When he released “Street Tuff” with Double Trouble (Michael Menson, Karl ‘Tuff Enuff’ Brown and Leigh Guest) in 1989, it was the first most people had heard of the Rebel MC. Truth is, he’d formed Double Trouble way back in the early 80s and Street Tuff was just the furthest reaching public display of his talent. Although frowned upon as a sell-out by the Hip Hop community, the cut has since been heralded as “the birth of UK Grime” by Dizzee Rascal amongst others. So, what has that got to do with Congo Natty? Well, everything. For those who don’t know (and I hope it’s just a handful), Rebel MC aka Michael West went on to record as Conquering Lion, Blackstar, Tribe Of Issachar, X Project, Ras Project and of course, Congo Natty. What is incredible is that since we saw him bounce on to the TOTP stage armed with fashion dreads, a backing track on DAT and his Double Trouble entourage playing dummy instruments, Micheal West has consistently released quality underground music with more than just money in mind.
Check ‘Black Meaning Good’(1991), a watershed release for the Rebel as his style evolved and his lightweight raps were replaced by conscious flows, Reggae, Techno and the emerging sound of Jungle. Guest appearances came from Barrington Levy, Dennis Brown and Tenor Fly….heavyweight business! Now the UK’s underground were on-side, and comparisons to the Ragga Twins (fellow Tottenham dwellers) and Shut Up & Dance were rife, the ‘Word Sound and Power’ (1992) collection cemented Rebel’s place in the Reggae tinged corner of the UK’s bubbling dance scene. Now a manifesting Rastafarian, West set up the Tribal Bass label in 1992 and it was this which gradually mutated to X-Project and finally into the Congo Natty imprint all old-school Junglists know and love.
So, almost 20 years on, and having recorded under an array of monikers, Congo Natty continues to roll out raw breaks, deadly deep subs and vocal performances from dancehall legends like Tenor Fly and Daddy Freddy to expectant audiences the world over. Now a fully fledged rasta living between the UK and Ethiopia, the conscious content and scathing attacks on our unbalanced sytems are stronger than ever. Even better, to add a fresh twist, the Congo Natty outfit now counts a full live band amongst its ranks. As somebody who recieved early musical tutilage from the Demon Boyz, London Posse, Shut Up and Dance and the Rebel MC (I think ‘Just Keep Rockin’ and ‘Street Tuff’ were among the first singles I ever bought alongside Public Enemy’s ‘Rebel Without a Pause’), I have to give my full respect to him for keeping it moving so strongly over almost two decades.
And the punchline, Heads High are in the zone with Congo Natty this Saturday 19th July. He’ll be accompanied by Connie Bell, Lady MC (Kool FM) and a full live band. Myself and Darren Judge will be rolling out selections spanning reggae, hip-hop and perhaps a few electronic, bass movements. It’s one to make time for….
Greetings people! A timely reminder that this Sunday 20th June will see the Vibe Bar play host to another epic meeting of musical minds as Cal Jader and Darren Judge represent Heads High as we create some new sounds in collaboration with the 12 Tone musicians. Our last session saw a departure from the norm as 12 Tone got all electronic marrying synths and effects with their usual sick rhythms and bubbling brass. It worked so well that this time they’re taking it there again….but perhaps with an MPC to boot. Runnings get underway from 6pm, entry is free and Vibe are screening the football too so no excuses. Click here to link us on Facebook and we’ll see you on Sunday….
This Friday 11th June, fans of real black music are going to feel nice. The OKRA project has teamed up with Adesose Wallace’s Ibile and Dalston’s Passing Clouds venue to bring the people a night of tone, taste and texture spanning Africa, the Caribbean and South America.
Representing Africa, 11-strong outfit Ibile hit the stage with a serious blend of Afrobeat, Highlife and raw West African drums. For better or worse, there has been an exponential rise in the number of Afrobeat/Afro-Funk/Highlife bands in the capital over the last few years but be warned, Ibile is the real deal. If you read the excerpt from our interview with him, you’ll know that Adesose Wallace is as authentic as they come. He’s played with Geraldo Pino, the James Brown of Afro-funk, and the inspiration for Fela Kuti to transform his Hi-Life Jazz sound into Afrobeat. Ade has also worked with Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba and a host of other African music legends and to this day, teaches West African rhythm and song to students countrywide – basically, he’s real.
