IR 29 New Generation Dub is a new album by Indigenous Resistance that melds incisive spoken word with a dub music influenced musical aesthetic.Musically and lyrically it is a celebration of simplicity and a” less is more “approach. It is the first installment of a two-part project.
This is like the ‘yin’ installment of the project with the second part being like the ‘yang’ installment. The second installment will feature dub sisters like Iquick from Guatemala and the Masked Grafitti Artist from Colombia with production from Dr Das .
You can reach IR ::Indigenous Resistance at jahdub.ghost.stories [@] gmail.com if you wish to get more news on the progress of this project.
If you wish to support the project ; IR 29 New Generation Dub album is now available through Bandcamp here ,Cd Baby, Itunes and other digital delivery sites.
IR recommends that you check out the Bandcamp version that comes with bonus tracks and bonus downloads like a special series of IR Ethiopia posters and a kindle pdf of our new book” IR 30 Indigenous Visions In Dub”.
IR has also just released a special resequenced edition of IR 29
entitled IR 29.1 .This version has special new intros done by Rebel Indigenous Child and a new sequence devised by Ramjac which is espcially pleasing for the vinyl affecionados. IR29.1 is distributed by Believe Digital in France and there is also a version on Bandcamp that has an exclusive Dr Das bonus mix .The mix is ” Dejame Passar” which was recently chosen by the Swiss magazine “Norient” as one of their tracks of the month of Febuary along with “Diversity of Tactics ” by Dr Das.This track features a poem written by an indigenous poet from Guatemala Rosa Chaves . Her poem is voiced by Iquick with musical backing by dj Soundar , Jerome Klur and Dr Das.
New Generation Dub art by Eugeni Tort Martinez
This is a piece of artwork sent to us by Eugeni Tort Martinez.It is set in the context of the struggle in Guatemala where many people were murdered and persecuted .Despite this oppression the resistance never ceased and continues to be carried out by the new generation.Ilustración por EUGENI TORT MARTINEZ En contexto de la lucha en Guatemala en un momento donde muchas personas fueron asesinadas y perseguidos. A pesar de la opresión, la resistencia nunca cesó, hoy continua a manos de las nuevas generaciones. Mi pueblo resiste!!!! (gracias a julieta por la traducion)
The Bandcamp page will be the only site where you will be able to download the track “Dejame Passar”
Tape Dave and The Ghost created this special media kit for this release which you can download here http://www.dubreality.com/IR29-1Info.zip
IR BANDCAMP PAGE
The album cover art was designed by Tapedave featuring a photo by Naira. The photo by Colombian photographer Naira was taken in front of the giant mural IR & Chite Yarumo painted in Bogota, Colombia . The occasion was a free afternoon outdoor concert & grafitti event organised by Rebel youth in Colombia and IR with a free concert with Dr Das , Bantu , Dj Soundar & Inbassion. The photo captures a moment with some of the Colombian children and Dj Soundar enjoying themselves during the show.The album was produced by The Ghost,Dr Das , IR and The Spirit of Galdino.
The title of the album came from Tapedave who is responsible for giving names to many of IR’s dub projects.
mud folia
Tapedave is a serious wordsmith who has contributed lyrics to IR releases.Check out his book of lyrics ” Mud folia “ here
THE IR DUB CREATIVE PROCESS
This album was largely created through the passage way of the internet using a practice of file sharing that IR has utilized over the last 10 years to connect participants from different points of the planet. Files with music and vocal tracks , emails with mixing instructions were relayed between Jamaica, Turtle Island, Ethiopia, Chile, Peru, Belgium ,France, England and Colombia.For instance a file with voices of children in Colombia was sent by The Ghost to Sawandi who incorporated then into a musical track he was creating . Sawandi would send his musical creation via internet for Dr Das to lay down one of his militant basslines .
Dr Das bass found on many IR tracks . this photo by Dr Das fittingly called ” Black Power”
After it was returned to Sawandi for some more adjustments his musical track would then be relayed to Ramjac and Dr Das in England and Belgium for mixing. After a rough mix was done it would be sent to other IR folks for comments and suggestions .If it was decided that something extra needed to be added to the track then for instance Dj Sounder and Jerome Klur in France would arrange to send Dr Das some additional files to be mixed in. Or Mapuchedub in Turtle Island would be sent words and lyrics for the indigenous rebel child to voice and she would record them with a simple video camera and then that vide would be sent to someone in IR who would then download the audio portion of the video and incorporate into the mix.Often IR recording techniques are very low tech as we adapt to the circumstances we find ourselves in ie we have used tricks of using old headphones as microphones ( plug the headphone into the microphone jack and speak into the earpiece it works!)
