Recently I bought Oku Onuora's latest recording, I've Seen. It is a fantastic slab of some crazy hybrid of 21st Century Dub / Dub poetry. It is the brainchild of Fruit Records, a roots reggae record label located in Geneva, Switzerland.
Fruits Records have dedicated themselves to roots music. They started in 2014, going to Jamaica to search out the all-but-forgotten singer I Kong. They recorded the showcase album A Little Walk, part of it in Jamaica, with legendary musicians such as Scully Simms & Dalton Browne, part of it in Europe. It was released in the spring of 2015. It marked the start of I Kong's much deserved come back.
During the same sessions, they also recorded the "Trod On" riddim & released a maxi-single featuring The Viceroys, Lone Ranger, Prince Alla, & Roberto Sanchez. These two releases became the founding stones of their label.
& all their music is on vinyl!
After A Little Walk & Trod On, they released The Inspirators, an ambitious project by Mathias Liengme (one of the four founders of Fruits Records). Recorded in 2013 in Jamaica, it features legendary musicians such as Earl "Chinna" Smith, Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, Lloyd Parks, & Anthony "Sangie" Davis. Not only do all four play their usual instruments on the album, but each of the artists also sings two of the eight tracks. These musicians are well known for their playing but not enough for their singing. The Inspirators project pays a tribute to their hidden talent.
Only one album was not enough for I Kong & Fruits Records to really explore all the possibilites of their collaboration. A Little Walk was recorded in one week & I Kong only worked with the instrumentals once they were already recorded. For his second release Pass it On, I Kong & the Swiss musicians created all the music together, from the first note to the final release. Some songs were built around I Kong's singing, some were written by I Kong during jam sessions, some were written by band members. So the whole effort emerged from a close collaboration. For Pass It On, I Kong bridges the generations, sharing his singing task with the great Judy Mowatt (from the I-Threes, Bob Marley's backing vocalist) on "Motherless Child", with the legendary Ken Boothe on "They Don't Know", & with the rising stars Raging Fyah on the title track "Pass It On".
Fruit Records latest release is the phenomenal Oku Onuora - I've Seen issued February 22, 2019. It features Oku along with one of my favorite JA trombonists, Rico Rodriguez. & the 18th Parallel, house band for Fruits Records.
The 18th Parallel Band: Solal Excoffier - lead guitar; Léo Marin - rhythm guitar; Doctor T - bass; Mathais Liengme - keyboards; Michael Borcard - saxophone; Anthony Buclin - trombone; Alexandre Schneiter - trumpet; & Antonin Chatelain - drums.
Oku Nagba Ozala Onuora (born Orlando Wong on March 9, 1952) is known as the "father of Jamaican dub poetry".
If you don't know Oku's story, here's a brief synopsis: his ghetto youth, his immersion in JAs emerging radical culture, his participation in demonstrations against police violence, his involvement in armed robberies to finance ghetto schools & community centers, his arrest & 7 year sentence. Although Oku was a first time offender, because he attempted to escape prison twice (he was shot five times by police during his first attempt), instigated a prison riot, & openly campaigned for prison reform, he was deemed a security risk & placed in maximum security (with an additional 8 years tacked on to his sentence). There he began writing poetry. Although prison guards regularly ransacked his cell & destroyed his writings, many of his poetic creations were smuggled out of prison. By 1977, Confrontation, a play he had written to be performed inside a prison was produced by JBC Radio & Echo, his first book of poetry, was published. After these events, public pressure for his released grew immensely & he was finally paroled in September 1977. The rest is history.
His bio reads like a spectacular adventure story...search it out.
After listening to I've Seen for the umpteenth time, I rounded up his other works & drowned myself in Dub & Dub poetry. All you members of the Brutha/Sistahood of Dub should be familiar with Oku & AK7's Pressure Drop from 1984.
On today's offering, Oku pays homage to the greatest progenitor of Dub.
Praise Jah.
Ion (Invaders of Nine) Records 2011-2, 1998.
decryption code in comments
Rub a Dub
Dub a Dub
Dub It
Dub Out
Dub In
Dubnology I
Dub Art
Dub Over
Dubnology II
Dubsession
Dub Fi Dub
Dun On
Overdub
Mello Dub
Dub Up
Dub U
Tubby Dub-a Tribute
Bubble Dub
Recorded: King Tubby's Studio, Waterhouse, Kingston., Jamaica. '88
1st Transfer / Mix: Jam Cap Recording Studio, Brooklyn, NY., '88
Engineers: Scientist / G. Adams
2nd Transfer / Mix: Bass Mind Studio, Brooklyn, NY., '95
Engineer: Doctor Israel / Assisted by Oku
Final Mix: Bass Mind Studio, '97
Engineer: Francois Lardeen / Assisted by: O.H.M
Dub it like a Tubby,
NØ