Jah Warrior and Friends - Various

Sample Audio

Lutan Fyah - Never Surrender my Faith
Professor Frisky - Man Fi Strong


Jah Warrior , producing fire storm bass driven music, with drums exploding into sound shrapnel over huge spacious mixes. Here is the low down on the latest B-line bizniss out of the Jah Warrior studios. Run for cover as the bass drops!

After linking up with Jah Warrior for an interview over the summer, I was looking forward to hearing the new progressions out of his studio: When I heard he was working with Rasta Bobo Dread DJ's like Jah Mason, my interest was heightened----it seemed fitting for his sound since their harsh and aggressive vocal chants would clearly match well with his raw hypnotic b line pressure.

The first time I heard Jah Mason's work was on the debut album by Jah Cure. His track "Working So Hard" was one of the highlights of the set since his forceful and righteous chant seemed to contrast perfectly with the gentle and emotional quality of the soulful Jah Cure vocal style: Light and dark, hard and soft. Jah Mason's chant on the track was driven by weird bass vibrations veering randomly under the mix, a basic bashment drum style, and seemingly out of tempo guitar chords searing through the dense bass patterns. The eerie and aggressive strangeness of the instrumentation was perfect, contrasted with the song's soaring vocal which featured an impassioned call for a life with more meaning, a plea for a life without exhausting, unfair pointlessness and emptiness"Ya come for blood Babylon? Over the years you took advantage!" Jah Mason chants as the song kicks off. Jah Cure echoes his emotion: "Working so hard in Babylon, still I cant see what I've been working for400 years in a slavery its been too long, its been so long, too long Babylon enslaved me, still we been strong, moving on and on.." Jah Mason mirrors Jah Cure's poignant meditation with a fluid rage:"They don't teach you to love and to care, to love and to share, them a mock and a jeer, every day you get up in the same nightmare." Boom! All the while the eerie out of time guitar chord repeats and repeats, backed by a skeletal drum structure. Digital perfection from the Firehouse Crew.

Jah Warrior had indicated to me that he was looking for new modes of expression, new bass sounds, new styles, and new vocalists and mic chanters to express his creativity with, so when early one morning the post arrived full of unreleased white label pre's, tunes from the Warrior record stable, my anticipation was high!.



First song up on my stereo was "Rainbow Circle Throne" from the man Jah Mason. It is the familiar chanting attack we have come to know from Jah Mason, but he reaches new found heights on this track when he soars into a hitherto unheard beautiful yet simultaneously dread singing style. He has an undoubtedly beautiful voice, soulful and meditative, which calls out for more vocal releases and not only tunes dominated by the harsh mic styles we have come to know him for. So after the surprise of Jah Mason mixing his dj style with his singing skill, we get the imploding power of the dub where the instrumentation turns in on itself at first, disciplined and kept in check by taut percussion. As the track progresses, the instrumentation opens up, spiralling and ricocheting incessantly across an open space. Good reggae seems to harness the power of the elements, and this dub is no exception: Earth and wind, a grounding bass moving like an elemental force. Air and water, the softer elements, treble and delicate percussion scattering like rain over the surface of the mix. Fire, the dread force, from Creation. The whole track is complimented by a melancholy horn section, and the undoubted singing ability of the man Jah Mason. It's a song of opposites, pounding fire storm bass overload contrasted with the emotional horns, Gnostic lyrical depths and beautiful soul style of the vocals.



Newcomer Lutan Fyah kicks off on the same rhythm with his somewhat enigmatic proclamation: "Yeah, all things are lawful, but all things are not expedient!" On this version (entitled "Never Surrender My Faith"), the percussion and horn section get more space to feel their way around the sparse mix as the incessant high hat and bass unity drives the vibes forward. Lutan Fyah's voice breaks down into eerie monosyllabic echo on the dub version.



Next up, Jack Ruby Sound System chanter Professor Frisky, whose JA work with Bobby Digital Dixon I was very familiar with and loved ( He had appeared on the spiritual works "Heathen Mega mix" with Cocoa Tea, Admiral Tibet , Daweh Congo, Yami Bolo et al ). This track, "Man Fi Strong" sets up a righteous and inspired chant on a relentless storm of a rhythm: "Many times I see men die in poverty, bloodsuckers lay them to rest! Utter fire ago burn" he roars as he takes the mic and austerely directs the tone of the song, entitled "Man Fi Strong". Outrageous is the adjective befitting this song with its primal African percussion, pounding snares overloaded with howling feedback, and soaring syn drum tones. The Professor weighs in heavily, standing his corner with a lyrical attack on violence and corruption: "Danger! Circuits overload! Beware of negative force! Man be strong, step out of the sinking sand!" before firing his dread lyrical shot at the business controllers, or those sitting in judgement on the poor and clean, "Sitting in your high chair wearing a crown, sacrifice us for a dollar, crucify us for a pound!" Powerful and righteous dub medicine for the humble man. Hold your breath as the version threatens to drop its bass weight, exploding in a breathtaking echo landscape, punctuated by Jah Warriors melancholy and serious piano melody. Disciplined b line force and pressure! Halfway through the track a new space is introduced in to the dynamic, snares break down and soar into feedback, piano chords move and echo into cold spiral structures as the African percussion moves up higher in the mix. Cold steel pressure! For those of you that loved the Shaka dances down at The Rocket with Shaka Warrior dropping tunes that impacted and hit depth charge style, then spread out and scatter as the bass is let loose: this is one for you.



