The Amsterdam reggae scene (2023/24)

It is now over 5 years ago that I wrote for my blog (January, 2017) about the Amsterdam Reggae scene, speaking about 2016 and 2017. In fact, it was an update of my first description of the Amsterdam Reggae scene, written in Late 2012, so around 4 years earlier.

I think now (January of already 2024) the time has come for once again an update, along the same thematic lines, as it were subdividing the “scene”.

-REGGAE “CLUBS” (places)

-REGGAE DEEJAY’S/SELECTAH’S

-REGGAE PEOPLE (public, organizers)

-REGGAE ARTISTS AND PERFORMERS.

What has changed in the Amsterdam (and Netherlands) Reggae music scene since Early 2017, now about 6 years later?

TUMULTUOUS

The period 2017-2023 was overall quite tumultuous, but especially the latter years, since the Corona pandemic declared by authorities, since March 2020, It was then that the world – but especially leading politicians – went crazy.

Of course opinions differ about the restrictive corona policies, also affecting the Netherlands. If they were proper or necessary, if there really was a severe virus or a “pandemic”. The quest for ulterior motives by those critical of the policies - or as the CIA coined them: “conspiracy thinkers” - went on, and the (I think probable) ulterior motives will probably have to do with “the rich wanting to get richer”, or “elites fearing losing control”. Human history simply shows this..

The skeptical suspicions of other (non-medical) economical/political motives behind the proclaimed pandemic is "framed" here in the Western media as "Right-wing" or Right-Populist "conspracy theories", yet was widespread in the world, especially among poorer people (also from "the Left").. This framing is a matter of "wishful thinking" by authorities, hiding thus the (actually Right-wing!) vested interests behind such global policies, including multinationals, Big Pharma, Big Finance, etcetera.. All these profited in the period 2020-2022, which should have opened more eyes. Tellingly, I heard the word-play "pLandemic" (with the extra L) first from singer Buju Banton.

Why then - if this is the case - exactly at this time period (2020) such an “elite power grab” through such deceptive policies (hyping up a virus)? One of the more convincing and best-argumented - and non-ideological! - analysis I heard was that this whole Western capitalist system - based on exploitation - could simply not last, due to its very parasitical nature, and imploded/exploded at this point. This might relate to a peaking financial crisis, or the Internet, this digital age, promising world citizens freedom (of information) and connection, answered by “the powers that be” by threatening with more totalitarian control through it. The age-old class struggle, in essence, in my opinion.

While I considered it good and even heroic that people protested against the corona policies, and many sensible counter-ideas have been discussed about it, the theme is by now a well-trodden path, furthermore with decreased relevance and urgency, as the corona policies - some would say: failed deception strategy - seemed abandoned slowly in the course of 2022. Good to still stay vigilant of new "Babylon" schemes, of course. Some say "climate" (as opposed to actual "environment" protection) is one of these.

Let’s therefore try to forget this political/Babylonian foolishness, and focus on “positive vibrations”, namely music, culture, and Reggae, and specifically real lovers of Reggae music in Amsterdam, wanting to enjoy their favourite music, also outside one’s own house.. in other words: a “scene”.

Talking about “own house”.. during some of the several “peaks of lunacy” of the corona policies, also in the Netherlands there were periodic lockdowns – up to 2022 -, with all bars, clubs, restaurants, concert venues, etecetera, having to close for supposed medical (contagion) risk.

This also affected of course the nightlife in a city like Amsterdam, the Netherlands, including eventual Reggae clubs. Several Reggae events (festivals, internationally, other events) were annulled or postponed. Also “regular Reggae deejay-sessions”, to name something common in several European cities, including Amsterdam, ceased for some years, with few, and troubled exceptions. The hospitality sector in Amsterdam was even more tightly controlled (I knew e.g. that closing hours of bars were guarded oddly strict by police) than I thought, and most had to comply to not lose their business/license, although some sought the margins of the possible.

As part of the corona policies, the restrictions due to the QR code for entering public places (especially “fun” places, not for jobs and stores of course), as a conditional – read: discriminatory – opening up of bars and such), affected some “critical” Reggae fans.

I remember – when places could open a bit more,under discriminatory conditions – that certain Reggae parties, or a few concerts, had people not able to enter, for not having a QR code – or jab prove – to show. Even a former anarchic “squatter” place, like OT301 (Overtoom, Amsterdam), complied with this unhappy Babylonian policy.

As there were also travel restrictions for Jamaican artists, there were also limited Reggae concerts, especially in Europe (some US states like Florida still allowed concerts) in the period 2020-2022.

This was a blow, and hiatus, - perhaps even a trauma – but there was also a lively Reggae period before it- from 2017 to February 2020 – without such restrictions, and the period after 2021 to now, when public life – also of reggae events – “scrambled up” so to speak, i.e. increased again. Pick Myself (or Itself) Up from the ground, as the song by Peter Tosh goes..

Somehow the Amsterdam Reggae scene was kept alive also during corona closures and restrictions ., for – I think – interesting psychological/sociological reasons.

LIVE ONLINE CULTURE

All culture, must be kept in mind in this inevitable digital age, including modern subcultures, but also folk and pop cultures, can only thrive with actual and regular human contacts and gatherings. That is my (informed) opinion, at least. In fact, a free interaction of humans. Both the totalitarian tendencies the corona policies exhibited, as the increased digitalization in the West – with powerful parties behind it (big tech/technocracy) - impacted this. The latter - Internet – became by necessity a replacement of actual “music events” (dee-jays’ or live shows), with more people joining live “online events”, and real-time communication through comments.

Maybe it existed before, but it - known as: online streaming - certainly got a boost with those 2020-2022 “lockdowns” or, in some places, even evening curfews (for a type of influenza, I repeat). People were urged, but even forced to stay home. Also in the international Reggae scene, and from Amsterdam some dee-jays played Reggae live on e.g. Facebook pages. Also I, myself.

While contradictory and – of course – not “the real thing”, these online events could offer some comfort, nice distraction, and good music and variety of taste within Reggae, but also.. connection, and promise of “the real thing”: actual events with other people you can actually feel and smell (in theory.. I mean, haha), and direct sound waves from bigger or better loudspeakers “pumping” Reggae than you have at home.

I learned during my study that the Internet actually developed within US military circles, but luckily it spread outside of that elite context, and the freedom of information could not be tamed or controlled as much as "the powers that be" wanted..

Still.. actual culture requires physical gatherings, in my opinion. In that sense I agree with some critics of the corona policies, such as in the Netherlands Willem Engel, who called them – incl. lockdowns, gathering restrictions etc. - also an “attack on culture”.

REGGAE PLACES

From 1917 to Early 2020 there were still some Reggae clubs active in Amsterdam, notably and most regularly Café The Zen, then in Amsterdam East, also organizing events outside that club/café (under the name Zen Social: or rather ZenSocial productions). Small-scale shows were also regularly held in Café the Zen itself, or otherwise dee-jay events of Reggae dee-jays, especially with many people attending in the weekends. This was alive and still going strong!

Memorable for me was, e.g., the organized trip from Amsterdam to the island of Texel (NW Netherlands) in 2017, with the whole Café The Zen (read: Amsterdam Reggae)-community, with there shows of Warrior King from Jamaica, Marla Brown (daughter of Dennis, living in Britain), and Netherlands Reggae artists coming over. This is a lived culture, with actual physical presence. I even flirted with Marla Brown, or she with me? (just joking..)..

In 2017 and the years after, great artists like Fantan Mojah, Keida (from nice song Ganja Tea), I-Taweh, Lenn Hammond, Kushite, Khalilah Rose, and Vivian Jones, or national Reggae acts, like Jampara, Imishango, Zed I, Joggo, Miriam Simone, Lyrical Benjie, King I I Opo, or Rapha Pico .. really too much to mention - – perfomed or reappeared - in Café the Zen, while ZenSocial organized concerts by great Reggae artists like Everton Blender, Junior Kelly, Akae Beka, and Bushman, in concert venues/halls the direct surroundings of Amsterdam (Zaandam, Amstelveen).

These regular events – plus the very real sense that we were part of a Reggae community in Amsterdam – was later brutally disrupted by Babylon authorities attacking the vey lifeblood of it: freedom.

For the regular visitors of Café The Zen (like me) there was another shock or disappointment preceding this, as Café the Zen announced its closure (something with real-estate, rent costs, I understood) as of March 2020, when the whole corona hype was still a rumour. Very coincidental, but it – intended or not – softened the blow coming thereafter..

I was already starting to look for alternative Reggae places in Amsterdam, when the lockdowns coming in the months after confined me and my social life even more. I had a few private parties with dee-jay’s playing Reggae in that period, just to not always play Reggae I like just at my own home. I enjoy that, to be sure, but I think alterations of spaces and environments for humans are a psychological necessity: you dance among friends and strangers in another place – another “world” temporarily – and then return home for your usual, “homely” things, or relaxing with some fun YouTube film or documentary, either way as your own after party.

The lockdowns disrupted that natural, organic process and made “staying home” obligatory, rather than a respite or refuge. I guess it’s like having sex: it’s not relaxing and fun anymore when you are obliged/forced to.

Café Frontline, near Amsterdam’s Red Light district (with Surinamese owners) stayed open for a while (up to and “in-between” lockdowns) in the period 2020-2022. I was required – as I would in all other bars in Amsterdam – to fill in my name at the Café at one point: a place (Café Frontline) I have visited regularly for years. Not just an intrusion of privacy, but also making you feel guilty for going out: wicked policy, with the virus as excuse. All freedom and spontaneity troubled, though we always tried to hold a good Reggae vibe anyway. And forgot those bothersome policies when sweet Reggae played!

