Dub Me Always King Tubby's UK w/ selector Natty Harvey & 'Sound System Queen' Linett Kamala
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On Wednesday 12 August, Dub Me Always is pleased to present a pre-Carnival special with a night of original roots reggae and foundation dancehall vinyl, plus exclusive dub plates, when the legendary Brixton-based sound system King Tubby’s UK, featuring Father Cecil and selector Natty Harvey at the controls, join host DJ David Katz on the decks.
Born in the rebel parish of St Thomas in eastern Jamaica, Cecil Rennie arrived in the UK as a teenager in 1965 and soon began an apprenticeship as a selector on south London sound system Duke Reid. He broke away from that sound in 1969 to master his own destiny, launching King Tubby’s Hi-Fi in March 1970, when he was just 19 years old, the sound named in deference to Jamaica’s mighty dub master, Osbourne Ruddock, whom Rennie counted as a personal friend and musical mentor. As Rennie built up the set it soon became King Tubby’s Sound System, which went from strength to strength in the years to follow, especially after he began introducing exclusive dub plate specials in 1973. It remains one of the longest-running and most respected sound systems in Britain, thanks to Rennie’s determined management, and to the selecting skills of longtime associate, Natty Harvey.
Known as the ‘Sound System Queen’, Linett Kamala is widely recognised as one of the first female DJs to perform on a sound system at Notting Hill Carnival in 1985 at 15 years old . She has since come full circle, now serving as a Board Director. She is a renaissance woman whose creative practice centres on amplifying all lives via festival and sound system culture through a range of roles including DJ, artist, academic, community organiser, creative producer and Founding Director of LIN KAM ART. Her current exhibition Dancehall Riddim Queens is at iniva, Stuart Hall Library. For over 41 years Linett has been championing sound system culture from running one of the biggest sound systems at Notting Hill Carnival, producing memorable takeovers at the British Museum and the British Library to developing the next generation and underrepresented groups. Each year through her company LIN KAM ART engages with thousands through residencies, workshops, programmes and events that centre sound system culture. Examples include organising the annual South Kilburn CarniVale community festival and her various deep listening experiences. Linett is known for designing beautiful custom hand-built sound systems such as LIN KAM ART, and more recently her latest build at LIN KAM ART Basstone MoYC at the Museum of Youth Culture, as well as her BASSTONE series of innovative light and sound system installations (Basstone Regeneration and Basstone Maypole which explore aspects of our relationship to each other and the natural environment. Her work has been featured at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the Royal Albert Hall and the London Museum.
@linett_kamala and @lin_kam_art
https://www.instagram.com/linett_kamala
https://www.instagram.com/lin_kam_art
Derek A Bardowell is a writer, philanthropy advisor and transformative coach. His first book, the sports memoir No Win Race, was a Sunday Times and Financial Times Book of the Year. Derek’s second book, Giving Back: How To Do Good, Better, reimagines philanthropy through a reparative lens. A former Music Editor at The Voice, his work has appeared in The Guardian, The Times, NME, Time Out, the Source and British GQ, among other publications. Fire Inna Dancehall traces the collision of sound, style and struggle that created one of the most influential cultural movements of the past half-century. From inner city Kingston to the council estates of London, the block parties of New York and the underground scenes of Panama and Puerto Rico, ex-reggae columnist Derek A. Bardowell charts the rise, triumphs, controversies and tragedies of a space where joy and resistance share the same rhythm. Blending in-depth social history and journalistic insight with the movement’s revolutionary spirit, Bardowell explores how the pulse of dancehall speaks to migration, masculinity, faith, freedom and the ongoing fight for self-determination to reveal how a sound became a global language of liberation. A comprehensive guide to the people, places and politics that shaped dancehall and an unapologetic tribute to Black creativity, Fire Inna Dancehall does not seek permission to sing but insists on being heard.
Which roots reggae classics, foundation dancehall delights and dub plate specials will Harvey and Linett pull out of the bag? There’s only one way to find out… come early to hear what Derek A Bardowell has to say and to bag a signed author copy of his book, and stay for the music! Do not miss this historic occasion!