The process would continue with email and file exchange till IR was satisfied with the final mix.This exchange of communication via internet occurs across ‘the digital divide’ meaning some of the collaborators are not in ‘first world’ country with consistent and rapidfire internet .The upload and downloading of files can be a painstaking and extremely slow process in these locations and an internet connection is often very tenuous.
The work on this album was particularly intricate with a lot of complex instructions involved in the different musical parts and multilingual vocals. Tracks were done over and over ; redone and sometimes restarted using a completely different mixing approach ,as we strived to get the result we were seeking. It is important to note that this process is not just about the technology.
This process works in IR because of the trust,patience and the dub creative understanding of the participants through years of collaboration .Everyone involved is in a similar mindset and with a shared goal to create the most dubversive piece of music we can without any restrictions, or looking over our shoulders at current musical trends .
Often in the IR creative process moments we describe as “very dub” occur when despite the great distances separating the musicians and the lack of immediate communication ,it is almost as if the participants were in the same room talking to one another.
When IR was recording the “Routes to Rootz “album ; Herman Soy Sos Pearl and Christiane D were in Pittsburgh , U.S.A and Tohunono & Saevo were in the South Pacific Islands . The indigenous musicians in the South Pacific Islands would receive rough mixes from producer/engineer Soy Sos via internet . They would listen and discuss and prepare new instructions for Soy Sos but on several occaisons after the discussions and as they were preparing to send emails to Soy Sos, they would receive a new mix from him and the new mix would have already followed the exact instructions they were preparing to send!
dub maestro Herman Soy Sos Pearl
In the making of one of the tracks for this release, there was a moment when Sawandi sent various options for an intro section to someone in IR for mixing advice .However that IR person was in a remote location and was unable to get internet to work. They tried sending an email with instructions to Sawandi but it wouldn’t go through. As they were trying to next day to send the email they received a mix from Sawandi and they were amazed to see that he had chosen the same option and manipulated the tempos and durations of instruments exactly as they had suggested in the email not sent!
We really strive to make the process flow naturally and not force the dub.
As John Trudell says in our book ” IR30 Indigenous Visions In Dub “ Motive intention behavior, these things must be in sync, our motives must be in sync with our intentions , our motives must be in sync with our behavior”
Dub creative guiding principals.
Track listings
1)The Art & Dub Of Letting Go [Ramjac’s Intuition Flowing Mix] 06:01
2) I R Dravidian : Earth & Life : Dr Das Ambient Mix 03:39
3) 3 Lions Accapela Intro By Rebel Indigenous Child 00:11
4) 3 Lions 06:01
5) I R Dravidian: Earth and Life (Dr Das Mix) 03:48
BACKGROUND ON EACH OF TRACKS
Track one
The Art and Dub Of Letting Go [ Ramjac’s Intuition Flowing Mix]
Visionary Jamaican musician Sawandi creates some glorious ethereal soulful textures & keyboard sounds accompanied by Dr Das on bass & Omar Francis on guitar .
Sawandi djing in the shadows . Photo by Sabriya Simon.
Ramjac emphasises the beauty of simplicity and the “less is more” approach in his gorgeous dub tinged instrumental mix done at Hampstead Music & Voice Studio in the U.K.
Ramjac at work in the studio. photo by Molax Chopa.
To provide a very insight into this mixing process it is important for listeners to know that Ramjac had a myriad of sonic options available to him.One of the reasons we really appreciate the mix is because Ramjac followed his intuition and instead of going overboard with multitracking and superfluous effects instead chose to adopt a simpler ,minimalist mixing approaching which was in keeping with message of Dutty Bookman’s writing.
A Roots Reggae Mixing Dub Insight From Ramjac
This was a correspondence from Ramjac that we wanted to share with folks:
“I went round to a new friend’s studio not far from mine, to help him re-construct it from the mothballs it had been stored in for almost 10 years. Its a reggae studio in his kitchen that played host to Marcia Griffith, Mighty Diamonds, Errol Dunkley, Little Roy, the list goes on, and and I was transferring for him from 90s Tascam 8 track DA38 machines he had recorded from reels in Jamaica from friendly producers there. The 70’s riddms were just on 4 tracks, drums on one, bass on another, guitar on another and vocal on the last or no vocals just some flute or organ or some Melodica from Augustus Pablo. The recording of track after track was so sweet and so tightly played and with such swing. It was all ready for Tubby Dubby but you know, it just sat so beautifully unmixed due to the content. It just endorsed my 3 Lions philosophy that less is more.”