Other places were “visited” so to speak by Reggae selecta’s/dee-jay’s until the lockdowns got stricter, and after strict policies loosened. Selecta’s once playing in Café the Zen – like Jah Sisters - could play in some places in Amsterdam, like Kashmir Lounge, Hunter’s Grand Café, Molli Chaoot, or Bret.

JAMAICA LOUNGE

Another Reggae place I paid more attention to after Café the Zen closed was Jamaica Lounge, in Amsterdam-West. I went before a few times, noticing a bar-like atmosphere with not too loud music, albeit relatively good music (often Jamaican Reggae, because of its Jamaican owner Jimbo)..

In Late 2019 and after, the sound was improved (volume, acoustics), more to “club level”, and I could listen to some good Reggae there, interrupted by lockdown periods as Jamaica Lounge had to comply with it and was closed. Despite this, and when possible, Jamaica Lounge organized sometimes events, and I got more attention to them after Café the Zen closed.

Dependent on the occasional selecta’s/dee-jay’s or music played it was often okay (Roots Reggae or New Roots regularly), now with better sound, those nights at Jamaica Lounge – in Amsterdam West, although sometimes more Dancehall than Roots.

(Photo above: Jamaica Lounge on the De Clercqstraat 117, Amsterdam-West)

I got to know the owner Jimbo better, appreciating how he was music and Reggae-minded (also regarding older Reggae from his youth), and it thus offered some kind of a steady Reggae club for me. Furthermore, Jamaica Lounge not too far from the part of Amsterdam where I live. If I am not too lazy – or my bike broke down – I could even walk to Jamaica Lounge, haha.

Other places with sometimes Reggae music were the Molli Chaoot café in Amsterdam De Pijp/ Old South (a former squatter's café), and some “free-havens” in and around Amsterdam (NDSM, Ruigoord).. Some of these were UK/Euro Dub-minded, but always with some room for Jamaican Reggae.

Unfortunately, those in name “free havens” in Amsterdam and around, started by free-spirited people, often with links to “hippie” pasts, like Ruigoord or some other places within Amsterdam, could not escape the totalitarian corona policies, as they were forced to comply with the rules or measures that made no sense (forbidden outside parties: influenza-like contagion is improbable – almost impossible - with outside air, even if harmful enough to make such a fuss about it)..

The Amsterdam Reggae scene never stopped, though, and not just digitally/online, or virtually in one’s own home. The policies had an isolating/dividing effect which I from my historical and sociological studying justly predicted (not that I am so wise: just dry historical analysis). When public life is not fully “free” for citizens, people tend to withdraw to smaller social circles of trustworthy persons, often family or closer friends. Often also ethnically remarkably homogenous, despite the over 140 nationalities residing in a city like Amsterdam. This limits real cultural “scenes”, and I find this a pity. A small circle leads to a smaller mind, and just aids “divide and conquer” policies of authorities..

Studio work and bands practicing more or less continued, despite restrictions, so some Reggae musicians could still assemble in a limited sense. As long as they did not start to resemble “parties”, I suppose. I myself practiced with some other musicians, in rehearsal spaces in Amsterdam, often called “studio’s”, colloquially.

EARTH WORKS

One of those actual “studio’s”, that is: with extensive (updated) recording equipment, in Amsterdam, slowly developed into a more social space – despite the anti-social policies – with people actually gathering, first on a small scale: the Earth Works studio, led by Ben King, having recorded several Dutch and international Reggae artists in previous years, and having become a nice gathering place in “freer” times before 2020. (Website: https://www.earthworksamsterdam.com). It specializes in Reggae. It remained by necessity “low-key” during lockdown/corona periods, but Earth Works studio changed location from Weesp (just East of Amsterdam), to the North of Amsterdam (Buikslotermeerdijk), on one of those cultural “free havens” terrains, called ADM/Groene Veld. When freedom returned, it had become as much a gathering place as a studio for recording or rehearsing, at least offering some “community” sense (with dee-jays/selecta’s playing and “open” parties), but by then it was already 2023.

Despite its somewhat marginal location in the Far North of Amsterdam (the city virtually ends there), it became a nice, positive gathering place for people of different parts of the Reggae scene: both those who frequented Café the Zen (Roots and New Roots lovers), and the “squatter” scene (including Roots, but also Dub/Steppers lovers), of different ethnic backgrounds, and including some creative artists as well.

I visited Earth Works studio’s several times (already a few times when it was still in Weesp), and liked the vibes. Good that there are such “open”, creative places, anyway, despite its marginal location. Good recording equipment too, by the way, for those musicians interested. For quite reasonable prices, when compared to other studios, and aimed at especially Reggae music.

Now, as I write this, Late 2023, Earth Works studios is still very active, as is Jamaica Lounge, and ZenSocial organizes events again, and since around 2022 Jamaican Reggae artists started performing in Amsterdam and around again. Nice (even great!) concerts by Lila Iké and Nkulee Dube (Lucky’s daughter) at P60 (Amstelveen, just South of Amsterdam) I could enjoy in mid-2022, organized by ZenSocial productions. ZenSocial continues to organize and plan events, by the way, for Early 2024 (see: https://www.facebook.com/CafeTheZen/.

(Photo above: I with Lila Ike (pointing) after her show at P60, Amstelveen, June 2022)

This made me realize that “we are free again”, to quote a song By Burning Spear song from his Studio One days..

Jamaican artists also have meanwhile performed in the bigger concert venues Paradiso and Melkweg, and Reggae festivals took place in the Summer of 2023. I visited several, also in Amsterdam: Reggae Sunsplash and Reggae Lake, including good concerts by big Jamaican or Reggae names (Kabaka Pyramid, Richie Spice, Burning Spear, Capleton, Steel Pulse), and local artists. Some I even saw for the first time (Barrington Levy, Twinkle Brothers, – old school -, and Mortimer – new school Roots).

We are indeed “free again”. Yet: for a city of now over 800.000 inhabitants: the biggest city in the Netherlands, Amsterdam has very few “steady” Reggae places, with regular Reggae to count on. Not much beyond Jamaica Lounge (not far West from more central Amsterdam, but still off-route for many) or Earth Works (also called: Dub Hub) at the brink of Amsterdam-North. Besides this, occasional Reggae parties in other rented places (clubs, community houses) for the occasion.

Better than nothing, of course, but too little in relation to the actual number of Reggae fans in Amsterdam.

REGGAE DEE-JAY’S/SELECTA’S

Those dee-jay’s/selecta’s from mainly the Café the Zen days (2008-2020) in Amsterdam East were luckily not demoralized enough to continue, and when the measures loosened, started to play records again at social, public events: Jah Sisters (Sound Cista, DJ Jessi), Empress Donnalee, DJ Rowstone, DJ Ewa, Mystic Tammy, Ras Sjamaan, the Polish-French Zen Rockers posse (Vega Selecta, a.o.), Loddy Culture, Selectress Aur’ El (many of these people I interviewed for this blog as well). Some from the “squatter” scene (I call it that, haha) meanwhile had become more active, such as Pinedub, Jah Code (Carly), and new names like Eve Lien Dubwise (recently interviewed for my blog), with good musical rootical selections. The latter, Eve Lien, had a more Rootical taste, but some – a matter of taste – played at times more UK Steppers or Dub than Roots Reggae. Not my favourite subgenre within the whole Reggae field, but that is just my personal taste. Some of these selecta’s, of different backgrounds (Polish, French, Surinamese) also played at Earth Works studio, on some parties.

I myself took throughout 2023 some of my vinyl albums too to play as selecta at places like Café Havelaar (central Amsterdam), bar Molli Chaoot (Amsterdam-Old South) or Earth Works studio (Amsterdam North) on a few occasions. My Reggae vinyl collection is quite varied (incl. some Studio One), but a bit concentrated on the Channel One/Rockers period between 1976 and 1983. Each selecta specializes, I guess.

I noticed this also with the different selecta’s now active again in Amsterdam: different specialities: from Classic Reggae, to New Roots (Sizzla, Fantan Mojah, Morgan Heritage, Lutan Fyah, etc.), to Dub and Steppers. King Shiloh travels around and is well-known, but also made a move toward Steppers lately, unfortunately at the cost of Roots, which is on the other hand not absent. Covenant soundsystem, or Shashamane Sound, and other dee-jay combinations with a longer history in Amsterdam and around, and newer “sounds” like Shamba Lion (also Haarlem-based), still focus on Jamaican Roots though, as do Empress Donnalee, Jah Sisters (more New Roots), DJ Ewa, Mystic Tammy, or DJ Rowstone (partly Dancehall too). Some of the mentioned selecta’s combine Steppers with Roots more evenly (e.g. Jah Code). Newer influences also reached a veteran sound in Amsterdam like Shashamane Sound, though, as they (besides Jamaican Reggae), also played modern Dancehall, such as at a recent party – Late 2023 - at the Jamaican Lounge.

Some of these selecta’s/dee-jay’s keep up with newer releases since pre-corona days, as studio work in Jamaica luckily continued after 2020, and artists like Lutan Fyah, Richie Spice, Bushman, Sizzla, Luciano, Hempress Sativa, Aza Lineage, and Jah Mason still could release good songs in the period 2020-2023. Some of these with lyrics critical of the corona policies. Such critique is seldom heard in Western pop, but for historical reasons Caribbean people tend to be more critical of government policies and authorities (as most people in poorer countries, in fact).

