Dennis Bovell More about: Dennis on Trouser Press Dennis on LKJ Records Dennis on Jove Music

Dennis Bovell: The Dub Master

Dennis Bovell, featured at the upcoming Griots.net Black History Month Fest, is one of the greatest musicians living in the 21st century. An undisputed trailblazer in the music industry, Bovell has remained true to developing inspired, solid music. He divides his time between touring with poets like Linton Kwesi Johnson, producing other musicians, and educating youth at workshops around the globe. At the Griots.net Black History Month Fest at Baskerville Hall near Hay-on-Wye/Hereford, Bovell will be leading a music workshop from 5.30 pm to 6 pm. Later that evening Bovell will bring his International Dub Band to the stage for concert goers. Also performing will be Jazz trio Roots, Jamaican Canadian dub poet Michael St. George, up and coming singer/songwriter Zein Simone, Ilonga Nkoso and Kawele Mutimanwa from Kasai Masai, DJ Asif, Nigerian storyteller Atinuke and acoustic trio Cyndy Stith & 2 a.m. Show starts at 8 pm. The following links and reviews celebrate some of the most important aspects of Dennis Bovell's work.

This review has been reprinted by permission from Monkey Biz Management: Dennis Bovell was standing at a crucial crossroads in 1980, when his I Wah Dub came out. As bassist/producer with Matumbi and later as a collaborator on Linton Kwesi Johnson’s dub poetics, he was a key player in shaping early British reggae, ranking as the credentialed dread producer of choice for first-wave punk offshoots the Slits and the Pop Group. Bovell became a pioneer U.K. dubmaster behind records like this; he was almost certainly a homeboy inspiration for Mad Professor and Adrian Sherwood/On-U Sound, and in turn can be called a godfather of contemporary dub.

Back then, Lee Perry was sorta known, King Tubby wasn’t (outside the serious cognoscenti), and dub was this mysterious new thing less than a decade removed from its cost-cutting origin as B-side instrumentals on Jamaican 45s. The notion of playing sonic reducer by stripping songs down to bare essentials, then reshaping and distorting the musical skeleton, was a tantalizing entry into a whole new world of pure sound science.

The eight tunes here are rudimentary: Aswad’s Angus Gaye handles most of the drumming, and Bovell pretty much one-man-bands the rest. He doesn’t drop out the bass or drums much, keeping the rhythmic spine intact to let the tough-enough melodies to “Electrocharge” and “Oohkno” sink in. Harmonica on “Steadie,” melodica on “Blaubart” and distorted dread munchkin voices on “‘Nough” supply colors beyond the keyboard echo washes and reverb warps sailing off into the purely sonic realm. It’s deceptively understated — after 20 years of virtuoso mixology turns and hip-hop/sampler aesthetics, it may be hard to hear that some fundamental early blueprints were being drawn up here.

Yeah, yeah, great music is timeless and priceless it would have been nice to have Brain Damage, or Audio Active piggyback to I Wah Dub CD

Throughout this period Bovell continued his career as a solo artist, releasing a number of albums: A Who Seh Go Deh; Leggo A Fi We Dis; I Wah Dub; Higher Ranking Scientific Dub; Yu Learn; Strictly Dubwise, Brain Damage and Audio Active. His 1993 release Tactics was lauded as 'assured, polished reggae from a master producer and musician' (Elle magazine) and featured a wealth of great musicians such as Rico Rodriquez (trombone), Eddie Thornton (trumpet) and Steve Gregory (flute and saxophone). Bovell's 1997 album Dub of Ages with its 10 inspired tracks continued the dub excursions which began over 25 years ago when Bovell began making exclusive cuts for his sound system Sufferers Hi-Fi. It also heralded Bovell's 25th year in the music business. The year 2000 has seen the classic album I Wah Dub released on CD for the first time. This innovative recording was first released in 1980 and has been hailed as one of the most inspiring dub albums of all time – ‘it certainly belongs in any Dub Hall of Fame.