Augustus Pablo a The Fire This Time/ IR conspirator
The track title ” The Art & Dub Of Letting Go” was influenced by a passage from Dutty Bookman ‘s autobiography ” Tried & True :Revelations Of A Rebellious Youth” It is a reference to the concept of spiritual and material detachment .
Here’s the relevant passage from that book :
“Yes upon that hill I learnt some of the most valuable lessons about myself.All of those lessons fueled each other and prepared me for my greatest lesson to date: the art and science of letting go. My experiences at 3 Lionz demonstrated the unexpected value of letting go of everything that I ever worked towards and held dear. In the short time that I lived there, there was a fairly sudden and drastic detachment from many worldly concerns.”
The track title was also inspired by the name Dr Das told us he would be calling his forthcoming book of photography .
You can watch a video for this track here
Track two: I R Dravidian : Earth & Life : Dr Das Ambient Mix
On this IR Indigenous Resistance reworking of Dj Soundar & Jklur “Dravidian Spirit” you hear some new elements in this mix which were done by Dr Das.
Dub Jamaican writer Dutty Bookman voices the following thoughts by indigenous activist John Trudell former chairperson of the American Indian Movement .An activist whose power of oratory was so feared by the F.B.I that they had a 20,000 page file on him.
‘Leaders know you can’t trust one who follows.Followers know not to trust one who leads.They say whoever has the most money has the most power.That’s not true. Whoever makes the most money ,basically is greedy !They say whoever controls the political vote system that’s power.No thats not power.That’s exploitation and deceit!But if we believe these things are power then obviously we don’t know ourselves and we don’t trust ourselves enough to know that we are connected to the real power source which is life and earth.”
Dubdem poster showing lyrics of the track both in English and Amharic :one of the principal languages of Ethiopia.
These and other words by John Trudell can be found in the new IR book ” IR 30 Indigenous Visions In Dub” A PDF of the kindle edition of the IR30 book will be available for those who buy the entire IR29 album. IR has created a new site for this book that you can access here.
Visionary Jamaican musician Sawandi also contributed new soulful keyboard textures and percussion to the track. Dr Das in addition to his subtle and masterful dub mixing technique did some looping and restructuring of the beautiful & ethereal original track that contributed greatly to taking it to a new dubfull place.The track begins with the sound of the voices of children at a Bogota,Colombia school reading live the words from a passage of the book by Dutty Bookman ” Tried & True :Revelations Of A Rebellious Youth” which is available here
Dj Soundar explains about the origin of the use of the word ‘Dravidian’ in the title ”
Dj Soundar in Colombia.Photo by Naira.
” The Dravidian are the indigenous people of South India, they have been exploited and marginalized by the Brahmin-Aryan peoples for thousand of years.The Dravidian culture is the foundation of the whole South-East Asian culture.They are the founders of the Mohenjo Daro and Harrapa cities in the Indus Valley dated back 6000 years ago.On the original track of “Dravidian Spirit” you can heard some percussions rhythms and they are typically South Indian – Dravidian rhythms.In my back ground, my father is South Indian (he speaks Tamil) and my mother is half Yemeni, Egyptian and Somalian so it’s one the reason too that I choose the term Dravidian.”
Track three 3 Lions Accapela Intro By Rebel Indigenous Child
Rebel indigenous child holding up placard she designed herself that referes to the Idle No More indigenous protests that were happening in North America. This photo is by Mapuchedub
Here a 9 year old indigenous child gives an intro and dub explanation of what the trak ” 3 Lions” entails.Recorded by Mapuchedub in Turtle Island ( Turtle Island is the indigenous name for N. America.) The january 1 ,2014 release date for “IR29 New Generation Dub” was chosen by her .Some subtle and important aspects of this project came about through the dub presence and facilitation by rebel children and youth and this album is espcially for them .
Track four “3 Lions”
Dutty Bookman reads a passage from his autobigraphy ‘Tried & True: Revelations Of A Rebellious Youth” over music featuring Sawandi, Omar Francis and Dr Das. Mixed by Ramjac at Hampstead Music & Voice Studio in the U.K.”