REGGAE PEOPLE

Over time I got to find out how there were relatively many Polish people in the Amsterdam Reggae scene. This remained so, and possibly is a result of underground Punk-Reggae connections already existing during Communism in Poland (before 1990). The connections with squatters and anarchist movements are evident as well of this part of the Reggae scene, resulting in Reggae parties with international people, from various European countries, sharing a free, “squatter” spirit: from Italy, Poland, France, Spain, Serbia, Greece, a.o. In fact, I think this is also a nice, open-minded scene, with a real love for Reggae, albeit partly more the Steppers and Dub parts of it among some. Some in this “squatter scene” – to name it simplified – still play and prefer real Jamaican Roots though, and specialized in it, notably vinyl players.

There are however no strict barriers, as this “sub-scene” often mixes, also as dee-jay’s on parties, with the other part of the Reggae scene, like the erstwhile Café the Zen community, with many people of Surinamese descent, but also Africans, Antilleans, and others. UK Steppers or Dub seems less popular among this group, New Roots (Tarrus Riley, Richie Spice, Bushman, Sizzla, etc.) all the more.

The nice thing about a free culture is that these groups share a love for Jamaican music in the broader sense, and are not opposed, but sometimes intermingle as well, resulting in interesting parties or mutual inspirations.

These two groups – already existing “before corona” - come for instance together at the Earth Works studio in recent years, but before 2020 also sometimes. Branches of the same tree, so to speak.

ZenSocial from former Café the Zen) and Black Star Foundation (led by Michelle and Den Den) remained as Reggae-aimed organizations, and kept on organizing events, when possible. Of course they had to comply with corona policy rules, else “Babylon” would bother or limit them, but after the lockdowns, nice events were organized again, such as nice concerts, especially since 2022.

REGGAE ARTISTS AND PERFORMERS

Well, like their Jamaican counterparts, Reggae artists in Amsterdam were limited regarding live performances at the peak of corona plandemic madness. In-between and after the lockdowns, they performed here and there, sometimes on sound. Some continued – like other artists – with studio work, or composing, practicing their music. True artists remain artists, and do not do it for the money. Some demeaning comments once made by British politicians supporting the corona policies that “musical artists can always find other work”, show both disdain and misunderstanding of true artistry. Some people just have to make songs. Like Pablo Picasso had to make paintings, even at the cost of a stable life.

I am one of those people who “have” to make songs too (songs I like to make, the personal appreciation I leave to others), striving for free artistry, and also confined during the lockdowns I paid more attention to varied ways of making songs and composing, with own instruments, equipment and DAW (“home studio” would be too big a word, haha). It offered me a nice creative respite and comfort. I even have a message with my lyrics, haha. While the way I work (home recording) seems solitary, I like to work alone; often for the mere freedom it offers, but also because I do not like nepotism and money: two evils tormenting the music industry (in the Netherlands and elsewhere), and therefore use the digital age (YT channels a.o.) to my advantage, for my self-expression. Check: https://www.youtube.com/michelconci, if interested.

That's me.. Yet I can also imagine that with good friends or trustworthy people, recognizing your soul, it would be nice to make music together, as some in Amsterdam do.

As of, say 2023, several Netherlands-based Reggae artists remained active (as they were already before corona), and released recently new material. Interestingly, also with the Earth Works studio in Amsterdam-North in some cases a role in it (recording, producing).

Rapha Pico, Lyrical Benjie, Miriam Simone, Imishango, Shiwa, Samora, Mo Ali, the bands Flavour Coalition, Dejavu (including also selecta Rowstone), and others can be mentioned, while residing outside of Amsterdam, Black Omolo, Zed I, Strawl, also released some good songs, or meanwhile gave good live shows in Amsterdam, showing increased professional standards over time, as is natural. Many have positive "message" songs too, lyrics-wise, even with some topical themes slipping in.

Both Samora and Mo Ali (orig. from Sudan) impressed me with good songs and tight, groovy musicianship of their bands during their performances at the Reggae Lake festival in 2023 (Amsterdam South East), as did Imishango, or Zed I, recently. Rapha Pico and Miriam Simone also came with good new songs in recent years.

Professional and skilled Reggae instrumentalists – session musicians, as they are called - are certainly also there in the Amsterdam Reggae scene, offering tight-sounding music for artists they accompany, approaching quite closely the Jamaican reggae standard. Totally reaching this standard is impossible, so it is no diss from my part. The best and realest Samba will always be from Brazil, the best and realest Flamenco from Spain, and the best and realest Reggae from Jamaica. It is their organically developed culture, and more deeply enshrined in it. This one notices in inimitable drumming styles – or bass-drums-vocals interactions, that can’t really be copied outside of Jamaica, only approached.

Yet, as an art form Reggae became international, as other music genres, and can still reach quality, also outside of Jamaica, as some nice, international examples show.

Leaving the thorny and overly perfectionist issue of “Jamaican level” aside: there are at this time nuff groovy and good Reggae drummers, guitarists, keyboard players, horn players, and other instrument players (old and young) in the Amsterdam/Zaandam region, such as people like veteran drummer “steady” Freddie Poncin, having played with several Jamaican artists to their satisfaction, skilled bass player Kay Hasselbaink also plays Reggae well, and with Ras Maiky (based in Zaandam, near Amsterdam) there is also a good, Reggae-specialized percussionist.

I am also a percussionist, but play several genres, having switched between Afro-Cuban, African, to Blues, Funk, and Rock, besides also Reggae (jamming/playing live also, not just for own recordings). Ras Maiky, however, played with mainly a lot of different Reggae artists, also Jamaican ones, over the years.

These Reggae session musicians in and around Amsterdam combine under different names (Tuff Sound Band, Unstoppable Force, Royal Roots band, Noble Chanters, Roots Lions, for instance), accompanying the mentioned artists usually aptly.

So as Lucky Dubé sang, “you can’t stop Reggae”: Reggae artists who are for real will continue, despite “anti-concert” or “anti-nightlife” – some say: “anti-culture” policies - by Babylon/authorities in especially the period 2020-2022.

Most artists I know from before 2020 in the Amsterdam seem thus to have “scrambled up” after the lockdowns, surviving, especially artists (who kept recording). In some cases (especially for event organizers) this inevitably meant complying with restrictive policies perhaps more than necessary. A matter of dignity and honour, and while it is easy for me to lambast these choices as cowardice or “uncle tom”-like..on the other hand: rebellion by a few, while most comply, of course has no effect, and brings only persons and their livelihood in troubles, while the system keeps winning. So understandable to survive.

ON BALANCE

“You can’t comply yourself out of totalitarianism”, wise people said, but luckily the authorities stopped the harshest totalitarian policies themselves, after an odd period of jab/”vaccine” propaganda up to and in to 2022..

The damage has already been done, but the Reggae scene as a whole fortunately survived, albeit with scars and traumas. It affected some on the personal level. Private “house” parties became more common after March 2020, but are after all by definition exclusionary and discriminatory, and some insecure people needing confirmation limited such private house parties based on ethnic preferences, family ties, or longtime close friends. Insecurity and ego, as it caressed one’s own ego with on the one side ethnic/national “pride”, and on the other side a celebrated capacity to make “cool” friends.. Mi no like that..

In human psycho-social development – besides – confirmation precedes inspiration, so we actually went back to “private confirmation parties”.. and the Rastaman a seh: Forward Ever and Backwards Never.. Only because of political fiction..

This favourist behaviour also stimulates nepotism – favouring friends over others for honourable positions - : already a problem in any music industry. Mi no like that, neither.

Yet even those “home parties” could be in other cases well-intended and non-discriminatory, I also noticed, but there was still limited space or the matter of sound volume (neighbours!).

Either way, they are usually a resort in totalitarian/dictatorial contexts (Iran has many semi-hidden “house parties”, for example), and serves to isolate and divide the population. The age-old strategy of the “powers that be” to divide-and-conquer or divide-and-rule, and quell popular resistance against injustice.

Critique of or by fanatical proponents - also found in the scene - of the rights-trampling corona measures caused some contacts to be broken, or “unfriending”, to use FaceBook lingo, but these were usually not close friends, but rather acquaintances, who only seemed to share a love for Reggae, but turned out to have different worldviews or political stances. In my experience, mostly people from wealthy families (rich fathers) supported the corona policies, and much less poor people (Black or White), making me mistrust them even more, haha.

So a free, open cultural life – like an urban Reggae “scene” - with friends, but also acquaintances or strangers you do not really know that well, can have “confusing’ disadvantages: with some you share not much more than liking some Reggae songs.. and even that they might listen to differently (to lyrics or not), haha. Surely there are (as in wider Amsterdam) “backstabbers”, big ego's, wicked/badmind people, "crypto-racists" or even psychopaths among them (as everywhere, but relatively most in top business and politics). On the other hand, this variety also has the advantage that you can equally find positive, loving people, kindred spirits and new good friends - or even just interesting, funny people - (through Reggae!). You gotta live and learn.

However, I consider that peanuts, and a small price to pay for freedom and a truly democratic cultural life, including interesting cultural differences. I thus personally overall still favour an open, free, public, pluriform, and rich cultural life in societies, to be able to mingle freely with anyone, stand in front of different type of speakers, in different clubs, attending any event one wishes, going to any place at any time, etcetera. Too many boundaries, inna Babylon.

