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One index for everything published: records, stories, watchable media, community memories and places. 73 records match.
The London roots sound system, built in the UK dub tradition of heavy hand-built rigs and strictly conscious selection. A fixture at Notting Hill Carnival and on the European festival circuit, and one of the clearest examples of the Jamaican sound-system form taking permanent root abroad.
sound system · ProbableAces InternationalAces International was a Jamaican dancehall sound system active in 1980s sound-tape and clash circulation, part of the era's broad ecosystem of competing systems documented mainly through surviving cassette recordings.
sound system · ProbableAfrican Storm Sound SystemJohannesburg, South Africa dancehall/reggae sound system juggling weekly since 1996 (led by Admiral and Jahseed), a Newtown/Bassline reference point that won the 2012 Red Bull Culture Clash.
sound system · Well supportedAfrique SoundA Jamaican sound system of the earlier generation. This is a starting record: its operators, run and place in the dance circuit still need corroboration from period sources and from selectors who worked it.
sound system · ProbableBarrier FreeOsaka sound system built by two friends, Doctor and K.S.K., named for their aim of breaking down barriers of language and race through music, which toured Jamaica and appeared at the Fully Loaded stage show at Fort Clarence Beach, Portmore, in 2008.
sound system · Well supportedBass OdysseyBass Odyssey, based in St Ann parish, is one of Jamaica's most internationally competitive sound systems, with a long record of appearances at major sound-clash events and a reputation built specifically on clash performance rather than radio or club residency.
sound system · ProbableBlack ScorpioBlack Scorpio is a Jamaican sound system and record label run by Maurice "Jack Scorpio" Johnson, who began operating a small set in 1968 and started the sound (initially Special I) in the early 1970s. Nicknamed the "Horseman Sound" through Johnson's racehorse connections, it launched deejays such as General Trees and Lord Sassafrass and expanded into a label in the early 1980s with a studio on Molynes Road, making Johnson a leading producer of the 1980s and 1990s dancehall era.
sound system · Well supportedBlackboard Jungle Sound SystemRouen (France) dub collective founded 1994 out of a reggae radio show; from 1999 it built one of Europe's largest sound systems, playing roots and steppa dub with its own dubplates across the continent.
sound system · Well supportedBodyguardBodyguard is a Jamaican sound system founded around 1988 in May Pen, Clarendon, by Courtney “Bodyguard” Singh. A heavyweight dubplate and live-stage sound associated with artists including Tony Rebel and Cutty Ranks, it is widely cited as winner of the first World Clash in 1993 and appears throughout 1990s clash archives opposite sounds including Inner City, Stone Love, Bass Odyssey and David Rodigan.
sound system · Well supportedChannel One Sound System (UK)London roots sound founded in 1979 by Mikey Dread and Jah T — a fixture of Notting Hill Carnival for decades and a Red Bull Culture Clash winner in 2010, carrying the UK dub tradition from the blues dance era to arena competition.
sound system · Well supportedCoppershotCoppershot (Coppershot Music) is a Kingston sound system founded in 1994 by Matthew Gray, Shaun Anderson and Jason 'Jig Zag' Henriques, which grew from a high-school crew into an internationally touring, juggling-focused dancehall sound and record label (formed 2006). In 2008 it became the first dancehall sound to tour the Gulf states of Qatar and Bahrain.
sound system · Well supportedDownbeat the RulerTony Screw's Downbeat International — the New York sound system that carried Kingston's clash-and-dubplate discipline into the Bronx and Brooklyn dances of the 1970s and 1980s, and one of the proofs that the sound system emigrated with the Jamaicans who built it. Its dubplate archive is among the deepest in the diaspora.
sound system · Well supportedDuke Reid the TrojanArthur Reid's sound system, named for the Trojan truck it travelled on, and Coxsone Downbeat's great rival through the late 1950s. Reid was a former policeman who ran the sound with a well-documented showmanship, and like Dodd he moved into producing to supply it — the path that led to Treasure Isle and the rocksteady catalogue.
sound system · ProbableEl PasoEl Paso Hi-Fi was a Kingston sound system based in the Brotherton Avenue area of West Kingston in the late 1960s and 1970s, its name borrowed from the Marty Robbins country hit. It is chiefly remembered as the sound where deejay Dennis Alcapone launched his career around 1967-68, helping establish the toasting style of the early deejay era.
sound system · ProbableEmperor FaithEarly-1970s Jamaican sound from the Red Hills area of Kingston, run by Mikey Faith (reputedly Bob Marley's accountant), who acquired the set in 1969 from its original 'Sir Faith' owner and worked with producers such as Clive Chin.
