promoters

I get what your saying and could see it happening with promoters/sounds but honestly typing in capitals the whole time is horrible to read.

There really is no need for it and I don't get why people do it?

OK ILL LOWER MY LETTERS FOR THE PEOPLE THAT ARE EASILY UPSET... my point is a roots darnce is supose to be about peace love & unity? Soo for big named sounds to block other sounds aint that goin agaist what they claim there promoting when they shout JAH RASTA,UNITY AN LOVE? AND SAME GOSE FOR THE POMOTERS WHO CLAIM THEY ARE RASTA. And im not just talking about new sounds im talking about sounds that are well known and people LOVE THERE MUSIC and still get blockd FACT!!!!   

Adrian is right in a lot of what he says.  Starting and maintaining your own local events is the only way.  Some of these events may make enough money to buy you some new parts for your sound, many will not.  The reggae world is very slow moving and slow to recognise talent outside of the 'big name' arena.  There is blocking by certain sounds and promoters, but you just have to try and get on with it.  Massive respect to Kilowatt, Qualitex and ProMotion54 who have tried in recent years to get some recognition for smaller and less obvious sound systems. 

Just seen this, sounds like these promoters have a good outlook!




Edited by Scratch - 12 September 2014 at 4:52pm

First off I apologise for using specific sound system names as I think its bad to single people out but what is needed is some real world examples.

There are plenty of "new" sounds which are getting breaks, its just that people aren't interested unless its their own sound. Look at University of Dub, I remember when Kibir La Amlak got their first set their, it was not so long ago. Also Instrument of Jah recently played there for the second time having put in the hard work doing stages at festivals and running their own sessions.

Look at what the Dub Smugglers have done up in Manchester with the Iration crew, now they are just back from taking their rig over to Outlook which I believe has some promotional links with SubDub. 5 years ago they came down to play at my session and where genuine guys with a real love of reggae music. Now after a lot of work and some very successful events they are getting somewhere in the scene.

Take United Nations of Dub (UNOD). This year they are doing their festival again and had a competition on facebook to select 6 new up and coming sounds to play at the festival during the day before the main sounds play in the evening. This is giving chances to be seen in a serious roots arena to Roots Collective Grenoble, Pressure Roots Hi-Fi, Sinai Sound System, Welders Hi-Fi, Operation Sound System & Dub Conductor. Also see that dance 2 posts up in Leicester, I think that's organised by someone related to the UNOD guys and thats promoting new up and coming sounds.

How about Teachings in Dub in Bristol, giving Lionpulse, a sound thats only just had its first birthday, a chance to play with a veteran like Channel One. Thats not always the big 3, you get sounds like Massai Warrior, who are a relatively new sound being only 5 years old, Jah Lokko and Young Warrior all playing at that session.

On top of these big well established sessions there are loads of smaller dances happening all over. I see Dub School in Bedford was always booking a variety of sounds, I see sessions in Norwich with a heaps of different sounds systems, the defend your town sessions in Birmingham, the best new roots entertainer dances from Birmingham as well, the Golden Palace in north London, sessions in Reading, Preston, Brighton, Bristol, Oxford, Southall and the list goes on and on

There are plenty of sessions people can go to see sounds outside of the main 3 which I think we all know means Aba, Iration & Ch1. The thing is a lot of these sessions are run at a much more grass roots level than thousand capacity dances like Uni of Dub.

The same things runs through is that the sounds that I see getting booked for sessions are the ones out their actually pushing their own thing. Releasing tunes, organising their own sessions and willing to travel and put in the hard graft to get the recognition they deserve and they have their promo down. I know about these sessions from the other side of the world because of technology and a lot of sounds dont want to move with the times, you need to list dances on the internet, word of mouth is not enough anymore and these are just sessions in the UK. There are loads of smaller sounds working all over the world, look at Europe, South America, Japan, India and even here in Australia we have sounds doing their thing.

Remember, the race is not for the swift, it is for who can endure it.

fat_brstd wrote: Wise Words