CONCLUSION

So, the main and positive conclusion is that now, at the end of the year 2023, and the start of 2024, the “Reggae scene” as such is still well alive in Amsterdam and the Netherlands. Many people make Reggae, and events are regularly organized, often in cooperation with concert venues.

On the down side, there came unfortunately no steady replacement – a fixed location - for Café the Zen, once in Amsterdam East, with e.g. a stage for performing and regular, weekly activities. This was also welcomed then for "upcoming" artists, starting on smaller stages, giving them opportunities to perform for people. Earth Works studio in Amsterdam North, though in a less accessible, outer part of Amsterdam, still became something like a replacement. It has a nice studio, but not really a “stage”, though.

To quote another Reggae song, the Reggae organizers are “forced to live just like a Gypsy” (Bunny Wailer’s Blackheart Man).

Amsterdam’s city authorities showed an ugly, undemocratic face during the Corona policies in 2020 and 2021, with police violence against demonstrators (such as on the Museumplein/square.. some Reggae played there too from ghetto blasters, I recall).. This (police violence against peaceful demonstrators) I did not even expect to witness in the Netherlands, and reminded me of stories during dictatorial Fascist/Francoist Spain (up to 1975), heard from my mother and Spanish family. Amsterdam seemed to have become increasingly authoritarian. The prohibitting in 2023 of "smoking weed" in parts of old-central Amsterdam (Red Light District) is also a sign of that (while you can - from a bag - still drink rum or whiskey in the same streets.. nonsense law)..

Despite its still “cool”, liberal image in much of the world (due to the marijuana-allowing coffeeshops, mainly), Amsterdam at present does not seem very Reggae-minded as a city. You really have to search for Reggae music and places.. you don’t find it always automatically.. Some bars or clubs play at times Reggae, maybe. Only a few regularly, at present (Jamaica Lounge in Amsterdam West, due to its Jamaican owner), and some (like Molli Chaoot) are quite Reggae-minded, besides marginally located Earth Works.

Yet, as this update shows: there is still an active and willing Reggae scene, consisting of varied people, wanting to organize events/parties, go to them (many preferably every weekend), or to perform their music or play their records.

In that sense there is still kind of a Reggae community in Amsterdam, with many people knowing each other. Okay: there are a few personal tensions or conflicts between persons as in all groups/communities (even within families this occurs, after all), but mostly “good vibes”..

Amsterdam has relatively many “Black” inhabitants of Surinamese descent (besides directly from Africa itself), and in a broad sense Suriname has some similarities with Jamaica historically (North European/Protestant colonizer, slavery, African roots and retentions, partly from Ghana, in both cases), but is neither totally similar.

To draw a parallel: in the percussion world, percussion players like myself trying to add more Afro-Brazilian (drumming) patterns to the Afro-Cuban patterns I already knew, got surprised that the “percussive transition to Afro-Brazil” was not as easy and smooth as I assumed from supposed historical similarities between Cuba and Brazil (Iberian colonizer, slavery, African descent, incl. a shared Yoruba and Congo heritage). Now I can play also some Samba drum/rhythmic patterns, but it still required some intense studying.

Nonetheless, the Caribbean/African Diaspora connection/similarity of Surinamese people is certainly there and helpful to a degree, also in approaching the Jamaican Reggae standard playing the music, or simply “feeling” the music. Reggae is originally “sufferers” (poor people) music, with many socially critical messages, and is also strongly spiritually influenced by Rastafari. That attracts many people too.

On the other hand, the art form of Jamaican Reggae always attracted varied people of different ethnic backgrounds (Black, White, Asian), also in Amsterdam, with most having at least a sincere affinity with the sufferers and Rastafari message of Black people, though some might listen more to the lyrics than others.

That’s also the beauty and positivity of a free, living culture, with people actually meeting in public places. People of different backgrounds coming together because of the love for a music and culture, getting to know and learning from each other (our shared humanity), while becoming aware – okay: some faster than others - of the “real enemy” or oppressors of common people’s freedoms and rights.

Calabash

As a percussionist I almost inevitably encountered the calabash, perhaps more known as “gourd” in English. The fruit of a wider family, including also the pumpkin, squash, but also the courgette (zucchini, in English), the calabash (also: gourd) obtained in several cultures in dried form a wider function than a nutritional one (container, for one). Whereas the strong US influence in this world, and even the imitation of Halloween parties in European countries – for some reason – made the pumpkin’s decorative, “ritual” use most well-known, in my life as percussionist the calabash had another significance altogether. First, in my case, as resonator of – acoustical - musical instruments I used. Not unimportant of course, but while I enjoyed the sound it helped produce, I took it somehow for granted.

RESONATOR

A shékere I use (of African, Yoruba origin), and the guiro scraper (originally known from Cuba, but also long used among Amerindians in South America) – both made from dried calabash - would not be the same without the calabash, or gourd, as resonator. That because it is in reality not just a resonator, but also a natural “amplifier”.

The dried gourd is hard and firm enough for that use. Interestingly, a small balafon (xylophone-like) I have, from Senegal, has gourds as resonator under the stones, to very nice effect. Recently I got a shaker made of gourd/calabash, in a “bottle” shape – a bottle gourd- probably from Igbo culture in SE Nigeria, similar to shape as the shékere, but without beads around it.

Another shaker I have for a long time (even before I delved more intensively into percussion, since about 2006) consisted of two calabash resonators on each side of a kind of basket, filled with metal beads. Here also the calabash makes the difference with other shakers, but I maybe did not realize it that much even. I just liked the sound, and how it combined with other instruments.

The Kalimba thumb piano – a wide-spread modern (“westernized’) simplification of the Zimbabwean Mbira thumb piano – also is often made often of gourd, although the one I have is – as someone said – probably from coconut (also common). The original Mbira (with more metal tines) – by the way used traditionally the gourd.

Another lamellophone/thumb piano I have is actually African, from Cameroon, but is also from wood (with bamboo tines). Calabash/gourd is however used a lot for African instruments, as resonators (also for Kora lutes, for instance, mbiras, or musical bows), and as “drum” itself.

Thus throughout my percussion compositions (I call these “percussion instrumentals”), or jamming with percussion instruments live in some clubs, I in fact used “calabash” quite regularly, but especially as resonators, contributing therefore to some degree nicely to the whole musical experience. It was therefore in this sense like the proverbial “elephant in the room”, though not as much ignored, as just not deeply analysed.

I suddenly realized that I have quite a lot of dried “calabash” in my house, spread throughout several instruments, haha. A percussionist’s thing..

SHEKERE

The shékere shaker (beads around a calabash with a hole) – common in Yorubaland, Nigeria, but spread throughout Latin America, might be the best known use, with the roundish beads wrapped around it. Enslaved Yoruba and other Africans brought this to Cuba, Brazil, and other countries. The shékere is still used there, especially in folk culture, such as Afro-Cuban and –Brazilian religions (Santería, Candomblé).

In addition, especially the larger Shékeres – known as sekere in Yoruba – function often as calabash drum as well, as it is tapped at the bottom while shaken at the same time, customary also in traditional Yoruba music (SW Nigeria, Benin).

Interestingly, the also quite well-known Cabasa shaker – more modern and with metal beads, was developed in Brazil as a modernization of that Shékere, but without calabash (instead: wood, metal, and plastic) in its shaking or resonating. The calabash Shékere however still tends to be more used traditionally in Brazil, as in Cuba, and elsewhere in the Americas and Africa.

In more southern Africa, by the way, the gourd/calabash also has a resonator function for the semi-percussive “musical bows” there (Angola, Namibia, Zambia, South Africa), the foreparent – of course – of the Berimbau bow of Afro-Brazilian Capoeira (still using a gourd resonator for the sole string).

AS DRUM

Directly hitting or drumming on a calabash also is possible of course – to which the large Shekere use already hinted, but without the beads -, and I got interested in that later. I hit the calabash shaker I have with a stick sometimes as extra sound (even live in the mic), but especially in Africa itself, actual calabash, or gourd, “drums” are still commonly used, also played by hands. In fact, this is the case in a large part of Africa: from Mali and Ghana, Cameroon, to even more southern in Southern Africa, alongside its mentioned use for musical bow resonators, and large and small balafons (in fact all over Africa).

I vaguely knew this, but my interest in this was revived when I saw another musician I know (drums and percussion) in the Netherlands, Freddy Poncin, play a larger calabash drum (open bottomed) at a concert in Amsterdam. Poncin played with several (also Jamaican) Reggae artists as a drummer, but in this case played that calabash drum – with a kind of bass function – on a concert, November 2023, accompanying nicely local Surinamese-Dutch Reggae artists Rapha Pico and Miriam Simone in Amsterdam.

Instead of a standard drum kit, this concert had two percussion sets for the rhythm section, one by Freddy Poncin (the other one played by experienced Netherlands-based Reggae percussionist Ras Maiky), turning out groovy (read: danceable) enough as replacement of that drum kit. I got especially intrigued by the unusual use of that calabash drum by one of the percussionists, Freddy Poncin.

It was then that I entered something more “new” for me: the calabash as drum. Theoretically it was not new to me, but in reality I did not encounter it as much. I saw - also online – how Africans played such a large calabash (with open bottom), alone or in a drum ensemble, rendering a low, full sound. It can be played with sticks and hands.

