Interview: Reggae agenda meets irie nation (BEL)
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Please, introduce yourself(s):
Dj Ludo, founder of the Irie Nation Sound System in The Gambia in 2003. Since then I’ve always been a reggae activist, whether with my sound, on different radio shows I hosted in the past, through journalist and translator work for www.reggae.be, as an artist promoter or as a reggae events organizer. Reggae music is a virus, as Cocoa Tea said, and I’m deeply contaminated. For how long you’ve been playing Jah Jah music now? I played my first dance in a squat in Berlin in 2002 but I was just a reggae lover by then. Later on got in touch with some reggae selectors in The Gambia and there is where I started to select… |
IrieNation pon the wheels of steel
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And to MC as well, because most DJ’s over there do both. I had to learn quick because I had brought a sound system over there and none of the crew was really experienced. The main advantage of it is that I developed my own way of selecting and MCing, not really getting too much influence from a role-model or being tempted in copying someone else’s style.
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When was your first encounter with reggae music?
Coming from a background of Metal and hardcore music in my teens, I then started to grow a strong interest in drumming (djembe and other percussions) and from there I started to like African Music and that finally brought me to seek to know more about reggae music, that was around 2000. When I travelled for a year to The Gambia in West Africa, I was completely plunged in a culture where the youths are fully loving reggae and dancehall music. In that year, I learned a lot about Jah music and I’m still learning about it now. What do you love about reggae music the most? When I’m listening to the reggae music, the first positive feeling I get is physical : the bassline pumping like a heartbeat, that rhythm is giving a natural feeling, it’s a perfect musical background for life. Listening to the music further and giving a careful ear to the message and the lyrics in the music is coming next. And there, I’m mostly in line with the words I hear : respect for each and everyone, unity despite differences, love for your family, resistance against oppression and the Babylonian system, respect for the nature, self-sufficiency,…. There’s much to learn from the music! And on the other hand there’s the whole enjoyment provided by the sound of reggae and dancehall, there’s the entertainment, the lover’s music to enjoy alongside your lady, the crazy beats to make you wine and dance through the night… Are you into RastafarI or just a reggae music lover? I do appreciate to hear and learn about the Rastafari movement, and there’s much positive elements to draw from the learning of the Rastafarians. But I do not affiliate with any church or any religion. |
What’s your favourite town to play your tunes?
I can’t say there’s one place where I love to play…. I played some great dances in places where I probably won’t have the chance to play again. Basically, I love those places where people just love the music, feel irie and come to enjoy themselves. Not those kind of places where people come to show off and watch each other or get their heads drunk without caring for the music…
Tell us who is your favourite reggae musician?
I couldn’t give you a single name but something like a “five best artists” seems possible. Then I would name Dennis Brow, Garnett Silk, Beres Hammond, Capleton and I would either give the last place to one of those artists who rocks the most for the moment : Skarra Mucci or Busy Signal.
Why is this your favourite artist?
Dennis, Beres and Garnett, as well as the others, have that particular talent of singing love songs that are just as moving as their conscious rasta songs, and vice versa. They have the voice and the versatility.
What song of this artist do you want to be your next dub-plate?
Well Beres would definitely be a must in my dubplate segment. There’s one of his songs that definitely touches my heart and my soul, it is “Warriors Don’t Cry”. It’s far from being his most popular song but it’s so deep…
I can’t say there’s one place where I love to play…. I played some great dances in places where I probably won’t have the chance to play again. Basically, I love those places where people just love the music, feel irie and come to enjoy themselves. Not those kind of places where people come to show off and watch each other or get their heads drunk without caring for the music…
Tell us who is your favourite reggae musician?
I couldn’t give you a single name but something like a “five best artists” seems possible. Then I would name Dennis Brow, Garnett Silk, Beres Hammond, Capleton and I would either give the last place to one of those artists who rocks the most for the moment : Skarra Mucci or Busy Signal.