Representing the Caribbean, OKRA presents Ras Happa and the Harambe Drummers throwing down a live set of pounding Jamaican roots drums and dance. Long before reggae music warmed its first amplifier and rumbled it’s first speaker cone, the island of Jamaica danced to the beat of Nyabinghi, Kumina and Revival drums. Rhythms and dances which are so powerful, they still emerge in the beats and sequenced movements of the freshest bashment dancehalls. Unfortunately, the dancehall didn’t assimilate the spirit of the culture with quite the same vigour…..that’s where we come in. To compliment proceedings Duke Etienne and Suga Kan’n keep it raw, roots and occasionally, savage with a DJ selection linking the past with the buzz of the afro-future.
Representing South America, Otto Nascarella takes a pause from the rootical, tropical funk of his Saravah Soul project to throw down a scorching selection infused with his Brazillian roots.
Live performance is no doubt one of the most expressive platforms responsible for taking music from a unidimensional experience and intensifying its potency manyfold into a multi-sensory one.
Stunning sounds isolated from the company of visual performance, will always remain so, or simply put: ‘a good song is a good song.’ However, there’s a time for reveling in Grado audiophile geekiness and a time for collective celebration, on-going sonic indulgence and Funktion-One PA systems. More specifically in the UK, this time spans periodically from late May till early September and is more commonly referred to as the season of summer festivals.
Attracting sound-craving fans from all four corners of the Isles and beyond, British summer muddy music festivals are heralded internationally as some of the most impressive. Furthermore, to perform at, is for many musicians a validation that they have entered the upper echelons of their given genre.
As discussed previously, the UK continues to churn out new festivals on a yearly basis offering yet more variety for those seeking alternative experiences. A spectrum of choices appealing to the mainstream, genre-driven and even ’boutique’ crowd can be witnessed in all sorts of publications and targeted media/mass communication leading up to the summer months.
The problem is, it seems as if the UK scene has reached a saturation-point whereby there are just too many festivals, too many choices to be made and nothing really interesting, actually happening. For example, there are the people that will go to say, WOMAD on an annual basis. It’s a ritual, they enjoy the vibe and know what to expect (even though they don’t). They will look forward to hearing some random ‘Zulu string quartet’ and will share the good news in the aftermath upon return to their abode. Then there are the others who follow their favourite acts around. They check the line-ups of the festivals that relate to their genre/s of choice and only go to the ones that they recognise the performers they want to see*.
Excuse my generalisations, I’m not saying that there’s a problem with either of these strategies for deciding which festivals to hit. What I do find interesting, however, is how this sheds light on a key task of the festival producer. He must either book the biggest m*********kers within his scope and appeal to the masses that way. Or not bother at all – simply call the festival niche and book those that exemplify the ‘vibe’ trying to be portrayed as well as focusing all resources on ensuring the appropriate crowd, atmosphere, etc and get people in that way.
Whether you require tens of thousands or a couple hundred, fundamentally, it’s the people that make the festivals, so they must be catered for.
So where am I going with this? The point, is that as plentiful as the options may seem, the overall end products are limited. You can pretty much go to a handful of contrasting festivals and get the gist.
For people that have been going for years, the seemingly “growing” UK music festival industry has in actual fact, plateaued and is in decline. The few gems of small festivals that have recently dared to be game-changing, now cease to exist. On the same token, the self-cannibalisation of larger festivals continue to increase as organisers eat at each other’s predictable line-ups. This predicament inspires only the uninitiated youth; true festival aficionados are today’s real casualties, since the remnants of better times are now extinct in the festival scene (or at least much harder to find).
Apathy should be the last emotion summonsed when considering festivals of any sort. Yet lets face it, after many years of the same summer festival clichés, who can really be arsed for the camping, crappy sanitation and over-priced food if anyone less than your favourite artist is set to perform? Not me.