When with hands, there was one hand use that intrigued me, as it seemed adapted to the unique material and sonic characteristics of the calabash shell: the fist-down hit (like when you slam your fist on the table, pinky-side down). This “fist down” hit on a larger calabash drum renders a deeper, nice sound (bass-like), that sounds quite unique, when compared to other (skin-based) drums, or wood-based instruments I am used to playing. A distinct, unique sound.

Sure, on larger skin-based drums this fist-down (pinky at bottom) hit is possible, but usually does not add much difference, from e.g. a palm hit. For a calabash drum it seemed more required for a certain sound.

In Ghana and Burkina Faso this calabash drum is e.g. known, but in other parts of Africa as well: the Mande-speaking regions (Mali, Niger, Guinea, a.a.). It is most known from that West African region, but further study showed it is also used as drum (besides as resonator) or “hitting block” up to Southern Africa.

A pity I could not find such a calabash drum for my collection and compositions (and jamming), I began to think..

WATER DRUM

Another use that intrigued me was the “water drum” use of the calabash. I read about this in a paper book I have since long (‘Trommels & klankinstrumenten’, by Töm Klöwer), in Dutch, translated from German (title transl.= Drums and sound instruments). This water drum was mainly found among the Malinké en Senufo people, spread throughout Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast, this book said.

In this instrument, in a large though emptied melon basin filled with water, half-calabashes are put in belly-up, and hit with a kind of spoon (also traditionally made from calabash), by the prestigious female Poro community. Whereas in many African culture skin-based drums are the domain of men, these water calabash drums are played by women.

This skin-based-drum played only by men in Africa is a common gender division, though more strictly upheld (traditionally at least) in West Africa, and less so in Central and Southern Africa, where women more often play skinned drum. The calabash-based water drum in West Africa – not skinned - can however be played by women.

This division (men can only play skin drums) might seem strange or sexist to some, or at least rigid. Motivations given for it relate mostly to (spiritually) “purity” or “strength”, or (socially) “desexualizing” the context, especially in sacred settings. Some – more practically - associate it with the skin and wood: taking skin of killed or deceased animals for drum skin, and chopping and reworking wood, are “men’s jobs” (also in Europe, btw), so also the drumming that they result in..

The Nyabinghi drummers of the Jamaican-originated, spiritual and Afro-centric Rasta i movement, still more or less uphold this distinction, as often only men drum, and women tend to play shakers and chant along. This water drum in Mali/Burkina Faso/Ivory Coast, however is played by women, and is known in the local language as “gi dunu”, a funny “onomatopoeia”, as linguists call it: the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named. In this case a “watery” sound.

Indeed, its sound is kind of “gi dunu-like” , “underwater” bass-like, and deep and warm. They exist in different sizes, with differing tonality. More modern uses (also by Westerners and men), include with metal basins, newer sticks, or played by hand.

The Tuareg nomadic people in Northern Mali and around (Berber language, mixed with black Africans) use a similar calabash water drum, to imitate the sound of the camel, so crucial in their desert lives.. Also an interesting use. Men play it among the Tuareg.

DOMESTICATION

According to Wikipedia, the gourd or calabash was known in Asia from “ever since”, so to speak, at least since around 8000 BC, then around 4000 BC in Africa, then parts of Europe, and not long after Asia, being there long, so long before Columbus came. It was also “domesticated” in cultivation (adapted, strengthened by humans) quite soon in history, in all these continents.

ASIA AND ELSEWHERE

It is therefore quite possible that those musical functions of gourds (resonator or percussive) could be found outside of Africa as well. I became curious, but know also that Africa is the most percussive continent. It sounds like a cliché, but it’s true musically: Africa is the most percussive/percussion-rich continent. It also is, also almost a cliché, the most rhythm-focused continent, especially sub-Saharan Africa.

I said this before, but over-simplifying one can say that, musically, Europe focuses overall more on harmony, Asia on melody, and Africa on rhythm.

Tellingly, a known example from a gourd-based traditional instrument in China is a reed instrument: the “gourd flute”, or Hulusi, in fact known in a larger part of Asia, from Myanmar/Burma, to Vietnam, and mainly in the most southwestern of China’s provinces, Yunnan, bordering both Burma and Vietnam, and with a subtropical climate. So, as resonator it is found outside of Africa and the African Diaspora (in the Americas) as well. The flute consists of bamboo flutes, with a gourd resonator. Drum in Chinese is “gong”, and in Chinese, and other Asian music, metal seems indeed the preferred material for “drums” or general rhythmical functions. Skin drums are not absent, but of lesser importance, and calabash as drum (as in e.g. Mali, Africa) also unknown..

The Chinese/SE Asian Hulusi resembles in sound somewhat the Clarinet, and has popularity in some regions, and the calabash resonator is part of that. Hulu in its name is Mandarin for “calabash gourd”, by the way, recognizing its importance. There are similar reed/flute instruments in China as well, such as the Sheng.

In India the gourd is also used as a resonator of reed instruments, but has in the remarkable Gopichanta (or Ektara) instrument, which is a string instrument with also a drumming/tapping function. Besides in the India region (inc. Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh) a similar instrument is found in Egypt.

In Vietnam there is likewise a string instrument using a gourd/calabash resonator, called Dan Bau, known as “gourd zither”. Bau is “gourd” in Vietnamese, Dan means “string instrument”.

In the Middle East and Turkey regions, the gourd resonator is found also with stringed instruments, with violins (The Kemane violin in Turkish folk music) and other string instruments, like lutes, as the Kora in (Islam-influenced parts of) Africa.

All very interesting, but not really percussion, being my main field of interest and expertise. The shaker among Amerindians in the Americas (the early Maracas: that I also wrote a blog post about), as well as scrapers, used gourd/calabash as resonators, and are more in the percussion category (idiophones, they call them). The guiro shaker in Cuba tends still to be made of calabash.. The Amerindians also knew the Peyote “rattle” made of gourd.

Yet, shakers and scrapers were also long known in Africa, also with gourd resonators, long before colonialism, so to say.

INTERNATIONAL DIFFERENCES

It is just that the material characteristics of dried calabash (in its later domesticated form) as hard and water-resistant, made it suitable for many functions, across various cultures, as containers and carriers for households, and more, especially in subtropical and tropical climates. From Spain (where the word Calabaza – at the root of English calabash as synonym of “gourd” – appeared from Moorish Arabic, in the times of Moorish Spain, with probably Persian roots) to Vietnam, and from Turkey to Namibia, and to South America (where gourds once arrived from Africa, long before Columbus), the calabash was found useful.

Yet, in culturally different ways, and here again becomes evident that “Africa is the most percussive continent” is perhaps a cliché, but certainly not nonsense. Calabash used for specifically drums or blocks are really only found on the African continent or in the African Diaspora in the Americas. Then gourds were traditionally used as resonators of musical bows (in southern Africa, like in Angola, South Africa, Zambia – the Brazilian Berimbau in Capoeira derived from this), for types of harps and lutes as the Kora in Sahel/West Africa and the Mande-speaking regions (Mali, Guinea, and around) - not to forget the precursors to the Afro-American Banjo -, marimba and balafon, both “xylophone-like” instruments in large parts of Africa (from Senegal to Mozambique).., all using calabashes/gourds as resonators.

The use for different types of shakers (shékere being the best-known) of gourd/calabash for shakers goes way back in Africa: in fact known as early as the maracas shakers among natives in the Americas.

Besides in Africa, and partly among Amerindians, calabash functioned more secondary to melodic and harmony instruments (reed and string instruments) in most of Asian cultures, and seldom percussively, as in Africa.

The solid, dried calabash was used across cultures and continents, but in different ways. We call these “cultural differences”, that seem predictable, but are largely true, with nuances: for string instruments in the Middle East and India, flutes/reed instruments in South East Asia, shakers/scrapers in the Americas, and for shakers/scrapers and for drums and more other percussion-like instruments in Africa.

All cliché’s generalize too much, and of course most folk music – world wide! - combines to differing degrees melody-harmony-rhythm.. It’s just a matter of emphasis. Even within musical “cultural zones”. For instance the folk music of Spain and Southern Italy has relatively more “rhythmic aspects” than elsewhere in Europe, while Italian folk music (as its classical music) is more “melodic” when compared to German/Austrian more “harmonic” folk music influences. Classical music enthusiasts sometimes point at the – relative - “rhythmic” strength of Spanish classical music (by e.g. Manuel de Falla), the “harmonic” strength of German/Austrian compositions, and in turn the more “melodic” strength of Italian classical compositions.

India, Indonesia, South East Asia (and the aboriginals), as well as the Middle East, of course know drum and percussion instruments as well, though often with secondary functions to more melodic or harmonic pieces.

Calabash drums (and scrapers) in Africa, however also foreground Calabash musically, rhythmically, as main instrument, as it does with the other (skin-based) drums, often with polyrhythms (several rhythms at the same time), especially important and common in sub-Saharan African traditional music.

Interesting, and illustrative, cultural differences therefore also show in the different historical and present calabash/gourd uses in different regions, especially its musical and wider creative use..

MODERN POP

Its present use in modern, mostly electric (“western”) “pop” or “rock” music, is of course more limited, though “calabash” as sound maker or resonator can be found as part of the added percussion sections of especially modern Afro-American genres like Reggae, Salsa, Merengue, Soca, or even Soul and Blues (and some Pop and hip-hop), often combined with electrical instruments of modern pop (electric guitar, drum kits, keyboard, etc.).. a reminder of the “acoustic era” after all at the root of all music of today. Also in Jamaican early folk music (like Mento) gourds were used, after all, not just in Cuba. This is after all often a function of “percussion sets” in modern (popular/rock) genres, especially Afro-American ones: reminding of the roots and acoustical times.