Why is this your favourite artist?
Dennis, Beres and Garnett, as well as the others, have that particular talent of singing love songs that are just as moving as their conscious rasta songs, and vice versa. They have the voice and the versatility.
What song of this artist do you want to be your next dub-plate?
Well Beres would definitely be a must in my dubplate segment. There’s one of his songs that definitely touches my heart and my soul, it is “Warriors Don’t Cry”. It’s far from being his most popular song but it’s so deep…
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Irie Nation will play in the DUB corner at DOUR festival 2014
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IrieNation pon di Mic
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Very exclusive DUB plate for IrieNation by U-Brown & Silvertones
What is your TOP 5 of Dub plates you have right now?
A top 5 is hard to make, as I have dubplates in various styles, from Dancehall to Ska. The artists who provided some great dubs for Irie Nation are Randy Valentine, Skarra Mucci or Frankie Paul... Then U Brown and The Silvertones gave me an exclusive combo dub on the original Smile riddim. There’s one particular dubplate from Ken Boothe as well that’s very special : on the original Artibella, the original ska version from Studio One had a poor sound and some backing vocals from Stranger Cole that bleeded through. That version could not really be used. So my studioman Wacky Tea replayed and resampled the whole riddim. The result is just astonishing!
What is your TOP 5 Riddims?
Classic reggae riddims are surely my favourites. I could name the Drifter Riddim, the Smile Riddim, Heathen riddim, Revolution riddim, Promised Land Riddim….
What do you think every Sound System needs?
A positive mind, and creative spirit, a lot of generosity and love for the massive.
When do you think people have the right to call themselves a ‘sound system’?
Well, the first step to be a sound system is to have the system… Then you may be experienced or not, talented or not, but this is surely the first requirement : to have the amplifiers, speaker boxes and the whole accessories that goes along with them. Irie Nation was a sound system from scratch : from the first dances we played, we were independent and always played with our own sound. That’s not the case anymore, so often drop the “sound system” from the name Irie Nation.
Have you ever been to Jamdown and did it match your expectations?
I have never had the chance to get to JA. When I was younger, I used to spend my time in The Gambia, and travelling to JA from there wasn’t really possible. Now that I’m based in Belgium, I don’t really have much free time to go… I wish I could get 2 or 3 months free to go over there, not just a couple of weeks… There are so many places I want to see and people I want to meet over there.
Do you play the music you like or do you play the music the crowd likes?
I always mix both, but I’m surely not a “commercial’ selecta. I don’t just follow the Jamaican charts to build my selection. There are for example some tunes or trends in the Jamaican dancehall that are very popular but that I don’t rate and don’t play. And I also always like to introduce new talent to the crowd, I like to push some artists whom I rate and I’m close with like Rebellion da Recaller from Gambia, Skarra Mucci, Virtus, Cali P, or some of my local artists from Belgium or France : Cash Flow, Mista Aya, Dju Lion, Scars….
That being said, I also try and get in the same mood as the crowd, I have built selections in various styles in order to be able to please various types of massive : it can go from Ska to Jungle, from Reggae to Dubstep or from African Reggae to Reggae/Hip Hop mashups.
A top 5 is hard to make, as I have dubplates in various styles, from Dancehall to Ska. The artists who provided some great dubs for Irie Nation are Randy Valentine, Skarra Mucci or Frankie Paul... Then U Brown and The Silvertones gave me an exclusive combo dub on the original Smile riddim. There’s one particular dubplate from Ken Boothe as well that’s very special : on the original Artibella, the original ska version from Studio One had a poor sound and some backing vocals from Stranger Cole that bleeded through. That version could not really be used. So my studioman Wacky Tea replayed and resampled the whole riddim. The result is just astonishing!
What is your TOP 5 Riddims?
Classic reggae riddims are surely my favourites. I could name the Drifter Riddim, the Smile Riddim, Heathen riddim, Revolution riddim, Promised Land Riddim….
