Dennis Bovell
The still active, still phenomenal Dennis Bovell came from Barbados to London in 1965 at age 12. He has had a hand in many of the most important shifts in British reggae / Dub.
Dennis sez:
"Immediately I landed in the Sound System culture because my dad had an amplifier & a couple of boxes, & in them days that was a Sound System. If you had a 50-watt amp & four or five speakers, enough to put one in every room of a party with enough wire to run it, that was a Sound System. My dad was a bus driver. He knew lots of busmen, my mum was a nurse. She knew lots of nurses. So busmen & nurses came from all over."
Bovell’s father would take his system, called Tropical Soundmaster, to play at "blues parties" at his own or friends' houses, as well as weddings & christenings, sometimes playing for free, for some beer or some weed. He'd get records sent by mail order from Jamaica & the USA, ensuring a good following because he was known to have a great record collection.
Bovell used his knowledge of Sound Systems to broaden his own appreciation of music, Early on, Dennis played in the band Matumbi. Matumbi were at the helm of a second generation of UK Sound Systems. Bovell set up his own Sound System called Jah Sufferah’s Hi-Fi, they'd play Matumbi songs until people knew the songs & wanted to own them. Running the Sound System brought trouble from the police & Dennis was imprisoned for six months on remand, but was later released on appeal. In 1980 he wrote the score for Babylon, a dramatic film about police corruption & racism in London, informed in part by Bovell's own experience being falsely imprisoned for running his Sound System. The final scene of the film is based on an actual incident involving Dennis.
In 1974 the Carib Club (aka Burton's) in Willesden was raided. Dennis Bovell was in jail for six months just waiting as a suspect. He'd been playing the Sound System that night. The police claimed he'd been egging the people on & using the "Sus" law, they imprisoned him.
Here's what a true Jah Sufferah Sound System follower sez:
"JAH SUFFERAH SOUND came from Battersea but played in the club called METRO in Ladbroke Grove in the 70s. Well every Friday night Sufferah would pull up outside of Metro in 2 vans & unload the Sound (Dennis Bovell was the main selector along with Natty). Each Friday there would be a guest Sound they would come from all over England to play SUFFERAH & try to beat him. DENNIS BOVELL would string up his sound & start playing by 7:30. Dennis would start playing plastic until about 9pm. then just before 9 he would tell the crowed that he was going to play the last plastic then he would open his DUB BOX & start playing Dub plates. He would play Dubs with SUFFERAH name in them.. A lot of Sounds came there but NONE of them could handle SUFFERAH. Lord Koos came one night & Sufferah gave him a beating & told Koos that his sound sounded like a frying pan. Fatman from North London with RIBBS the selector came one Friday. He was good & played well. They played 2 cuts of the tune called Margret, one Bongo drum cut & a sci-fi cut. Fatman's people hit the roof. A bottle was thrown into Fatman’s corner. Dennis told Fatman that Sufferah was not going to pay him for playing that night but would give him 10 pence for the bus faire to go back to north London. Sufferah then played a Horns cut to Margret (place went wild). Lord David from Battersea with (BERIS BASSA) the selector came one night. Beris kept on telling the crowed that David the owner was on the way back from Jamaica with some new Dubs & what he was going to do to SUFF. Nuff crowd was there later on that night. BERIS say's that David is outside of Metro. When David came in he gave Beris 2 Transco Dub boxes & Beris started to play out of them. I will never forget this Beris played Foggy Road by Burning Spear. When he finished playing SufferAH played it back on him & asked him if that was what he was going on about. Then Dennis played a Trombone cut to it...all hell broke loose. In 1974/75 Jah Shaka came to play SUFFERAH. That was a dance. everyone was talking ‘bout this sound called Shaka who was going around & killing alot of the Sound around. The week before Shaka came to Metro he had gone to 4 Aces & beat up Count Shelly. Anyway Shaka comes to Metro. The place was packed. I had never herd Shaka so did not know how he sounded. Well I was shocked. He played & sound like Sufferah. We knew then that Sufferah had a battle on his hands. It was tune for tune that night oh man was this Sound going to do what no other Sound had never done. Suff was playing tunes like Bring the Couchie Come/ African Train/ Ain’t Got No Soul Today & many more hit tunes but Shaka was playing them back with different cuts. What a night. There was a tune call Release Your Daughter, well Sufferah had a cut called Release Your Music when he played that the place just went mad. Shaka played a tune call Dread Out Deh, when he did that Sufferah played a cut of that tune called Jacket by Jimmy Riley & then played a horns cut...place went crazy. Shaka then played tune call Hey Girl Come & Get It, Shaka's Got It. By the end of the dance Sufferah was playing some wicked horn's tune Shaka could not beat him. Sir Coxsone was billed to come to Metro to play Sufferer but Coxsone did not turn up. Anyway in 1977 one Friday night Sufferah left Metro after playing & went to a club called Burtons in Cricklewood to play an all-night session with TROJAN. That night the police raided Burtons & thats when the Sufferah man them got arested (Dennis Bovell spent 6 months in prison that was the start of the downfall of JAH SUFFERAH'S SOUND). After that Pebbles took over the sound & played it all over London soon after that they sold out the Sound to some youth's in Ladbroke Grove."
Here's an early offering from Dennis using his nickname Black Beard, mastered by John Hasell.
Dennis sez:
"This is a collection of my own music mixed the way that I prefer. I hope you like them. Strictly dub wize."
Side 1 -
Cut After Cut
Rebel Chase
Ites of Dub
River to Bank Rocking
Tell Yuh So
Side 2 -
Strictly Dub
Mint ah Music
Ska-Be-Doo-Za
Ah Weh
After getting out of jail, Dennis dedicated much of his time to his band Matumbi. They had formed in 1971 & were extremely popular with the reggae crowd. The group wrote & performed the opening theme song to Empire Road, a British television series on the BBC 1978-79. The popularity of the song led to it being released as a single in 1978. This opened the recording studio doors.
This View -
Come with Me
Bookie to the Bank
Daughter of Babylon
Nothing to Do with You
Black Civilisation
Good Book
bonus track - Empire Road (theme song)
That View -
Point of View (Squeeze a Little Lovin')
Judy McQueen
Ordinary Man
Boy oh Boy
Things I Do for You
Living in a Dream
bonus track - Points of View (Squeeze a Little Lovin' 12" Dub version)
Here are some more crucial cuts from that Sound System timeline 1976-1983, released in 2003.
The Grunwick Affair
Harmoniser Dub
Dominion Dub
Rowing (12" version)
Zombie Zones
Zion Dub
Higher Ranking
Ranking High
Scientific
Shi-cago
None Jah Jah Children (Melodica version)
Uganda Crisis
Ah Fi wi Dis
Entebbe
Blood ah Go Run
Dub'er
One more from Matumbi before we move onward...
Side A -
Frenz
Ajali
Call Pon I
Side B -
Hearts of Art
Afi Laugh
Fuss & Fight
Bass culture,
NØ