Changing the pace now, Prince Alla gets the fine dub treatment a veteran like himself truly deserves, with a beautiful and mystic flute led affair entitled "I hear a Dub" from the forthcoming "More Dub" album. Spiritual flute and primal and evocative African sounding percussion lead the melody here, the pounding bass drum we usually associate with Jah Warriors productions noticeably absent, to be replaced by rimshot snare cracks and a fluid sinewy bass pattern. This is a deeply serious mood piece and a definite step forward into new and increasingly meditative territory for the Warrior. Disembodied, spectral voices, randomly splintered and indecipherable, echo over the surface creating an ethereal and spiritual atmosphere.



Now to the Alton Ellis track, "Zulu Man", which features a truly beautiful and reflective vocal talent, sounding at times like the voice and emotion of the sorely lamented Bim Sherman. Alton's voice is high and reedy, plaintive and pure of tone. The lyrics are conscious meditations, compassionate and poetic.

"There is no substitution for the conscious mind,

There is no substitution for all mankind.

In this ya Iration,we've got to live together,

we've got to fight the bad and the evil ones, no other one can come and change that plan.

There is no substitution for good intention. In this Iration,my mind must be made up on one intention, love one another, love your brother, love each other.we got to change this direction, find a different plan, for all mankind."

The instrumentation is unobtrusive and sparse, letting the emotion and purity of the lyrics carry the piece, much like the early Bim Sherman tracks in which the rhythm was sometimes "played down" to allow the purity of Bim's emotion to shine through. As the version drops, it holds its subtlety, with horns morphing and twisting into diverse sound shapes, and understated percussion spiralling forward, exploring different tones. The Alton Ellis vocal is disembodied and ghostly, severely echoed and distorted, yet still retaining its inner meaning and message.

Now for the final track, the awesome subterranean weight of "Unknown dub" part 2, one of Jah Warriors white label sound system power play tracks, as yet unreleased. This is a brutal dub mix, the bass moving like the ebb and flow of a tidal wave. Pure focussed intensity, cantankerous, outrageous and inspired. One can only hope strong tracks like this don't remain unheard in Jah Warrior's vaults for much longer.

After getting an insight into what progressions were going on "undercover" in the Jah Warrior studios, I was keen to link up again with Jah Warrior himself to hear what he had to say about working with these artists:

Interviewer: Jah Warrior, tell us how it was to work with these Jamaican dj's? Tell us about Jah Mason.

Jah Warrior: "Well, first I'd like to tell you about his name and its meaning: "mason" refers to him as a builder, a builder of righteousness."

Interviewer: I understand what he's trying to communicate: Jah Shaka used to chant in his dances "The stone which the builder refuse shall become THE HEAD CORNER STONE of the temple." That is a righteous message to outsiders in society, people who've been trodden down and rejected by society. As it says in the Biblical Psalms 118 verse 22 which surely inspired Shaka, "The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner."

Back to Jah Mason, how was it to work together ?

Jah Warrior: "When I first met him he was really anxious to get across that he had no wish whatsoever to make any bashment style tunes: He has a very serious message he wants to communicate to people, and powerful lyrics. He was very into the sessions and the music we made together."

Interviewer: What of Lutan Fyah? That's a name I'm not familiar with.

Jah Warrior: "He comes out of Buju Banton's Gargamel Studios, and has recorded tunes there. He is very close to Jah Mason. His lyrics are very fiery, but he doesn't deal with any supremacist ideals. Unifying people is more his concern, and his lyrics respect people of all faiths, race and belief. He was really into Jah Warrior music and the tunes we produced. We've made a whole album together, just waiting to be released."

Interviewer: Tell about the Professor Frisky tracks: The man has a powerful vocal delivery, that's for sure! I loved his work for Bobby Digital. The "Heathen Mix" album with Yami Bolo, Cocoa Tea, Morgan Heritage et al was a powerful spiritual album. Very uplifting.

Jah Warrior: "Well, Professor is not a Bobo Dread, but a conscious reality DJ. He used to work for Jack Ruby Sound System, and yes, the album you speak of is a powerful work, a beautiful record. He has also worked with the Blood and Fire Sound System, and is a close associate of veterans like U.Brown and Prezident Brown."

Interviewer: The dubs for the Professor Frisky track are extreme. Bass pressure! Can you tell us more about how it was to work with these artists in the studio? You hear a lot about Bobo Dreads being full of "fire and Brimstone" and being pretty intense characters, or are these just iconic stereotypes?

Jah Warrior: "Well, there's no foundation for a lot of these stereotypical impressions. No need to deal in stereotypes! None of these artists I worked with were overbearing characters: they are intelligent guys with a lot of insight and knowledge about what is going on in the world. Regarding once more the stereotypical image of the Bobo Dreads as being full of "fire and Brimstone", well we've all heard stories about Capleton and Sizzla, but neither Lutan Fyah nor Jah Mason had any venom in their personality, just a desire to promote freedom and equality for all people."

Interviewer: Ok Steve, on a final note, I have to ask you more about the "Unknown Dub part 2" that you sent through to me! How do people react when you drop that dub plate in a dance? The word to use for it is extreme!

Jah Warrior: "That dub plate tore the roof off every time it was played at a session. It's a very excessive dub in every way."

Thank you Jah Warrior!

Tracks reviewed:

Jah Mason : "Rainbow Circle Throne/ Rainbow Circle Dub" ( 7" available soon)

Lutan Fyah: "Never Surrender my Faith/ Never Surrender my Dub" ( 7" available soon)

Professor Frisky: "Man Fi Strong" ( 7" available soon)

Jah Warrior: "Man Fi Strong Dub/ Special Dub" ( From Forthcoming Jah Warrior CD on Hammerbass label)

Alton Ellis: "Zulu Man" ( 10" available soon)

Prince Alla: "I Hear a Dub" ( From Forthcoming album "More Dub" )

Jah Warrior : "Unknown Dub part 2" ( Jah Warrior Dub Plate )


Reviewed by Greg Whitfield