What do you think every Sound System needs?
A positive mind, and creative spirit, a lot of generosity and love for the massive.
When do you think people have the right to call themselves a ‘sound system’?
Well, the first step to be a sound system is to have the system… Then you may be experienced or not, talented or not, but this is surely the first requirement : to have the amplifiers, speaker boxes and the whole accessories that goes along with them. Irie Nation was a sound system from scratch : from the first dances we played, we were independent and always played with our own sound. That’s not the case anymore, so often drop the “sound system” from the name Irie Nation.
Have you ever been to Jamdown and did it match your expectations?
I have never had the chance to get to JA. When I was younger, I used to spend my time in The Gambia, and travelling to JA from there wasn’t really possible. Now that I’m based in Belgium, I don’t really have much free time to go… I wish I could get 2 or 3 months free to go over there, not just a couple of weeks… There are so many places I want to see and people I want to meet over there.
Do you play the music you like or do you play the music the crowd likes?
I always mix both, but I’m surely not a “commercial’ selecta. I don’t just follow the Jamaican charts to build my selection. There are for example some tunes or trends in the Jamaican dancehall that are very popular but that I don’t rate and don’t play. And I also always like to introduce new talent to the crowd, I like to push some artists whom I rate and I’m close with like Rebellion da Recaller from Gambia, Skarra Mucci, Virtus, Cali P, or some of my local artists from Belgium or France : Cash Flow, Mista Aya, Dju Lion, Scars….
That being said, I also try and get in the same mood as the crowd, I have built selections in various styles in order to be able to please various types of massive : it can go from Ska to Jungle, from Reggae to Dubstep or from African Reggae to Reggae/Hip Hop mashups.
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Irie Nation in Gambia, Mama Africa
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Irie Nation Sound System in Gambia, Mama Africa
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Do you prefer vinyl, CD or Mp3 and why?
I’ve started on CD and vinyl… But in those days in The Gambia, vinyl was suffering too much from heat, dust and rough transport so I continued with CD only…. And I’m still playing in that way today… I’m not much into new gadgets, laptops and such so I still play with “old-school” CD’s.
Tell our visitors which artist you think they should keep an extra eye out for?
Skarra Mucci, Rebellion da Recaller, Randy Valentine, Micah Shemaiah
What was the best experience you had performing as a Deejay?
Well there have been different events which remain great memories…. I can recall a show in Brikama The Gambia around 2006, when we had worked out a great promotion and where various artists had to line-up. The club owner wanted to cancel our event at the last minute and make everything collapse. We finally managed to hold the party and that night despite the delay, technical problem, we filled the club with 600 raggamuffins and the night was just great.
Around the same year, Glen Washington was due to perform at the National Stadium. On his arrival, the day before the show, he wanted to get some of the local vibes so he asked his entourage to take him to some party… That’s how he reached to a venue called Reggae Sunsplash where we were holding a dance. He handed me a CD with some versions and grabbed the mike and we did an half-hour jam for a small priviledged crowd of about 150 people.
In Belgium, a set on Reggae Geel Festival as a MC for the great Lord Zeljko from King Dragon Sound (Paris) was also another great memory…. As much as the set where I did select for Skarra Mucci at the Brussels Reggae Festival, just minutes after I had to announce that the headliner of the night (Mykal Rose) would not perform. Skarra came with some great energy and we mashed up that place.
Another night I played in a remote village in the Belgian Ardennes, where they told me people do not dance to much but rather spend the night drinking off the bar…. Well I did a 5 hours mix and got them dancing till their legs were sore, around 4.30AM…
And what was the worst experience?
When I was playing in a bar in The Gambia, some junkheads came around, and there was this blackman from UK with them. He insisted on MCing whilst I was playing so I gave him the mike. But he was too high and started doing crazy speeches and hitting on a glass window with his hands at the same time, until the window broke and cut his arm… Blood was shed on my mixer, cd’s and on the floor…. The dance was stopped for some minutes.
