As went to print, the European leaders were begging Silvio Berlusconi to do something to prevent Italy, and Europe, from falling apart. We nearly died laughing at that. It’s a one-way process, like Humpty Dumpty falling off the wall. We wonder sometimes: Did none of these world leaders ever hear about reggae music? Did they not hear about the fall of Babylon? – Ronan Lynch, Editor. Read more
Issue ten follows the soundsystem trail to Israel and Tel Aviv to hear the stories behind the scenes of Israeli reggae music and culture, from the only soundsystem in the Middle East to the ital reggae café of Abu Dubi. We hear too from Palestine, and the reasons that reggae music is viewed with suspicion in the West Bank. Featuring interviews with Giul Rasta, Twelve Tribes, Gal Eilam, Harrison Stafford and Hanouneh. more in issue 10
Bristol is well known for its trip hop and drum’n’bass scene, and lately dubstep, but the city has a long and fascinating reggae history, from blues parties and soundsystems to bands such as the Black Roots who laid the foundation for today’s Bristol scene. more in issue 9
In the middle of the last decade, Dublin became famous as the centre of the mysteriously successful ‘Celtic Tiger’ economy. Many Dubliners – knowing this would all end in disaster – watched in amazement as world leaders came to learn about economics from Irish political leaders. When the Chinese prime minister came to learn about Irish economics, we started to worry about China.
For hundreds of years, Amsterdam has been a centre for the trade of lucrative and mind-altering substances from opium, tobacco, coffee, tea, spirits, sugar and spices, and the city has never quite shaken off its smuggling, piratical ways. But new regulations are threatening a marijuana culture which is admired and feared in equal measure. Will politics trump economics in the new Holland?
Soundsystem culture arrived to the Czech Republic through the free party and techno festivals of the 1990s, but reggae is catching up, with a new generation of dub activists, record labels and selecters who are schooled in the high energy cross over styles of future roots.
It’s important to move slowly around vinyl specialists in Paris. It’s not that people are nervous there, but space is at a premium in Paris and there’s a lot of vinyl around. IRIE UP recently spent a few days in the French capital, knocking over stacks of vinyl in shops, basements and apartments all over the city.