7:30-11:30pm
Upstairs at the Ritzy
Brixton SW2 1JG
Free entry
Born in the rebel parish of St Thomas in eastern Jamaica, Cecil Rennie arrived in the UK as a teenager in 1965 and soon began an apprenticeship as a selector on south London sound system Duke Reid. He broke away from that sound in 1969 to master his own destiny, launching King Tubby’s Hi-Fi in March 1970, when he was just 19 years old, the sound named in deference to Jamaica’s mighty dub master, Osbourne Ruddock, whom Rennie counted as a personal friend and musical mentor. As Rennie built up the set it soon became King Tubby’s Sound System, which went from strength to strength in the years to follow, especially after he began introducing exclusive dub plate specials in 1973. It remains one of the longest-running and most respected sound systems in Britain, thanks to Rennie’s determined management, and to the selecting skills of longtime associate, Natty Harvey.
Known as the ‘Sound System Queen’, Linett Kamala is widely recognised as one of the first female DJs to perform on a sound system at Notting Hill Carnival in 1985 at 15 years old . She has since come full circle, now serving as a Board Director. She is a renaissance woman whose creative practice centres on amplifying all lives via festival and sound system culture through a range of roles including DJ, artist, academic, community organiser, creative producer and Founding Director of LIN KAM ART. Her current exhibition Dancehall Riddim Queens is at iniva, Stuart Hall Library. For over 41 years Linett has been championing sound system culture from running one of the biggest sound systems at Notting Hill Carnival, producing memorable takeovers at the British Museum and the British Library to developing the next generation and underrepresented groups. Each year through her company LIN KAM ART engages with thousands through residencies, workshops, programmes and events that centre sound system culture. Examples include organising the annual South Kilburn CarniVale community festival and her various deep listening experiences. Linett is known for designing beautiful custom hand-built sound systems such as LIN KAM ART, and more recently her latest build at LIN KAM ART Basstone MoYC at the Museum of Youth Culture, as well as her BASSTONE series of innovative light and sound system installations (Basstone Regeneration and Basstone Maypole which explore aspects of our relationship to each other and the natural environment. Her work has been featured at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the Royal Albert Hall and the London Museum.
@linett_kamala and @lin_kam_art
https://www.instagram.com/linett_kamala
https://www.instagram.com/lin_kam_art
Derek A Bardowell is a writer, philanthropy advisor and transformative coach. His first book, the sports memoir No Win Race, was a Sunday Times and Financial Times Book of the Year. Derek’s second book, Giving Back: How To Do Good, Better, reimagines philanthropy through a reparative lens. A former Music Editor at The Voice, his work has appeared in The Guardian, The Times, NME, Time Out, the Source and British GQ, among other publications. Fire Inna Dancehall traces the collision of sound, style and struggle that created one of the most influential cultural movements of the past half-century. From inner city Kingston to the council estates of London, the block parties of New York and the underground scenes of Panama and Puerto Rico, ex-reggae columnist Derek A. Bardowell charts the rise, triumphs, controversies and tragedies of a space where joy and resistance share the same rhythm. Blending in-depth social history and journalistic insight with the movement’s revolutionary spirit, Bardowell explores how the pulse of dancehall speaks to migration, masculinity, faith, freedom and the ongoing fight for self-determination to reveal how a sound became a global language of liberation. A comprehensive guide to the people, places and politics that shaped dancehall and an unapologetic tribute to Black creativity, Fire Inna Dancehall does not seek permission to sing but insists on being heard.
Which roots reggae classics, foundation dancehall delights and dub plate specials will Harvey and Linett pull out of the bag? There’s only one way to find out… come early to hear what Derek A Bardowell has to say and to bag a signed author copy of his book, and stay for the music! Do not miss this historic occasion!
7:30-11:30pm
Upstairs at the Ritzy
Brixton SW2 1JG
Free entry
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Upstairs at the Ritzy, London, United Kingdom
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