Jah Shaka ( – 12 April 2023), also known as the Zulu Warrior, was a Jamaican reggae/dub sound system operator who operated a South East London-based,
roots reggae
Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of Ethnic groups of Africa, Africans and those in the African Diaspora, including the spiritual side of Rastafari, black liberation, revolution and the ho ...
Rastafarian
Rastafari is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of the movement and much ...
Shaka Zulu
Shaka kaSenzangakhona (–24 September 1828), also known as Shaka (the) Zulu () and Sigidi kaSenzangakhona, was the king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1816 to 1828. One of the most influential monarchs of the Zulu, he ordered wide-reaching reform ...
.
Career
Jah Shaka was born in
Clarendon Parish, Jamaica
Clarendon () is a Parishes of Jamaica, parish in Jamaica. It is located on the south of the island, roughly halfway between the island's eastern and western ends. Located in the Parishes of Jamaica#Counties of Jamaica, county of Middlesex Count ...
, an area which has produced numerous
roots reggae
Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of Ethnic groups of Africa, Africans and those in the African Diaspora, including the spiritual side of Rastafari, black liberation, revolution and the ho ...
Barrington Levy
Barrington Ainsworth Levy (born 30 April 1964) is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall artist from Clarendon, Jamaica.
Career
In 1977, Levy formed a band called the Mighty Multitude, with his cousin, Everton Dacres; the pair released "My Bla ...
and
Freddie McGregor
Fredrick "Freddie" McGregor (born 27 June 1956, in Clarendon, Jamaica) is a Jamaican singer, musician and record producer. His music career began when he was seven years old.
Biography
In 1963 he joined with Ernest Wilson and Peter Austin to ...
.
Jah Shaka started out on the Freddie Cloudburst Sound System as an operator, before setting up his own sound system. By the late 1970s Shaka's system had rapidly gained a large and loyal following due to the combination of spiritual content, high energy rhythms, massive sonority and his dynamic personal style. That following notably included many of the pioneers of
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...
such as
Public Image Ltd
Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band formed by lead vocalist John Lydon (previously, as Johnny Rotten, lead vocalist of the Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene (a founding member of the Clash), bassi ...
and
The Slits
The Slits were a punk/post-punk band based in London, formed there in 1976 by members of the groups the Flowers of Romance and the Castrators. The group's early line-up consisted of Ari Up (Ariane Forster) and Palmolive (a.k.a. Paloma Rom ...
.
In 1980 Shaka played himself in the film ''
Babylon
Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...
'' (directed by
Franco Rosso
Franco Rosso (29 August 1941 – 9 December 2016)Bill Douglas Centre"Franco Rosso 1942-2016" ''Babylon'', 27 December 2016.Martin Stellman"Franco Rosso obituary" ''The Guardian'', 2 January 2017. was an Italian-born film producer and director b ...
, although he directed the scene he appeared in), operating his Sound System in a soundclash at the climax of the story.
Shaka stayed true to his spiritual and distinct musical style during the 1980s when many other
Sound Systems Sound system may refer to:
Technology media
* Sound reinforcement system, a system for amplifying audio for an audience
* High fidelity, a sound system intended for accurate reproduction of music in the home
* Public address system, an institution ...
had started to follow the Jamaican trend towards playing less orthodox styles tending towards slack
dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...
music. In 1989, Shaka visited Jamaica and worked with many musicians there, including
King Tubby
Osbourne Ruddock (28 January 1941 – 6 February 1989), better known as King Tubby, was a Jamaican sound engineer who influenced the development of dub music in the 1960s and 1970s.
Tubby's studio work, in which as a mixing engineer he achiev ...
.
On 23 September 2000, he suffered numerous injuries during a house fire. In 2002, Jah Shaka appeared before a large crowd in New York City's
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...
. Live footage of Shaka is featured in the documentary ''
All Tomorrow's Parties
"All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released as the band's debut single in 1966. The song is from their 1967 debut studio album, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''.
Inspiration for the so ...