In order to reverse this downward spiral, many UK and mainland European organisers have shut up shop, set their sights further afield and emigrated to Croatia. More specifically to, the Garden, Petrčane. These collaborations on new soil were never an attempt to recreate Ibiza or Ayia Napa but to provide an antithetical retreat for those that have become apathetic to the aforementioned commonplace ‘music havens’. This formula seems to have solved more problems than it initially envisaged as the festival scene in Petrčane (a small fishing village in Zadar) has continued to grow exponentially since its inception (in the form of the Garden Festival) 5 years or so ago.
Regarding festivals, mainland Europe shares pretty much the same story as the UK. However, being outside of the Euro-zone, Croatia seems to be one of the more mysterious and least rinsed locations in the midst of festival-hogging countries such as Spain.
Succeeding in its underdog route, the Garden, Petrčane is now boasting 5 solid festivals that can hold their own amongst the very best with added perks.
These festivals do differ from each other, but only slightly. Really, it’s all about being low-key in gimmicks, high-quality in music and all-round, good vibes. Petrčane takes the general festival template and tones things down. People that go, tend to stay in villas, spending a longer holiday duration in the village and only attending the festival as part of the weekend in-between. Sound-wise, the majority of the festivals cater to those that are into the kind of music you’d find at Southport Weekender (who are the organisers of Suncebeat), with quality yet not ridiculously famous live acts. The Garden Festival is about as commercial as it gets but is still not really. And then you have the dance music vibes at Stop Making Sense, Suncebeat and Soundwave that encompass the genre right from the hardcore electronic to the jazzy, down-tempo scale of the spectrum.
The location is picturesque, atmosphere unpretentious and yet rammed with musicians and DJs playing what they want. In the name of hedonism, every festival offers boat parties across the Adriatic Sea allowing partiers the opportunity to revel in the glory of the location.
Despite still being classified as ‘boutique’ (due to its size), the steadily growing and loyal fan-base are fast spreading the gospel of Petrčane and sadly enough soon, these festivals will find themselves at the brink of losing what initially made them the vibe to be at. As more dough is being pumped into the area, the once word-of-mouth policy has already morphed into a major marketing push that will no doubt attract the good and the lame. After all, everybody loves the sunshine. I personally give the location a few more years before it becomes the next ‘England with sun, sand, sea and sex’ all over again…
World Cup fever is mounting steadily and despite not being a huge football fan, even I am beginning to succumb to the allure of what is to come. To those of you who are fans, have you ever wondered how so many African players come to be in our home leagues and teams? To be honest, I hadn’t, but after running into director Baff Akoto, at our most recent Heads High session, my curiosity is acutely awake.
I first met Baff through a mutual friend at one of many warehouse parties I was involved with way back when. I always knew he was creative, but was always to polite to admit that I didn’t quite know in which way. Reasoning with him in Brick Lane, it transpired that after a long and arduous process, his debut film ‘Football Fables’ was set to be released this week. The blurb reads something like this:
African football has more global stars than at any other time in history. Every youngster across the continent dreams of playing for glamorous European clubs to become the next E’to or Essien.
The award winning documentary “Football Fables” tracks Francis, a young Ghanaian hopeful as he comes to the UK for Premier League football trials whilst attempting to navigate the tricky terrain of agents & scouts back in Africa
“Football Fables” provides unprecedented insight into the workings of African football migration. This internationally acclaimed documentary’s unparalleled access sheds light on the middle men who earn a living making sure that it’s their cream rising to the top. A “system” which (although far from perfect and in spite of itself) manages to produce some of the best players in the world!
Truth time, I haven’t seen the full feature yet, but between the trailer and the write-up, I know its one I will have to make time for.
Us London dwellers are going to be spoilt for choice. There are 8 seperate screenings to choose from over the next two weeks in the capital….i.e. no excuse. Click here to make the jump to the Football Fables site where you can digest all the information about screenings and plenty more besides, and click here to join the 1000+ strong facebook group.
Phonica are taking it there! Fresh from our collaboration with the One-Handed family last week (many thanks to all who graced the space), we’ve landed a last-minute instore with Stones Throw’s Aloe Blacc who’s hit the UK to spread some love.
Although the confirmation was last-minute, I’ve managed to out-slack everyone by leaving it till four hours before the event to drop this post. Hopefully, the RSS junkies amongst you will get it in time & i’ll see you down there….
