CHANCES ARE!

This is CB from the original Randy's crew at 17 N. Parade, Kingston. A few years back, after I had moved to Brazil, CB told me that he once had met a brazilian that came in the shop in the 80's and that they had built a pretty strong relationship. In fact, the relationship was strong enough that the brazilian gave CB a necklace that he still wears to this day. They somehow lost touch, probably lost phone numbers or changed digits and on my last visit to the island he had asked me to take a picture of the necklace and carry it back with me in case I ever ran into the man or heard anything on his whereabouts.

So I did so and told myself: "what are the chances of that ever happening??". I mean Brazil is a huge country and most of the Sounds are concentrated in Sao Luis, Maranhao, in the northeast part of the splendid land while I dwell in Sao Paulo, just a few thousand miles south of that.

Well it's saturday night and I've had a long week, called a few friends over to listen to some tunes, drink a few geladas (ice cold beers), and have some laughters. Suddenly the question came up; "Anything going on tonight? any sounds anywhere?". None of us had any idea so I decided to jump on the net and check a few local sites for something worth checking out when I eventually came accross this flyer!

It really took me a few minutes to realize: "waiiiiiit a minute... I've seen that name before!" and then it hit me. I started digging thru a box of photos as I was telling friends about this exact story searching for the ones posted above. Since I had made a promise to CB and this was our chance to meet, we packed up and gwaan!

When we reached the dance there was a line outside the venue of about 200 people and you could feel the low ends vibrating on the concrete. After a half hour wait we finally made it in, and SUPER MUSICAL JAH was at the controls claiming that tonight there would be no repeats and that the arsenal was large. However, I don't know if he got lost in his speech or distracted by the folks getting on stage to chat his ears out, but he DID manage to play a chune twice at a 20mins interval and the tunes where pretty "soft", to put it lightely. Then it was the turn of FM NATTY NAYFSON, the 3 times Champion of Maranhao, and what people call the Prince Of Reggae. Just from the very first tune he played it was a Boom! The bass was super criss as the rocksteady chunes flew off his sleeve and that was really key due to the size of the speaker boxes.

Natty Nayfson pulled some dubplates like I've had never heard before, or could have even dreamed of hearing! He did a session with strictly exclusives from Jamaica & the UK that made me think about what rocksteady clashes could have been in the early years. And if that was not enough, he played a special that asked the people to vote for him as best Radiola (Sound) selector with a catchy "punch 4-4-2-2-2!!" (digita quatro, quatro, dois, dois, doiiiiis).

As I was on my way out I complimented Natty and flashed the photo with the necklace on it. He flipped! just as I had predicted he had lost all his contacts and did not know how to go about reaching CB ever again. I blessed him with the number and drove home feeling pretty amazed about the whole evening I must say. This world, is truly small and wonderful. Cherish it!

HENRY JUNJO'S VOLCANO

Here's a full color copy of Sassa's work done for the cover of the infamous book "Reggae Inna Dance Hall Style" by Tero Kaski & Pekka Vuorinen.

Tero & Pekka were responsable for publishing the Finnish magazine Cool Runnings that stopped from circulating in 1984. A year earlier they had taken a road trip to Kingston and had a chance to witness dances of the champion sound at the time: Henry "Junjo" Lawes' VOLCANO HI-POWER! This lead to many interviews with the artists stated on the cover of the publication and gave them a chance to share with the rest of the world 16 pages of color & black/white pictures inna 96 pages Bible!

Yes, I do stress on the word Bible because for any Soundman and/or collector this one deh ya is a mus!!! HUNT!

DENZIL "SASSAFRASS" NAAR

The name is possibly unfamiliar to most but Denzil Naar aka Sassa was the people's promoter back in the days and a wiiiicked poster designer. Over the years I have been trying to track posters of Soundsystem Tapes I own to match the case and the date of the dances in question. Needless to say that it's as tuff as finding mint Kalypso 78's but it still is a very rewarding treasure hunt. Not all posters as are fun as the ones posted here, nor as dynamic, however since I'm pretty much a sucker for Sassa's poster designs I wanted to share with you a few from my personal collection of classic dances. All from 1983. Enjoy!

