Recollection/Resurrection By Tristram Keefe
The reggae Sound System has since the mid twentieth-century been the central driving force in Jamaican musical culture. Far more than just a ‘mobile disco’ as it is often described, the Sound System is a musical and social institution consisting of a range of actors—selector, deejay, operator, engineer, box-man—an apparatus for amplifying sound—the physical sound system or ‘set’, and a collection of recorded material—records, dubplates, cd’s. In a dancehall session, the Sound System transmits a wide range of entertainment, from exclusive ‘specials’ that can only be heard in the dance, to introductions and interjections from the mic-man in between and over the pieces of music being played.
As Jamaicans traveled abroad in the postwar period, they brought with them their unique dancehall culture to various outposts around the globe—first to England, then later to Canada and the United States—where it interacted with and developed alongside local musical and performance genres. Sound Systems began to appear in London by the mid 1950s, and quickly established themselves as a primary source of entertainment for the city’s growing West Indian population. This entertainment not only provided a release from the pressures of daily life in a foreign and often hostile land, but also forged an organic link between England and Jamaica through a mutually reaffirming and participatory cultural practice.
By the early 1980s, Sound System culture in London had reached far beyond its humble beginnings; sets like Sir Coxsone and Fatman HiFi were notorious even in Jamaica and North America, with all of the top artists voicing specials and dropping by while visiting England. As the eighties progressed, and dancehall’s digital revolution dawned, one London set would become a juggernaut in its own right—Lewisham’s King Saxon even today remains one of the most widely known and revered sounds on both sides of the Atlantic. Alongside Saxon, sets like Untiy, Java, Frontline, and Sir Coxsone rammed dances across England seven nights a week, often meeting head to head in widely publicized sound clashes, many of which have become storied pieces of dancehall history—preserved on a multitude of Cassettes, CDrs, and mp3s.
The next decade would prove to be much less fruitful for Britain’s Sound Systems. As musical styles and audience tastes shifted, and venues became increasingly difficult to secure, many of the once-venerated sets either packed up their equipment for good, or focused primarily on touring overseas. Some stalwarts—namely Jah Shaka—stayed the course during the nineties, and paved the way for what would become the UK Dub scene, itself a sort of contradictory counterpart to the ‘Bashment’ style of dancehall that many would argue pushed the Sound Systems out of the foreground. In time, the actual physical apparatus of the Sound System became a relic of the past as DJs played out on PA equipment, all the while using the moniker ‘Sound System’ as a promotional tool. Commenting on this trend, longtime Saxon selector Trevor Sax recalls that during the eighties “you had to have a sound system first and foremost to play anywhere. You could not go out and represent yourself on somebody else’s thing.” This mentality was replaced by a generation in which a sound clash consists of two or more Sounds compete against each other using the same decks, amplifiers, speakers, etc.
In the last few years, a number of long dormant Sound Systems have begun to dust off their equipment, take the precious dubplates and 45s out of storage, and once again string up in dancehalls around London. One particular series of events held in the Brixton Town Hall—the site of England’s very first Sound System dance in 1955—has succeeded in repeatedly bringing out truly historic sets like Fatman, Sir Coxsone, Quaker City, King Tubby, and Saxon. In the spirit of times past, each sound plays on its own equipment (technical difficulties and all) and competes in an ordered (but not officiated) manner. The events conjure a sense of recollection and excitement that radiates through the audience-participants regardless of their age. Trevor Sax shares this excitement, in particular as it pertains to the generations that were not around to witness the heyday of London’s Sound Systems. “I think right now having the sounds come back out, and having like Saxon now going to play in Brixton quite soon, its gonna bring all that flavor all around again. And you know, the now generation has gone through this Bashment phase, where they realize that just hearing two DJs spinning decks or spinning CD is not really the technique they wanna learn.”
The photographs in this piece were taken at two separate dances held at the Brixton Town Hall in early 2008. The Sound Systems featured were Sir Coxsone, Moa Ambassa, King Tubby Hi Fi, Quaker City, Sufferer, Mainsqueeze, True Vibes, and Twelve 12. We hope that the images convey the spirit of these historical events and further shed light on one aspect of Britain’s—and Jamaica’s—rich and multifaceted dancehall culture.