'' based on the musical festival, which was released in 2009. The Jah Shaka Sound System continues to appear regularly in London, with occasional tours of the United States, Europe and Japan.
Label
On his own record label Shaka released music from Jamaican artists such as
Max Romeo
Maxwell Livingston Smith (22 November 1944 – 11 April 2025), known professionally as Max Romeo, was a Jamaican reggae and roots reggae recording musician who achieved chart success in his home country and in the United Kingdom. He had several ...
,
Johnny Clarke
Johnny Clarke (born 12 January 1955) is a Jamaican reggae musician, best known for his recordings with producer Bunny Lee in the 1970s.
Biography
Clarke grew up in the Kingston ghetto of Whitfield Town and attended Jamaica College.Bim Sherman and Prince Alla as well as UK groups such as Aswad and Dread & Fred. He released a number of dub albums, often under the ''Commandments of Dub'' banner.
Artists featured on more recent releases include both established singers like Tony Tuff, and new emerging artists like Rockaway and Principle - who have sung over
riddim
In Jamaican dancehall music, a riddim is the instrumental accompaniment to a song and is synonymous with the rhythm section. Jamaican music genres that use the term consist of the ''riddim'' plus the ''voicing'' (vocal part) sung by the deeja ...
s produced by his son Malachi, known as Young Warrior.
Style and influence
Shaka's uncompromising "Warrior Style" has inspired a host of new UK reggae artists and Sound Systems such as Eastern Sher, The Disciples, Iration Steppas, Jah Warrior, Channel One Sound System, Conscious Sounds,
Aba Shanti-I and
Zion Train
Zion Train are a British Dub music, dub ensemble that formed in Oxford, 1988. They have consistently released music and toured from 1992 to present day. Their mix of reggae and dance music was a notable innovation in the early 1990s.
History ...
. Non-reggae artists such as
Basement Jaxx
Basement Jaxx are an English electronic music duo consisting of Felix Buxton (born 30 April 1970) and Simon Ratcliffe (born 28 November 1969). The pair got their name from the regular club night they held in Brixton, London, UK. They first ros ...
have cited Jah Shaka as being their best night out ever.
Jah Shaka events are renowned for attracting a wide audience from all backgrounds, races and ages. His dances attract numbers previously thought unthinkable for this genre of music. Shaka believes it to be a testament to the quality of the message that he expounds in his choice of music and his Rastafarian beliefs. His followers are known to be vocally ardent, and have developed dance steps that resemble African war dances.
Jah Shaka's music has had a profound influence on genres in the UK like
Junglist
Junglist is a slang term which first referred to a person living in an area of West Kingston, Jamaica, called Jungle. It was later used as a term to refer to someone who is a dedicated listener of jungle and/or drum & bass music. Tracks from thi ...
, a ghetto style born out of the UK soundsystem culture. Jah Shaka's son Young Warrior has now started his own sound system, to great acclaim.
Drum and bass
Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...
is also deeply influenced by Jah Shaka's sound system frequencies, and a number of the DJ's who feature in that genre, such as Congo Natty frequently name check Shaka's sound. Don Letts has also frequently referenced the influence of Jah Shaka on
John Lydon
John Joseph Lydon ( ; born 31 January 1956), also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a British-born singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. He was the lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, which was ...
and on the punk scene as a whole.
Non-musical work
Shaka also established the Jah Shaka Foundation to carry out assistance with projects in
Ghana
Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
, where the foundation has bought of land in Agri, 30 miles outside of
Accra
Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...
. It has also managed to distribute medical supplies, wheelchairs, library books, carpentry tools, drawing materials and records to clinics, schools and radio stations in the Accra area establishing important links with the local communities. Shaka himself was actually a youth worker years ago, and has regularly been quoted encouraging youths to study geography and history so they know "what's happened, where it's happening and who's doing it".
RealPlayer
RealPlayer, formerly RealAudio Player, RealOne Player and RealPlayer G2, is a cross-platform media player (software), media player app, developed by RealNetworks. The media player is compatible with numerous container file formats of the multimed ...