More prominent in Latin styles like Salsa (Cuban-derived) and Merengue (from the Dominican Republic), but Jamaican Reggae uses the scraper (often of gourd) quite a lot in the mix (as does Salsa or Cuban Son) too, as well as some shakers made from calabash.

CONCLUSION

What I can conclude from this research and reflection is that the calabash or gourd, especially as used in subtropical and tropical areas of different continents, contributed strongly to folk music globally, mostly as “resonator” (read: amplifier) for other instruments, and specifically in Africa also as primary instrument (drum, percussion) as well. It proved in fact crucial in folk and traditional music historically, due to its tough and water-resistant characteristics as the fruit got domesticated in human history, alongside of course wood, or other natural materials (clay/earthenware, mud, straw, coconut, bamboo, from animals..).

Hip-Hop / Rap and I : parallel lives

This year (2023), 50 years of Hip Hop-music and –culture is celebrated. As I understood, in 1973, at an “epic” summer party in the Bronx, New York (US), Dj Kool Herc, mixed two records from different turntables (without a mixer, back then, mind you), by switching from one drum solo to the one on the other record, creating thus a continuous drum groove, on which he rapped (the "merry-go-round" technique). The rest is history, you can say.

ABOUT THE SAME AGE

If this is really the beginning, hip-hop has about the same age as me. So, a good occasion, this celebration, to reflect upon my relationship with hip-hop and rap music. I am after all a music lover, since young, and especially Black music. I also try to make songs myself.

Granted, I am much more a Reggae fan than a Hip-Hop fan, but I kept an open eye for other genres. I grew up in the Netherlands (not far from Amsterdam), and got into Reggae since I was about 11 years old, around the year 1985, in the vinyl age, listening to Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, the Wailing Souls, and more and more Reggae artists. I also kept track of newer Reggae (New Roots).

Inevitably I got into contact with “pop” or more commercial music as a child (through mass media, via other people), but Rap for some reason was less on my radar back then. Some guys around me liked hard rock (Kiss), my parents played Italian or Latin/Spanish music, but I also heard some songs by Stevie Wonder, or funky sounds by James Brown I liked then. Somehow I felt “Black” music attracted me a bit more, and less “heavy electric guitar” rock music. I liked folksy rock or the Beatles a bit more, but, importantly, I liked to dance to music (limiting my interest for e.g. some melodic Italian songs, though there were nice songs between them). Some songs of Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias I admittedly liked (guilty pleasure?) – he could sing -, though maybe in part because Julio had a few more rhythmical aspects in his songs. I liked some Flamenco (from South Spain) for that reason too.

RAPPERS DELIGHT

My biggest love became Reggae, however, by 1985, and it stayed like that. What in hindsight puzzles me a bit is that the well-known world Rap hit Rappers Delight (around 1981) by the Sugar Hill Gang largely escaped my attention. It probably has to do with my age or high school, as my older brother told me as that song was a hit among boys at his high school (in the Netherlands), and they even rapped along with the catchy flowing lyrics, knowing them by heart (“and do the hip hop, the hippie.. etc..”). This song must have opened many eyes of European youths toward Hip-Hop and rap from New York, and might have some made fans, who knows. When it was a hit in the Netherlands and Europe (an influential one, at that), I was just about 6 years old, so perhaps too young to get it then.

Grandmaster Flash’s The Message, soon after, became also quite a hit (more "alternative", though), but I only remember that one very vaguely too from the time itself, and mostly the “project/ghetto” scenery of the video.

My music interest was since around 1985 more focused on Jamaica than on the US, perhaps unusual in the Netherlands and Europe, though some US soul, blues, or funk I liked. When I got more attention to New York hip-hop, it was already in the later 1980s and early 1990s. The interesting fact is that I viewed this hip-hop and rap from a Reggae perspective. That route is interesting I think: from Reggae to Rap.. you have it the other way around too, as well, of course, especially nowadays, and with US dominance on Western commercial pop culture.

YO! MTV RAPS

This Western commercial pop culture was not my thing, and even less MTV , but when MTV aired (compensating after a - probably racist - anti-Black music policy at MTV), with Yo! MTV raps, it got some of my interest. That regular show Yo! MTV raps, luckily lacked the subtle censorship (since they were caught?) of MTV before, when it avoided Black artists besides Prince or Michael Jackson, as Yo! even gave attention to hip hop with Black awareness messages like Public Enemy, Poor Righteous Teachers, KRS One, Slick Rick, also more fun-based hip-hop too of course, big names like Run DMC, Kool Moe Dee, Biz Markie, and LL Cool J, and even gave some attention to upcoming acts. I enjoyed this often, especially the “free creativity” the young rappers showed, their “informal” ways even seeming refreshing to me. Furthermore, I liked that they were common Black people “from the streets”, to use a cliché.

That “casual” or “informal” aesthetic has of course remained a characteristic of hip-hop, haha. That is: being or acting “casual” only becomes “cool” when there is some talent involved (rendering groovy stuff), else it’s just seeming annoying. One of my brothers tended to comment when we saw mediocre rappers on tv, acting casual: “those guys seem annoying” (or in Dutch: “van die vervélende gasten, zijn dat..”). Only quality makes the casual cool (goods sentence for a Yogi Tea bag btw, haha).

Quality.. in other words: substance and originality. According to the Wikipedia article on hip-hop, I fell - I was around 15 or 16 years old - into the Golden Era (Late 1980s, Early 1990s) of Hip-Hop, and indeed it seemed a good period musical-wise and “conscious”-wise to me, as far as I could tell, with artists like Public Enemy and De La Soul coming up, and Eric B & Rakim, Run DMC, LL Cool J, Queen Latifa, and others in their prime..

TOASTING

I was well into Reggae by then, and knew the “rhythmic vocalizing” – called: “toasting” – within Reggae well. “Old school” Jamaican Toasting (U Roy, I Roy, Dennis Alcapone, Trinity, Prince Jazzbo, U Brown) from the 1970s tended to be rhythmical, but meandering around the beat (like a percussionist, so to speak), but by the 1980s a straighter “on the beat” rhythmic flow had developed in Jamaica as well, starting with Early Dancehall singers (also called DJ’s in Jamaica) like Lone Ranger, Admiral Tibet, Charlie Chaplin, and Brigadier Jerry, continuing with later artists like Capleton, Burro Banton, or Buju Banton and Sizzla even later.

Well now, that later “on the beat” Toasting of 1980s Reggae, of people like Lone Ranger can be seen as a vocal precursor to the likewise “straight” style of Rapping of US rappers: on the beat. While earlier “free” toasters like U-Roy certainly also influenced hip-hop culture, originating the whole aesthetic of rhythmically vocalizing on existing music (instrumental versions of vocal songs). I even am willing to argue that Wear You To The Ball, an early, 1970 U Roy single on existing music (on song by Jamaican group the Paragons), was the first Rap-like studio recording ever.

The specific style of Toasting that developed in Jamaica by the 1980s (heard on 1980 and 1981 songs already, such as Lone Ranger’s Love Bump above), was also a precursor to Rapping, though. Perhaps coincidence, as everyone can hear the beat and choose to rap on it or not, but the direct influence of Jamaican music and Reggae on New York Hip-Hop has been more than proven. Key pioneering figures, including the mentioned pioneer DJ Kool Herc, were of Jamaican descent, knowing Jamaica’s sound system and Toasting culture. DJ Kool Herc also liked James Brown, he said, explaining that direction of hip-hop.

The musical shift from Jamaican (Rocksteady, Reggae) riddims to US Black music in New York, but with the same principle, further gave hip-hop its own identity.

OLDER SCHOOL

When I got more into hip-hop, around my 15th year of age, the older school-hip-hop (not the oldest) of the day was based on samples or instrumental parts of songs by often James Brown, George Clinton, or other Funk greats.. funky licks and riffs that were good to rap on, with extensive lyrics telling stories, rather than repeating phrases as in pop songs with, also making it interesting.

I was intrigued by the mere creativity of this sampled hip-hop, also with regard to the videos accompanying songs, showing other urban worlds (New York then mainly). Another aspect that I appreciated were the poignant, direct lyrics in hip-hop – social commentary from the streets -, even without the repetition of phrases as in other genres, the message came across, often through forceful delivery, very creative word play and rhyming, or a good flow. Especially (but others as well), in my opinion, Chuck D – of Public Enemy - was a master in that, with “cool” sentences and lyrics I still remember, forming often “poems within poems”, while expressing social commentary about racial injustice: “Something ain’t right. Treated like dynamite. Gonna blow you up, and it just might..”, is one of those poems within a poem. “Bruised, battered, and scarred, but hard”, another cool sentence I remember by Chuck D (from song Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos).

For a period I even knew some Public Enemy lyrics by heart, of some songs at least: it went that far.

Did this influence me so much as to become a hip-hop fan, instead of Reggae? Nope: I stayed primarily a Reggae fan, interchanged a bit more with some hip-hop I liked, hip-hop having after all Jamaican connections. I bought Public Enemy albums, and a few other hip-hop albums (De La Soul, Eric B & Rakim, LL Cool J.).