Another time, in The Gambia again, we went to a town called Gunjur to set up the sound for a big party in an open air cinema. Everything was ready and expectations were high when we heard some cries coming from a compound just behing the venue. One of the elderly people in that family had just died. There was no way we could play music there that night. We packed up and went home, with our spirits very low.
I’ve started on CD and vinyl… But in those days in The Gambia, vinyl was suffering too much from heat, dust and rough transport so I continued with CD only…. And I’m still playing in that way today… I’m not much into new gadgets, laptops and such so I still play with “old-school” CD’s.
Tell our visitors which artist you think they should keep an extra eye out for?
Skarra Mucci, Rebellion da Recaller, Randy Valentine, Micah Shemaiah
What was the best experience you had performing as a Deejay?
Well there have been different events which remain great memories…. I can recall a show in Brikama The Gambia around 2006, when we had worked out a great promotion and where various artists had to line-up. The club owner wanted to cancel our event at the last minute and make everything collapse. We finally managed to hold the party and that night despite the delay, technical problem, we filled the club with 600 raggamuffins and the night was just great.
Around the same year, Glen Washington was due to perform at the National Stadium. On his arrival, the day before the show, he wanted to get some of the local vibes so he asked his entourage to take him to some party… That’s how he reached to a venue called Reggae Sunsplash where we were holding a dance. He handed me a CD with some versions and grabbed the mike and we did an half-hour jam for a small priviledged crowd of about 150 people.
In Belgium, a set on Reggae Geel Festival as a MC for the great Lord Zeljko from King Dragon Sound (Paris) was also another great memory…. As much as the set where I did select for Skarra Mucci at the Brussels Reggae Festival, just minutes after I had to announce that the headliner of the night (Mykal Rose) would not perform. Skarra came with some great energy and we mashed up that place.
Another night I played in a remote village in the Belgian Ardennes, where they told me people do not dance to much but rather spend the night drinking off the bar…. Well I did a 5 hours mix and got them dancing till their legs were sore, around 4.30AM…
And what was the worst experience?
When I was playing in a bar in The Gambia, some junkheads came around, and there was this blackman from UK with them. He insisted on MCing whilst I was playing so I gave him the mike. But he was too high and started doing crazy speeches and hitting on a glass window with his hands at the same time, until the window broke and cut his arm… Blood was shed on my mixer, cd’s and on the floor…. The dance was stopped for some minutes.
Another time, in The Gambia again, we went to a town called Gunjur to set up the sound for a big party in an open air cinema. Everything was ready and expectations were high when we heard some cries coming from a compound just behing the venue. One of the elderly people in that family had just died. There was no way we could play music there that night. We packed up and went home, with our spirits very low.
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Have you ever experienced technical problems in the heat of the moment and how did you deal with it?
When I was in The Gambia, we regularly had technical problems, mostly due to the electricity supply. It could be the voltage that would be too low and would make the CD players and amplifiers to dysfunction. Or we would more often be working with a generator and it happened regularly that it wouldn’t take the pressure of the heavy power requested by the basslines and would give failures… It sometimes caused long interruptions of the dance until the problem could be fixed and the massive were mostly used to it and would mostly keep patient. It happens regularly as well that a speaker would collapse or blow, in that case we’d just unplug it and keep playing the dance with the rest of the sound. Or CD players can fail as well sometimes. In this case you may just play the old school way, with one player only ! Where can people come and skank with you this summer ? I’m not playing much this summer. I have some easy open air vibes in my town at Tournai-les-Bains and at the Belgian coast. But the main focus of the summer will be a set on the Dub Corner at the legendary Dour Festival in Belgium. I’ll be playing alongside one of the Singjay’s I’m working much with : Cash Flow from Mons and we’re preparing a special showcase with some dub selections and live action. |
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