The title 3 Lions refers to the name of a house on a hill in Jamaica where Dutty Bookman lived during a difficult period of his life. He refers to it as his Air base and as he says in this passage of his book that he reads on this track
“It was the last element for me to include in my deepest meditative states, as I already knew the relevance of fire, water and earth to my life. The Fire Base was where I first realized that my fiery spirit could be controlled as a steady flame, supplying warmth instead of being allowed to spread into a destructive wildfire. At the Water Base, I learned the greatest methods of combating my ego through tapping into a great spiritual unconscious. The lessons of the Earth Base taught me about the irreplaceable value of co-dependency with the planet. All of those lessons fueled each other and prepared me for my greatest lesson to date: the art and science of letting go”
Dutty Bookman as he is being interviewed by Ms Peppy.
Look carefully at his t-shirt theres code there .
When Art Meets Life And Dub Visuals Are Created In Ethiopia
In the course of making this album something was quite amazing for the folks in IR happened in Ethiopia.
In the mountains of Tigray province in Ethiopia IR became acquainted with two Ethiopian brothers who proved to be quite inspiring to us. One of them who is at the center of this video after graduating from university chose not to follow the pathway of a well paying routine job he didn’t care about . Instead he decided to follow his passion which was to be a professional cyclist . He lived very simply became a vegetarian and trained riding long distances each day using equipment he improvised himself because the professionally made versions were too expensive for him to afford.
His brother was studying in a medical field and he had made it his priority to work at something that would help people.Like his brother he was a huge reggae fan and his room was decorated with posters of BoB Marley ,Peter Tosh and Che Gueverra.
IR was really impressed by their attitude to life. They were spiritually driven ,anti materialistic compassionate people with a hardcore rebel dub vibe who were following what their own pathway of life as opposed to just blindly following what every body else was doing .
It really was very inspiring and superdub talking with them!
Talking to them IR was often reminded of the sentiments,influences and life journey that Dutty Bookman wrote about in ” Tried & True”. For that reason IR thought it would appropriate for them to be in a visual mix for the track ‘3 Lions” . A rough mix of the track was played to them that they loved and they agreed to take part. The short clip was filmed in a very powerful mountain that is a site of many monasteries and which constantly has eagles flying around it. Both of these brothers like to hike to the top of this mountain both for exercise and for the quietness and opportunity for personal reflection that the mountain gave them. so IR decided to film their journey as they did so. Filmed in the mountains of Tigray province in Ethiopia by Gebre Amlak it was edited by Santiago ‘The Dangerous Editor’ in Colombia .
Below you can see a collection of stills from the “3 Lions” video we filmed with Ethiopian rebel youths in Tigray province in Ethiopia.
you can watch the video here
Dutty Bookman’s autobiography :
“Tried & True :Revelations Of A Rebellious Youth” is available here
Track Five I R Dravidian: Earth and Life (Dr Das Mix)
This track features the mixing skills of Dr Das .This is a correspondence that was sent to Dutty Bookman explaining an IR perspective on the mix right after we had just received it”
Dr Das photo by Ramjac.
” Dr Das mix just came in .Its dub ! very understated and in my opinion great mixing that comes from quiet confidence of someone who doesn’t need to flaunt his production skills but on repeated listening you realise oh my goodness hes pulled off some awesome unique mixing moves .Its a guerrilla warfare mix ”
Dr Das has just released an album ” Preparing 4 War” he describes it as an album of dubnoiz and which is a follow up to his previous solo album ” Emergency Basslines.
In discussing the album’s dubnoiz sound Dr Das states :
“Dubnoiz” is an attempt to reprimand dub, to grab it by the scruff of the neck and restore a sense of urgency. It is not music for professional activists. You won’t hear it at festivals, dub or otherwise. You will seldom hear it at all. You have to look for it. It’s designed as motivation and propulsion for those engaged in attempting change from the bottom upwards (bass and drums) / those not awaiting dictates from above (bassline) / those employing a diversity of tactics (bass, percussion and noiz). It is music for aliens and outsiders and unconventional thinkers. ”
You can get his album here
DUB STORIES: THE SPIRIT OF GALDINO
Galdino banner designed by Dubdem placed on top of building in Lapa, Rio de Janeiro , Brasil.by Labomb/ IR
Throughout the discussion of this album you might have noticed references to The Spirit Of Galdino. Galdino was a Patoxo warrior from Brasil who was murdered when asleep he had gasoline poured on him and he was set on fire ” as a joke” by the sons of promenient judges and lawyers in Brasillia. Galdino died from 3rd degree burns to 90 % of his body. IR attended the trial of his murderers and watched as his murderers got off with light sentences .In fact soon after they were back on the streets of Brasil.What happened to Galdino is a subject that many in Brasil have been reluctant to deal with because to do so means examining some of the harsh realities of how Brasil treats its indigenous population, the racism, the theft and exploitation of ancestral lands, inequality in Brasil ,the attitude to those without economic power in the country. However IR has been determined not to let what happened to Galdino be swept under the rug through music, murals and banners like the one you see in the above photos .
