers and amplification: 600 watts, 18” speakers in huge scoop bins mounted on top of each other and spread around the venue. And these are powered by massive custom-built amps. The very essence of the scoop bin is to “push air”, disperse sound. Many sounds totally rely on this sometimes-overwhelming sound vibration, in which the sound is felt rather than heard. When I make music, I strive to attain a combination of “felt” and “heard” bass tones, a combination of sub power and bass tone. A sound operator should be able to manipulate frequencies as much as possible, to explore as many bass tones and forms as possible.”
“Let me tell you about our initiation in to sound system and our initiation into that world, which came through Jah Shaka. You check out a sound system like that, and the only word to be used is intense, with a bass vibration thrashing around. Now once you hear that, well, we decided we wanted that serious intensity too, for sure. I am looking for that depth in my sound.
“Many years ago, when I first attended a Shaka dance, I did not really know what to expect. I remember being in the hall as his sound was set up, taking it all in, the intense atmosphere. I did not know what I was letting myself in for! Shaka started tuning up his set. The tweeters first, then the midrange. All well. Then the bass rolled in, and Shaka just LIFTED it, real heavy. It hit my chest and I thought I would not be able to breathe again. It was intense: The bass just TEARING it up. Suddenly, this music made a lot more sense. After that ALL reggae made a lot more sense.We always played our sound to the extreme”.
Russ D
The text below www. factmag
It is hard to overstate the impact dub has had on contemporary music production. Beyond the pioneering work of King Tubby and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, dub has infected pivotal music movements from post punk and industrial through to boogie, house, jungle and trip-hop. Whether it’s Martin Hannett’s splashy FX surges on ESG’s ‘Moody’, the global creep of Adrian Sherwood’s production on African Head Charge and the other On U Sound artists, Imagination’s tripped out ‘Night Dubbing’ remix album or Grace Jones’ adventures into island boogie with Sly & Robbie, dub has crept into all kinds of iconic music over the years. The Orb and other Mr Modo artists. Dedicated roots minded Soundsystem music has also prevailed. In the UK, the steppers scene rose out of the tireless work of Jah Shaka, Disciples, Conscious Sounds, Manassah, Jah Tubbys, Jah Warrior, Sound Iration, and many more. Based around the hard-work ethic of the Soundsystem as a communal project, this manifestation of dub kept a firm grip on the spiritual, in some cases religious aspects of the sound. This, of course, developed in tandem with jungle, where techniques and samples from dub and reggae collided with the emergent hardcore sound and manifested in one of the most potent musical forms to emerge in recent UK dance music history.
Oli Warwick
This YouTube post is dedicated with respect to Sharan from Southall.