As I stayed more within the Reggae realm, I did not follow developments closely “on the foot” within hip-hop, but mostly from aside, so to speak. It was not really my subculture, usually, and did not know all insiders' “codes” such subcultures imply. Some songs I kind of liked, but with the “newer” school of hip-hop, I lost the touch more and more, safe some artists.

I encountered some Netherlands-based, Dutch hip-hop as well over time, also of differing quality, with Black artists generally (and predictably) better in it, though some White Dutchmen (like Extince) could actually rap, on funky beats, to groovy effect, even making it work in the Dutch language.

Some was definitely corny or fake (Holiday Rap was whack), but not all, haha. Britain’s Derek B seemed somewhat “forced” to me, but here and there some “okay” non-US hip-hop was made, such as in Italy (e.g. by Jovanotti). Also the laid-back style of French rapper MC Solaar I liked, for instance.

I noticed of course that, while I remained a Reggae man, that hip-hop reached the mainstream relatively more than Reggae, and influenced pop. European early 1980s “copying” efforts, sometimes to “fun” effect, such as Pino D’Angio Ma Quale Idea (1981), the “rapping” Flamenco-like Spanish 1982 song about the tv series Dallas’s JR character, A JR,(though singer Pepe Da Rosa, claimed he followed rhythmic Flamenco traditions, and did not follow Rap). Ironically, he rapped better than the early Dutch “rap” hit” MC Miker G and DJ Sven’s Holiday Rap, according to me, at least.

With local, national hip-hop/rap scenes in several European countries this “copying” went further, and deeper, without the ironic distance, but with devotion. Of what I heard, some was okay.

PARALLELS

Apart from hip-hop’s influence on me (also slipping through in some cases on my music making and composing), that parallel development of Reggae and hip-hop, reveals quite some interesting aspects of musical developments of two Black music genres in the Americas, in time influencing each other.

One aspect, though not really positive, was the commercialization of less-conscious hip-hop, of course in the interest of the “powers that be” that Public Enemy protested against, powers that be that are remarkably crafty in “defusing unwanted explosions/bombs”, by destroying or weakening resistance from within (but after their input from outside). A similar strategy seemed to have – by the way - worked effectively with the world wide Left or Liberal in Europe and the US, mostly de facto adhering now to (right-wing) neoliberal capitalism as well, and even blindly following propaganda, or totalitarian tendencies.

Gangster Rap – and its increased popularity during the 1990s - started this corrupting “negativity” in my opinion, and I was kind of shocked by the cynical lyrics on some NWA albums, and also videos of that new Gangster Rap, had a vibe I liked less, making me return to Reggae more strongly, keeping more distance of hip-hop, also because I never really became a Dr Dré/West Coast hip-hop fan.

SLACK

There is a parallel here with Jamaican music. The “slack” (explicit, violent/sexual) lyrics of modern Dancehall music in Jamaica, lacked the conscious, rebellious lyrics of earlier Roots Reggae. Conscious Reggae was still made, and I chose to listen to that, but “powers that be” in Jamaica, also tried to make superficial, sometimes violent/sexual lyrics – though overall a bit less cynical in content than US gangster rap – more popular than lyrics criticizing “the system”, status quo, inequalities, or injustices. Among many youths, this strategy partly worked – Dancehall is nowadays relatively more popular among Jamaican youth, than Reggae -, but not fully.

As hip-hop with better messages co-exists alongside the gangster nonsense, also conscious Reggae kept being made, and also conscious lyrics on Dancehall music arose. The New Roots school in Jamaican Reggae, represented by artists like Sizzla, Luciano, Richie Spice, Lutan Fyah, Junior Kelly, or Anthony B. had a fan base in Jamaica too, not just among Reggae fans outside of Jamaica, keeping thus the “conscious” and message flame alive. Some youths in Jamaica like that too, even though “spectacular” Dancehall of people like Vybz Kartel or Mr. Vegas seems more popular or fashionable.

Like in hip-hop, though, many less-conscious people, or even those living or aspiring to a life of crime, eschewed too deep and conscious lyrics, preferring fun, or worse: more spectacular sex- or violence aimed lyrics. In relative numbers that is. Hip-hop is moreover “in the belly of the capitalist beast”, in the US, with larger corporations and more money to shape tastes, making Eminem – with in my opinion largely nonsense lyrics, and mediocre beats/songs – one of the most successfully selling artist, to name one thing.

POPULARITY

A main difference is also one I discussed before on my blog: a song’s popularity is decided in Jamaica from the bottom-up, really the grassroots: in the dancehalls – at local dances -, among common (poor) people, a song’s appeal is tested, so to speak, then becomes popular and demanded, and artists popular. In the US, commercial corporations try to direct popular tastes to a stronger degree (though not always succeeding), more “from above” and “top down”. This difference remained, up to today.

The New Roots Reggae in Jamaica, meanwhile, has Rap-like toasting or – as it is called today in Jamaica “chatting” - too as its vocals, often continuing on the “on the beat” straighter style since the 1980s, but not quite. The “sing-jay style” is a Jamaican invention – and a common vocal approach among a part of New Roots artists, combining toasted/rhythmical “chatted” parts – mostly the verses – and more or less “sung” choruses.

CHATTING

Those toasted/chatted parts have in their groovy flow some similarities with better hip-hop, but have own Jamaican characteristics, even beyond language/accent, e.g. in accentuation. A hip-hop influence reached some Jamaican New Reggae artists like Protoje and Kabaka Pyramid too, though even those artists could at the same time draw on own, older Jamaican toasting traditions since the early 1970s, that in turn go back – of course – to the African roots (vocal rhythm on rhythms). Protoje even achieved widening his fan base with some hip-hop fans, making his concerts relatively much visited, or earlier sold out. I like Protoje’s chatting/vocalizing style, even if at times Rap/hip-hop like, because it tends to have musically a good, groovy flow on the riddims/music.

The same applies to Capleton or Sizzla, in turn influencing hip-hop artists in the US, such as Busta Rhymes (of Jamaican descent), who said his style was influenced by Jamaican artists like Capleton, which is quite audible, even on some of Busta’s big hits like Fire It Up.

The Jamaican vocal “rap”/chat style has a (somewhat more musical) “dramatic development” – working toward a peak, speeding up vocally - in Jamaican New Roots chatting, is besides more musical, also an interesting African heritage (some relate this to spirit possession traditions of old), a bit less present (though not absent) in US hip-hop, tending to continue the same flow, though with some additions.

DIGITAL DANCEHALL

Modern Jamaican Dancehall I got into more recently, so even after hip-hop, while Reggae remained my main interest, as said, before Hip-hop, and during and above it. The digital straight Dancehall riddims/music attracted me less, preferring myself a live music feel.

Some Dancehall riddims, though, I found groovy and well-made, even if digital. They show a rhythmic complexity (the Flip Riddim, where Dancehall group's Ward 21's song Style is on, for instance), with several layers, while digital hip-hop rhythms – especially when newly made, not just samples from James Brown songs like before - tend to be less complex or layered when compared to Dancehall, though some hip-hop added nice effects. This can relate to a stronger maintained African polyrhythmic heritage in Jamaica, as rapping (rhythm on rhythm) is an African retention, but can be more “advanced” or varied, or simpler. Hip-hop rhythms are simpler (less polyrhythm) than Dancehall rhythms, even the latter’s digital ones. Vocals of course adapt/relate to that.

This “easier rhythm” may explain the “easier” spread among White or European people of hip-hop, but of course along with US dominance on culture in a country like the Netherlands, and perhaps language (US English/Jamaican) issues.

Not to say that there is no other creativity in hip-hop, also evident in golden era-hip hop, with new subgenres, and more musical layers in songs, notwithstanding the relative simple rhythm. This often simple rhythm could be the result of creative sampling, or have that around the main beat (slight syncope or polyrhythm), along with some instrumentation (bass, piano), sampled or not. The repeated bass riff in the beat of Public Enemy’s Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos is magnificent, to give an example. Still inventive with some groovy or funky effects, hip-hop showed to be, but simple and relatively straightforward in a purely rhythmical sense..

It is kind of ironic that a wealthier, powerful country like the US (though with many disadvantaged Blacks, of course), have less-sophisticated or developed rhythms, than a “developing economy” and poorer country in the Caribbean.

Or perhaps it is not ironic.. The poorer the country, the richer the culture? And rhythm is the heartbeat of culture..

Reggae music lovers (in the Netherlands): Eve Lien Dubwise

How people got to be reggae music lovers or fans has always fascinated me. Maybe partly because reggae still is off/outside the mainstream, also in the Netherlands. It is not found that easily, let’s just say. It requires (to a degree) an extraordinary life path: that is, different from copying the masses, or simply following what’s commonly on television or the radio.

Reggae has of course since decades gone international and widened its fan base, but I have known individually quite different reggae fans within the Netherlands. Black and white (and Asian, or mixed etc.). Males and females. Old and young. Some with little education, some highly educated. Of different class backgrounds. Some combine liking reggae quite equally with other genres (e.g.: some with African, funk, soul, some with hip-hop, some even with non-black music genres), while others on the other hand adhere almost “strictly” to reggae music, and do not get into much else. Some like roots reggae more than dancehall or vice versa. There are even reggae fans – believe it or not - who do not smoke the “ganja herb”.

Furthermore, some have an interest or sympathy for the related subject of Rastafari, some do not, or even despise it. The latter, despise, I find somewhat odd since Rastafari is not the same as reggae, but is nonetheless connected to it.

These differences (and similarities) between and among reggae fans/lovers intrigue me, also in relation to personal backgrounds. That’s the reason why I would like to interview specific individuals who love reggae.

