
Last weekend in the seaside resort of Prestatyn in North Wales / UK the “United Nations Of Dub-Weekender ”instead. Organized by the busy Dub-Tousassa I-mitri, it was the first multi-day festival of the Dubthat ever took place in the United Kingdom. The lineup was impressive: Yeah Shaka played the first evening with their own sound system, the second evening was shared - also with their own sound system - the Iration Steppas, King Earthquake and Kibir La Amlak. For graduation on Sunday stood Aba Shanti-I on the schedule, which had to be canceled due to illness. So played instead Jah Tubby's, Young Warrior and Channel One for the favor of the assembled Dub-Local community. Anyone who has ever been a British Dub-Soundsystem live will know that the music here (despite all the proclaimed spirituality) becomes a thoroughly physical matter. The bass pressure waves that are released from the approximately four meter high speaker towers of the sound system are so powerful that they not only make your trouser legs flutter and set the lungs vibrating, but literally make every cavity in the body vibrate like a resonance body . This is how I perceived my sinuses for the first time in my life - not necessarily beautiful, but impressive.
All of the sound systems were great. They alternately played three tracks each plus rewinds and versions. While old Roots records found their way onto the turntables in the first hour, the rest of the nights belonged to the UK steppers sound, deafeningly loud, powerful and hypnotic. If the first third of a track is played with a largely balanced frequency ratio, then it belongs to Dub-Sound system ritual that inevitably comes to the point where the soundman turns up the bass frequency to one hundred percent and thus gives the dancers a physical kick in the buttocks. Even the coolest dreadlocks can no longer stand still.
The location of the extraordinary event was an event hall complex in the center of a typical holiday camp, as it covered the British west coast in the course of the 1950s. Originally, they offered average British families inexpensive all-inclusive holidays with five-bed rooms in row bungalows, direct access to the beach and evening entertainment in the casino or one of the halls. Since the golden days of these camps are long gone, they now love to open their gates to strange guests like long-haired guests Dub- Disciples from all over the world and put their halls in the service of a music that would have made the original guests of such facilities screaming the distance. So it came to be that an estimated 800 Dubheads, mostly from the UK, but also from France, Italy, Switzerland and even Japan (I had the impression that we were the only guests from Germany) in an almost surreal-looking scenery, between countless slot machines, chip shop, camping shop, youth home The ambience and turquoise-seated multi-purpose halls were found again.
In addition to the sound system arena, there were two other “floors”: the UNOD arena, in which various Dub-Artists (but with a permanently installed PA) performed and the “Selector's Arena”, the only room with a club feeling, in which various Selectors passed the tone arm every hour. I was particularly impressed by the appearance of Alpha & Omega, where Christine Omega played live bass. Manassehs Gig with Kenny Knotts Suffered from the competition of the sound systems in the big arena and was - although it was absolutely worth listening to - only followed by a few listeners, where however Steve Vibronics, Mungo's Hifi and the Bush Chemists the sound systems with their impressive performances could easily stand up to. The Selectors especially liked me Marek Bogdanski Dread Squad convinces with his artistic DJ set.
A continuation of the weekender is already planned for 2014. We'll be there!