2.33am
First tune; the Marley brothers, Damien and Stephen's 'mission' on dub [I remember this to be one of his favorite opening songs in clashes of late], from then on some non-dubplate juggling for 12 minutes, giving the bajans a history of the tunes and what they meant to him [as he ALWAYS does]..
bajan massive
Right, down the line.. in the heat of the club, we heard plates by Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Tenor Saw, Sanchez, Beres, Ninjaman, Ini Kamoze.. a lot of Sizzla and Bounty [one in particular was dedicated to Squingy later in the dance, reason being that Squingy was also a great lover of Rodney Price]
show some signal!!
Some highlight/selections that stuck out for me;
-King Tubby's dub.
-Alton Ellis' special [even Jon Doe seemed overwhelmed by that one].
-Nas + Junior Gong's 'As We Enter' - very very big tune [and not only in part that it's one of my fav songs at the moment]
-a popular Bob Marley track on a version I've never heard before.......speaking of Bob, Rodigan introduces his songs like no other, for example.. '30 years ago, he was in a studio [Studio One if I recall] and Bob took a cassette out of his pocket, put it in the player, and asked Rodigan what he thought of it, too uptempo!? Rodigan's reply was, it was good, either way, Bob said OK, Roddy you gonna have that one exclusively on Capitol One radio tomorrow..name of the track? COULD YOU BE LOVED! Another introduction was 'I come from England, where it's cold, but today when I got off the plane in Barbados, and the lovely refreshing sun hit me, and I thought my Gosh, first time here I'm feeling the vibe already!? WOW!!' Basically that's how he introduced 'Sun is shining, here I am', bare in mind, these quotes might not be exactly what he said, but the basically the gist that was portrayed.
-Bob Marley never cut any dubs! that was confirmed [as I told a certain bajantube cousin of mine] BUT Bob sang a few one-way songs. [only true reggaeoloigsts would know exactly what that means].
-the 3 the hard way dub, [the song title eludes me now] but it was significant because the preceding speech. '3 artistes inna pub beating a kette drum.......'
-Many in the crowd did not seem to realize the significance of the recently voiced Dennis Brown, Nas and Damien Marley's Land of promise dub, most likely because it's so spanking new [only released a few days before] but I'd already heard it of course.
-Can't forget the Conroy Smith 'Dangerous'.
I somehow wished he had dropped the Marcia Griffiths, or this song [http://mp3twit.com/2rT] one of my fav Rodigan selections from WC 2008, that would have done it for me!!!!!
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Moving along.. straight forward right through, even though there were some songs the bajans were supposed to be familiar with, that didn't seem to get the reaction he hoped for.....but the Most Forward!?;
-tie between the Garnett Silk tune and Cocoa Tea's 'Underage Sound - one of his most prized possessions, mainly for the fact that young sounds [which cause progression in the business], even though they might 'gwaan' wicked, they always get humbled with it..
-Romain Virgo 'Feels it knows it 'and Konshens 'Realest song' [two hit songs currently receiving lots of airplay on the fm's] btw I hardly listen to the radio now, my fm is my laptop.fm..
-the nineties dub cd.. tune after tune!! quick! the feedback from that is still very very memorable in my mind. MAAAAAAAAAAAWD!!!
-oh and 'dubplates playing in the ghetto tonight' was a BIG hit!
here's a video of Rodigan saying how technology has upgraded dubplate cutting in reference to traveling to any particular studio in the world. AND introducing the biggest reggae song in theUK that was cut a few hours earlier.
After playing for just over 1hour + 10 minutes, the last dubplate was played [not the last song by him, mind you] it was Cham's Ghetto Story chronicling Rodigan's achievements through the years.. MAAAAAAAAD hearing it live and direct!! Coming on to the end he seemed a bit annoyed that the next deejay, DMZ [Tallman of Slam.fm formerly of Hott.fm] was delayed in getting to the stage.
One thing, absolutely no Kartel or Mavado [even though he's got LOTS] or new fangled dancehall like Blak Ryno or Merital or Jah Vinci that some radio selectors here seem to depend on..you also gotta give him props for using cd's...Interestingly enough his deejay Peewee was not in attendance.
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30 years experience
The show had the same vibe as the Mighty Crown one on Xmas night in 07' at Club 360 [when I spoke to Sammy]..but on a higher level!
mi nah lie rodigan a bad sound, but THE FAR EAST RULAZ is still my favorite sound!!! SzEEEEEEEEEEN!
I've seen comments on facebook, about the show which makes it seem that most of the attendees were overwhelmed by his selections..what did they expect!?..obviously they won't have my sort of knowledge of reggae and it's progression through the years..I'm not saying that most local 'deejays' are illiterate and ignorant, but they've got to know, that to make it on the big international stage, you gotta come HARD and correct. I'm sure everyone left the dance with a little more knowledge of reggae.. BIG up Rodigan. hey! Hey! HEY!
I'd recommend reading 'The story of Jamaican music' by LLoyd Bradley..it's a BIG glossy book that'll give you a view into the early era.. also get the 4cd album that accompanies it if you could.
One last thing though, if I speculate [due to the Rodigan's frequent references to Jon Doe] and say that Renegade Int'l is indeed Barbados' best sound [obviously not because of his no.1 morning radio show 'Morning Mayhem'], how exactly would an individual come to that conclusion? There hasn't been any clash to differentiate the toughest sound here, except maybe for that half-hearted Monstah Piece vs King Bubba in 05 [I think it was].. Personally, I don't think Jon Doe [rumored to be trained by King Yellow of St.Philip] can't touch Lil Rick in tune selection..just my humble view.
I saw a camera-man filming on-stage, so more than likely there'll be an official video of the event..also saw Infared HD [looked like him at least] right in the guy's face filming away hahaha!
hit bajantube.info if you want Sheldon Shorey's images of the event.
btw club Xtreme's vodka + sprite is horrible.. horrid as in awful bitter-tasting shit they put in a 2 ounce cub loaded wth ice for 10 fricking BDS [5 us] dollars!! Not saying that all the drinks were awful, but that specific spri-vod mix was..
REGGAE IS A MISSION NOT A COMPETITION!
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