Before this I have interviewed 12 persons – reggae lovers I know, “breddas” (meaning “brothers”, or "friends" in Jamaican parlance) or "sistas" of mine – here in the Netherlands.

I started the series on this blog with a post of June 2012, when I interviewed Abenet. In April of 2013 I interviewed Bill. After this I interviewed Manjah Fyah, in May 2014. For my blog post of August 2015, I interviewed, somewhat more extensively, (DJ) Rowstone (Rowald). In August 2016, then, I interviewed Vega Selecta. In October 2017, I interviewed DJ Ewa. Then, for my post of September 2018, I interviewed for the first time a woman, namely Empress Messenjah or Empress Donna Lee. In August 2019 I interviewed another woman, namely Sound Cista. For my blog post of September 2020 I interviewed another Reggae-loving woman, French but living in the Netherlands, Selectress Aur'El. For my blog post of September 2021 I interviewed again a "bloke" (fun way to say" "man") selecta Hobbol Backawall, and in my blog post of September 2022, I interviewed again a woman, Mystic Tammy

EVE LIEN DUBWISE

This time, October 2023, I interviewed another woman, one that I recently met in the Amsterdam Reggae scene. I might have seen her around before, but I got to talk to her for the first time earlier in this year 2023. She is called Eve Lien, and was when we first spoke “selecting” – playing as Reggae dee-jay – at Café Havelaar in central Amsterdam (close to Spui). There earlier in 2023, there were still weekly, Wednesday Reggae sessions under the title Rocking Time, with varying selecta’s/dee-jay’s from the Reggae scene. I played there sometimes too.

Nice place, Café Havelaar, though with a “low ceiling”: I was aided a bit by my South European genes (Dutch men tend to be taller), but I had to be careful with some of my (Masai-inspired) dances involving “jumping”, haha.

Some memorable moments at Café Havelaar: Lila Ike – the Jamaican singer – trying out some selecting after her show, semi-incognito (two latin words, ha!), the interesting Mexican Reggae band Leones Negros (Black Lions) with a nice, groovy performance with sound and even instruments. Plus: the many (mainly local) selecta’s/dee-jay’s playing good Reggae and Dub music, from records: mostly vinyl.. anything between old and new Roots Reggae, Early Reggae, and UK Steppers and more experimental Dub, was played during those Rocking Time sessions.

Due to some conflict, these Havelaar Reggae sessions came to a premature end before the Summer of 2023, but in one of these last ‘Rocking Time’ sessions at Café Havelaar (June, 2023), Eve Lien, my interviewee now, could still try a selecta/dj session with her (vinyl) records. Good selection, I remembered, including also old Roots Reggae, besides what I call “nowadays King Shiloh-music” (incl. steppers).

Later, hearing/seeing more from her (also online, via social media), I noticed she was really a King Shiloh sound system fan, but also of other “crucial” Reggae and Dub sound systems, also those she travelled to places like Germany, Italy, France (Dubcamp!) and London UK (Notting Hill carnival!!) - or elsewhere - for, Dutch-based and international, including “sounds” like: Indica Dubs, Rootical HiFi, Covenant sound (NL), Rootical HiFi, but also Channel One in London, and Ariwa/Mad Professor’s sound system. She also went to Reggae festivals, like Reggae Geel in Belgium.

This she shared on her Facebook page, so I got an idea of her interests: she surely loved those “big speakers” Reggae/Dub sound systems, but Reggae in general, I deduced.

After the Rocking Time sessions at Café Havelaar in central Amsterdam had to end - around the Summer of 2023 - Oliwia (selectress name: Pinedub) - and other organizers - searched other places for Reggae selecta/dj sessions in Amsterdam. They eventually encountered open arms at the - Reggae-minded - Earth Works music studio, with Ben King as custodian. It is at the grounds of the ADM-terrain (free artistic area), in the North of Amsterdam.

Somewhat peripheral at the brink of Amsterdam-North, Earth Works studio, but a nice place, combining a recording studio (where local musicians, but also Jamaicans like Micah Shemaiah came to record), with a record store, a record "burner" even, a “chill out zone”, and.. a sound/equipment for Reggae selecta’s/dee-jays to play their records. Selecta’s known from the Amsterdam Reggae scene played there (like they did in Café Havelaar) – some of whom I interviewed before on this blog -, I was selecta there also once, but also Eve Lien could continue at Earth Works her selecting and dj-efforts, playing good (also older) Reggae also from vinyl. She did this several times until recently before I write this (October, 2023), mostly in the weekends.

Besides this what she shared, I still did not know so much about her. I noticed some “exotic looks”, but she spoke Dutch well, unlike Italian, Polish, French, Spanish, or Balkanic bredren and sistren, I also know from the Amsterdam Reggae/Dub scene. I found it therefore interesting to know more about Eve Lien Dubwise – as is her FB name -, and her evident passion for Reggae music, and asked her the following questions, which she gladly answered (translated from Dutch).

Where were you born and did you grow up?

I was born in Gdansk, Poland, but I grew up in Hoek van Holland, the Netherlands. I am Polish myself too.

Since when (age) do you listen Reggae music?

As a teenager I on rare occasions listened to Reggae songs, from Natural Mystic and Masada for instance. I think that from about my 25th years of age, I really started to listen to Reggae much more.

What attracted you to it, then?

The tranquility it gave me, and the lyrics.

What other music genres did you listen to?

Reggaetón, moombahton (a Reggaetón-influenced House genre), dancehall, Nigerian pop music, R&B, hardcore.

Has there been a change in your musical preferences since then?

Yes, because now I mainly listen to Roots Reggae and Dub.

Do you have any preferences within the broad Reggae genre? Does, e.g., Digital Dancehall appeal to you as much as Roots Reggae?

I prefer to listen to Roots Reggae from the 1970s, and to Dub, and not so much the “newer” Dub styles, with a few exceptions.

Since when are you a Reggae selectress/dee-jay?

Haha, I am not “really” a selectress yet, I think, but I am seriously working on it. I think I can describe myself best as an “upcoming” selectress.

The very first time I really could play as selectress was at Café Havelaar (Amsterdam), which was – I believe – in June, 2023.

Do you have a preference for Vinyl or Digital/CD? As listener, and as selecta/selectress?

As selectress strictly Vinyl, at home both vinyl and Digital.

Any special experiences or encounters over the years (e.g. with producers or artists)?

At Rastaplas (Reggae festival in the Netherlands, near The Hague) I met Brother Neil from King Shiloh. This was very special for me, because King Shiloh is one of my favourite sound systems

Are you active in other ways within the Reggae scene as well? E.g. radio, organizing events, design, or otherwise?

I go regularly to sessions and festivals, and recently I started to spin/play regularly as selectress from vinyl at Earth Works (Amsterdam).

Do you play any musical instruments?

I used to play organ, and still can play a little, although I forgot how to read notes.

Does the Rastafari message in much of Reggae appeal to you? How does this relate to your own background, or beliefs?

I am not a Rasta myself, but I certainly agree with aspects, such as the equal treatment of people, “do good, and good will follow”.

What kind of music (reggae) do you prefer to listen to now – at this moment -, what specific artists? Any new “discoveries” you would like to mention?

Twinkle Brothers, The Gladiators, Danny Red, Horace Andy, Dub Dynasty.

New discovery; Henry Skeng.

Other things you would like to mention?

“It’s better to be hated for what you are, than be loved for something you are not”

REFLECTION AND COMPARISON

Well, within the constraints of time of us both, I am still glad that she, Eve Lien Dubwise, could answer some questions. Indeed, I learned some things about her I did not quite know.

These include her Polish background, being born in Gdansk (the German occupiers called it Danzig), a toponym I always found funny/intriguing, with a remarkable combining of consonants, making Polish words – or surnames – sometimes difficult to pronounce for non-Poles. Anyway, it maybe explains her connection to Polish people like Pinedub or Vega Selecta, and others, in the Amsterdam Reggae scene, but that’s cool and understandable too.

She additionally told me that she initially did not know there were so many Polish people in the (Amsterdam) Reggae scene.

I noticed these Poles in the Amsterdam Reggae scene early on (even more than 15 years ago), and in an earlier (2016) interview I did for this series with Vega Selecta (also Polish), I learned it might be linked to the active rebellious and underground Punk, anarchist scene (with also Reggae influences) during the communist regime in Poland, up to 1990. There is thus also a connection with the (anarchic) Squatter scene in e.g. Amsterdam.

Eve Lien’s Reggae preference is toward (older) Roots Reggae, so that she shares with me. I listen to Dub less, but can appreciate some of it, if not too digital or Euro “Techno” like, but that is a matter of taste.

Eve Lien is a King Shiloh sound fan, and I've been to their sessions too. I liked these often, but to my taste, sometimes a bit too much digital “steppers” was played (personally I prefer with actual musical instruments), but mostly still nice or audible, and just danceable enough. Other sound systems Eve Lien mentions and visits play more (older) Roots Reggae.

Nice also how she could practice her skills as “upcoming selectress” – as she calls herself – also at Earth Works studio in North Amsterdam, alongside other Reggae selecta’s/dee-jay’s like DJ Ewa, Selectress Aur’El, Pinedub, the Zen Rockers, Sound Cista, Jah Code, Loddy Culture, and several others, who play from Rocksteady and Early Reggae, via Roots Reggae, and New Roots, to Dub, and Steppers.