Later in the 1980s, as reggae moved into a more frivolous era in which “slackness” (vulgarity and sexualised lyrics) ruled and demand for his style of sound system waned, Shaka held to his more spartan path. One of the label’s initial albums was the Shaka-led Commandments of Dub, the first of nine instrumental records released under that name. That year he also launched his Jah Shaka Music label, on which he appeared in various guises as composer, musician, singer, engineer and producer. Once up and running, he would often be completely taken away with the spiritual atmosphere he had generated, singing and dancing with abandon during sessions that could last up to 12 hours.īy the late 1970s Shaka’s sound system was regarded as one of the best in the country, and in 1980 he featured in the film Babylon, playing himself in a dancehall clash with a fictional rival, Ital Lion. Many other sound system operators had a host of selectors and deejays to help them out, but Shaka did more or less everything himself. With huge speaker stacks, special effects and an incredibly hypnotic bass, Shaka created a formidably loud “surround sound” that massaged the internal organs of his patrons and created a special biosphere all of its own. ![]() His heavyweight “warrior style”, influenced by Black Power and Rastafarianism, epitomised the new breed of more serious-minded operators, determined to reflect the tastes and concerns of British black youth. ![]() Shaka’s venture was firmly part of the second movement of British sound systems, set up by younger men who had spent most or all of their time in the UK. After getting to grips with the technical aspects of amps, speakers and microphone set-ups, he soon graduated to choosing records and deejaying, eventually forming his own Jah Shaka outfit in 1969, named after a 19th-century Zulu warrior. In his teenage years, when his nickname was Nocky, Shaka hooked up with Freddie Cloudburst, one of the long-established first generation of British sound systems that were run by immigrants from Jamaica. Offered the chance to avoid punishment by showing he could actually play the instrument, he proceeded to do so, drawing applause from his fellow pupils and reflecting later that “it was my first idea that I might be able to entertain people.” He showed early musical talent on the drums and guitar at the local Church of God in Christ, to which his mother belonged, and at Samuel Pepys secondary school, where he remembered once being caught by a teacher with a mouth organ – a forbidden item – in his pocket. He was born around 1948 as Neville Powell in the rural parish of Clarendon, Jamaica, and came to Britain with his parents in 1956 as a young boy, settling in Brockley in south-east London. Mysterious and self-contained, Shaka gave so little away about himself that few details of his life are publicly known. ![]() Never one to respond to the twists and turns of fashion, his adherence to a Rasta-inspired “roots and culture” agenda sometimes left him on the periphery of reggae, yet in the long run he remained at its solid heart, and his output was a significant influence on a number of younger artists in Britain, in and outside the genre. Shaka was first and foremost a player of records, running his own sound system from the 1970s onwards and appearing at countless venues across the country until his death, his fiercely bass-heavy speaker system rattling the windows of town halls and community centres into the late hours of the morning.īut he also became well-known for the more than 40 dub albums he produced with the likes of Horace Andy, the Twinkle Brothers, Mad Professor and Johnny Clarke. Jah Shaka, who has died in his early 70s, was a key figure on the British reggae scene for half a century, a staunchly Rastafarian sound system operator who stuck steadfastly to his love of roots and dub music and bolstered the popularity of those art forms on his own record label.
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