Often we mention the Spirit of Galdino. Here are a few dub stories related to that.
When IR / Labomb clandestinely placed the banner Dubdem designed of Galdino on top of the building in Lapa, Rio de Janeiro in truth we only expected that maybe it would last at the most a couple of days up there.This was because at this moment the city was involved in ruthless ” clean up” campaign to make the city more ” presentable ” for its hosting of the Olympics.Posters and banners were rapidly torn down by city sanitation and public works employees.IR put some other posters in the same neighbourhood and they were torn down in a few days.Well the banner of Galdino stayed up on that building for two years. We often speculated why that happened. Banners and posters immediately beside it were torn down yet the city workers never touched the banners. No one tried to take it take it down ,take it home or deface it . No one knew who put it up there. ( IR style We Enter, We Work , We Disappear ) One day about a year later someone in IR was in the neighbourhood at night and went to see if the banner was still up . When they arrived not only was it still up but in front of it was a group of tourists from another state in Brasil. They were spellbound by the banner and were discussing it.Since the area was a popular gathering spot , there were a number of spotlights in the area. As it happened the light from one of the spotlights fell directly on the face of Galdino and because of the effect of the shadows at night time from a distance you could really see the face of Galdino espcially his eyes but not really the building immediately behind. It presented the illusion from a distance that Galdino ‘s face was suspended in the sky .
As IR was observing the banner they overheard one of the out of town tourists say ” Wow its like you feel his spirit is here watching over all of us” When IR discussed with our conspirators Labomb we speculated that maybe one of the reasons that the banners stayed up there was the people felt the Spirit of Galdino and out of respect left it alone.
Fast forward to Kingston, Jamaica.IR had just finished doing a collaboration with Sawandi , Jah 9 mixed by Delroy ‘ Fatta” Pottinger.
IR went and put up posters that talked about what happened to Galdino all over the kingston .
(Special dub shout out to the musician who put up Galdino posters by the Brasilian embassy at night , hint they might be on this release …. smile )
In particular posters of Galdino’s face was put up along Hope Road going down to Half way tree one of the principal street routes in Kingston.
Over the course of the next three years whenever IR was in Jamaica to do projects IR would go and put up Galdino posters all over the city .This was done consistently for 3 years usually just before dawn. There was no encouragement , no feedback but IR kept putting Galdino posters.
In his book ‘Tried & True” Dutty Bookman makes a reference to faith when he writes ” I had faith that the Universe was going to align everybody’s energies according to its will”
In a parallel way for IR we had faith that one day the right people would see the poster and take some action as a result ,so we kept postering.
One day in Kingston IR met on the street a very dub Rastafari sistren from Dominica . A fantastic singer and lyricist called Nelly Stharre . Her consciousness really impressed us . We were reasoning on different topics when suddenly out of the blue she said
” You know almost everyday im walking from where im staying down along Hope Road down to Halfway Tree and I keep seeing the eyes of this indigenous man staring at me from a poster . Its like his spirit is calling me .It is some man called Galdino . And I feel like I must use my music to talk about this man.”
What really impacted us at this moment was that she had no idea she was talking to the person who put up the poster and also it was exactly 3 years after IR had put up the poster!
Nelly Stharre was shooting a music video in Jamaica with Fareye Films for one of the songs from her solo album “Sister Kool”and she wanted to put something for Galdino in it.
So IR coordinated and created a special sized Galdino poster for her. So in her video there is a scene where Nelly Stharre is riding on a bicycle with another dreadlocks sistren TraciAnn and they pass a Galdino poster and the camera stops and focuses and does a close up on the Galdino poster.Some dub for Galdino!
When that video is up on the internet we will post it here. In the meantime enjoy this acoustic track from her “Rivers Of Love” which is dub beautiful in simplicity and soulfulness .It was filmed live in the mountains of Dominica. Watch it here
Long live The Spirit Of Galdino! La Luta Continua! The struggle continues!
IR Galdino posters in Kingston ,Jamaica
IR 29 New Generation Dub 