I LOVE NEW YORK

Just scored big time this past week. I love that more dj's are using serrato!!! You know why??
More records for us!!!!!!

67 murder records for $67!!! Only inna New York!!!

FRESH FOUNDATION!

After many years of sharing nothing but vibes the Moa Anbessa crew has released one of their strictly Dubplate mixes to the dedicated massives. This one compiles 35 tuff & wicked Dubs with artists from around the globe including countries such as Jamaica, UK, Burkina Faso and even Brazil. The line up is ruff with veteran artists such as Badoo, Kojak, Johnny Clarke, Cornell Campbell , Welton Irie, Rod Taylor and the ribbiiiiiiiitt master himself, The Lone Ranger. These, however, are not all considered by the masses "ordinary" Dubs. There are definitely more than a few surprises in this dub box that will make you want to mash up your tin pan. Riddims from the vaults of the infamous Studio1, Treasure Isle, Channel One, and King Jammy$ stables will most certainly make a one foot jam down jump up!!!

For information and details on how to get your very own copy of the FOUNDATION DUBPLATES MIX please forward an email with the title "Special Request" to the crew.

VETERAN DEEJAY!

First and foremost, "WELCOME to One & All!". After many years we have finally decided on creating a real Blog for MOA ANBESSA SOUNDS

This Blog, focused on the Jamaican Music & Culture, will consist of the works, interests, and chunes we are constantly working with and discovering along the way. So PLEASE KEEP CHECKING US OUT!!

As a "starter" we are please to inform you about our colab event with Dubversao in Sao Paulo, Brazil: The Veteran Deejay WELTON IRIE.

Welton Dobson, 1960, Jamaica, West Indies.

"Welton began his career performing as, simply, Welton, toasting for Big John's Stereophonic Sound (later known as Echo Tone Hi Fi) from 1976 till 1981. He initially emulated his hero Ranking Trevor, sometimes proving indistinguishable. Welton built up a hardcore group of devotees, enabling him to introduce young talent to the sound. One of Welton's proteges was General Echo, who, alongside Big John and Flux, was inexplicably gunned down by police in Kingston. They were the first artist who used slackness in there lyrics long time before Yellowman was crown as King of Slackness. Welton moved to the Gemini sound, notable for allowing Yellowman to make his debut on the sound system circuit in a clash with Jack Ruby's Hi Power sound. Gemini was one of the biggest and well known sound in this time. Following his departure to the Virgo sound, Johnny Ringo stepped in and Welton performed alongside the Lone Ranger. Welton and the Lone Ranger began their recording careers as a duo with Coxsone Dodd at Studio One, performing in a style similar to Michigan And Smiley. It was at this time that Welton added Irie to his name following a recommendation from Dodd. The duo recorded a version of "Joe Frazier" for "Big Fight" and echoed Bob Marley with "Chase Them Crazy". The partnership was short-lived, and in the early 80s Welton released a succession of hits for a variety of producers, including "The Bomb" over the Baba Boom rhythm and "Army Life", which inspired Yellowman's preferred interpretation, retitled "Soldier Take Over". A session with Sly And Robbie resulted in the number 1 hit "Ballerina", followed by the equally popular tribute to marijuana, "Lambs Bread International". Welton also demonstrated that he was a proponent of black pride with the unyielding "Black Man Stand Up Pon Foot". Other songs included "Parish Connection", "Dance A Cork", "A Weh You Fah", "Serve Me Long", "Jailhouse Affair", "How You Keep A Dance" and "Come Nurse". By 1983 Welton returned to the Gemini Sound for an international tour alongside Johnny Ringo and Squiddly Ranking." (text: courtesy of Mr. Dobson via telephone.)

For the first time in Brazil; August 29th - 31st the Veteran Deejay will be alongside MOA ANBESSA SOUNDS & DUBVERSAO for 3 Wiiiiiiiiiiiicked shows! ... "Make It A Date & Don't Be Late"