Proceedings begin @ 6pm. Phonica Records 51 Poland Street Soho W1F 7LZ. More details here.
For those who don’t know, here’s Aloe doing what he does:
Some people know they can find me at Phonica, others not. That aside, everybody knows that Phonica Records is one of London’s premier outlets for those 12″ pieces of plastic that some of us still choose to play music from. Our selection is wide and our taste refined, even if I do say so myself.
Until know, fans of Disco and House/Techno were the only ones receiving the monthly blessing of Phonica’s club excursions which take place at the Big Chill Bar, and T-Bar respectively. Thankfully, my esteemed colleagues Free-Care and A.Child (Nick and Aaron to their friends) are spearheading a new venture to cater for those of us who are more moved by that electronic bass music shiznit. Rather than try and claim all the glory for themselves, they’ve decided to use the sessions as a platform for some of our most loved labels/musical camps to showcase their freshest work. The twist is, that each event also includes a further guest whose work compliments the rest of the night’s offerings. Nice.
So, this Thursday 27th May, make the pilgrimage to Plastic People for the event’s maiden voyage. One Handed Music are in the house and are celebrating the launch of the Paul White and the Purple Brain project. They’ll also be presenting we the people with exciting noises from Bullion, Tranquill and Alex Chase. Veteran analogue B-Boy Danny Breaks completes the bill with our very own Free-Care and A.Child laying the foundations. It looks like a good one. I’m excited….
Conceived in Cuba, continued in London. Defined by intricately woven threads of Rumba, Bengali folk, Jazz and Afrobeat, Lokkhi Terra’s ‘No Visa Required’ album effortlessly traverses continents skillfully avoiding immigration control.
Bandleader Kishon Khan and his troupe have just returned from a huge Asian tour and are all set to promote their debut album offering here in the UK. On Thursday 27th May they land in E1 for a full live show featuring the Dele Sosimi Quartet and Heads High DJs Duke Etienne & Cal Jader on the mix. Should be a heavy one! More info here.
As you may have noticed, my musical tastes have taken a definite turn toward the traditional of late. Heads High was (and still is) all about representing the sonics of the African diaspora in all it’s different forms but as you will know, our remit tends to focus on Jazz, Reggae and the myriad of styles and genres that have sprouted from these forms.
What is becoming apparent to me is that traditional drum music from the diaspora has a massively different intention and feel any other music I listen to. Traditional music is eternal, it’s timeless. It isn’t originally composed to be sold, and in this sense can be regarded as a comparatively pure cultural expression. As I come to understand the music more and more (and it is imperative to take the time to understand the culture the music emanates from), I’m realising it speaks in ways that at one time I could not hear.
Introspective blurb aside, drum music is HEAVY on the dancefloor and paradoxically (given what I have said above) when I listen to the repetetive grooves of the Techno, House or Hip Hop I hold so dear I can hear subconscious attempts at emulating the experience of traditional drum music via the MPC, TR808 or classic Western Band structures.
Now that’s out in the open, it will come as less of a surprise that i’ve started a new session focussing on traditional drum music from Africa, South America and the Caribbean and its modern incarnations. The session is called OKRA and our first official party Upstairs at Brixton’s Ritzy went so well we’ve decided to make it a regular.
Our next party on Sat 22nd May features the Gnawa musical tradtion as demonstrated by Simo Lagnawi, one of the UK’s handful of Gnawa masters. You can read more about the Gnawa tradition here, but to get a better feel for the music/movement, it might be worth checking the clips at the end of this post. Don’t make the mistake of painting OKRA as some kind of ethnomusicologists convention though. Our guests will vary from the strictly traditional to the freshly cut, and as you’ll know if you’ve made it to any of our private affairs, our crowd are much more likely to dance and look hot than stand and talk cold. Myself and Suga Kan’n provide the rest of the evenings soundtrack digging everything from the traditional to the warm buzz of the afro future. Connie Bell blesses the mic as only she can.
So. Join the facebook group here, check the flyer below and if you’re convinced, spread the word: OKRA is here…
Oh, and for the completely random element, word has it that Janet Jackson might be in the building on the 22nd as she’s promoting her new film with Tyler Perry….an intriguing combination no?
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Pic: Adam Shelton
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