How did you first get into reggae music?

[I-Lion Tafari]

Sorry to hear the Vespa is gone. I´ve got mine the 3rd year now and would rather buy less music than sell my italian bride.
Couldn´t take a Berlin summer without her...)

Ride like lightning.

[meeuwis]

during the early eighties, i was 13/14 years old, I came in contact with reggae through my brother.the first time i heard it, it had something mysterious and you didn't hear on the radio ( except bob marley ,but I did not know it was called reggae then).the first artist I heard was Hugh Mundell and Isreal vibration and was hooked to it straight away.the funny thing was that when my brother played augustus pablo,I didn't like it at all.But that changed.The very first album i bought was Gregory Isaacs - extra classics.And saw burning spear in 1984 which was my first concert i attended,probably was the youngest there at the time( definetly the smallest ).

[fadel diagne]

hi guys
interesting.i have to admit that jimmy cliff sparked my interest in reggae back in the mid 70's when i was still young and at elementary school.there was a radio program that aired every sunday morning at senegal only radio station and it was a state-owned radio station.there was yet no f.m but only short wave.the radio program was hosted by the late francis cheikhna ba aka ahmadou ba whose taste for music was eclectic and ranged from reggae, soul music, rythm and blues, cuban music and afro beat too.it was called"le disque des auditeurs"(you would translate as listener's choice or request).that is where i heard for the first time"superstition" and pastime paradise" by stevie wonder which were staples on the playlist and which are still some of my all-time favourite stevie wonder's tunes;"house of exile" " struggling man" "vitnam"iam gonna live"the harder they come" the now disbanded nigerian reggae outfit cloud7 with "beazutiful woman" which was a huge success back then"fire in soweto"by nigeria's sonny okusuns.some years after while in the little coast 70km north of senegal which is also home to beautiful seaside resorts called saly portudal in the city of mbour,i grew up listening to the only gambia private and swedish-owned radio station which emphasised more on commercials and entertainment.there was lot of reggae being played and of the most vintage import from the uk;the gambia being a fdormer british colony.that's where i heard for the first time tracks like"africa"by rico rodriguez,"peace and love" by misty in roots,"midnight"by willie lindo which was the opening theme for a program on one of the gambia local language programs.aswad,dennis brown to name those few.and i have been keeping a keen interest on everything reggae and jamaican eversince.it has been very difficult to get the music as most of reggae releases were only coming through people who travelled to europe who could have access to those lattest releases at a reasonnable prices.
so that's my story
fadel

[Brandon Franklin]

Ah - I'm a newbie (6 years to date). I didn't listen to reggae or dub music until after I graduated from college. Even then it was only Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. It wasn't until 6 years ago that I was truly introduced to reggae music (and dub). I was working for an automotive company on the south side of Chicago and we use to have this guy come and upgrade our CAD systems. The guy was nice enough but pretty quiet. Anyway, over time I started talking to him and we both really enjoyed music in general (some similarities). He went on to tell me that he use to have a radio show back in St. Louis where he played mostly (if not all) reggae and dub music. I told him that I only really knew about Bob Marley and Peter Tosh and he said that there was much, much more to reggae music than those two artists (of course he loves both artists....just saying that they aren't the only ones).

So one day he comes to my work and he gives me like 20 cd's of various reggae artists and tells me to burn some copies to see what it's about. I'm talking about artists like: The Congos, The Heptones, The Gladiators, Lee Perry, King Tubby, The Abyssinians, Scotty, Horace Andy, Joe Higgs, etc. I've since learned that this guy is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to reggae/dub music. He's amazing and he continues to keep in touch with me and sends me tunes all of the time. I recently moved from Chicago to North Texas.

Anyway, I was hooked and I've been hooked ever since. Thank you Craig Tabor! And that is my story.

[Dubs_West]

Greetings bredrin

Great question by leggo.

Well by the time i got into reggae alot of the big guns had already stopped recording because i`m only 23.It all began in about 1996 when my older brother who was a surfer with hippie styled connections grew dreadlocks and started listening to rasta sounds from my father`s old LP`s Bob Marley"Uprising" and "Kaya" albums.This is where it started but not serious yet it became a little more intense when my brother started playing Burning Spear"Living Dub Volume 2" cassette which i loved putting it on the hi-fi and listening to it.

Then as i got older my brother had moved out and my dad`s LP`s got lost and a quiet moment began where i was listening to Rock and other genres.

By 2000 i started to smoke a bit of herb and met up with some guys where one day we were dry so we missioned down to some squatter camps(shanty towns)where we met up with a merchant who was a rastaman and all his bredrin were rasta,they said "come chill" so we started rolling up one of the rasta guys grabbed his Sound System wired up to a car radio which was all supplied by a car battery,grabbed his large collection of reggae cassette`s and started to crank up the volume.

Next thing big fire blazing evening was approaching and all rastaman from around the area arrived and a large group were all sitting around and rolling up.Sounds like Culture,Lee Perry,Winston Rodney,Black Uhuru,Bob Marley,Mighty Diamonds,Peter Tosh and many others were blasted throughout the night.And it was this reggae music that started to captivate me so much that i would cruise down to these ghetto`s every weekend to listen to all these amazing sounds which were hard to find in the suburbs where i was from.I slowly met up with preacher type rastaman which eventually i converted to rastafarianism and lived this way ever since.

I eventually decided to visit my local music stores where i found alot of reggae on sale and began my collection.I`ve always been into surfing and my trade is an electrician but it was those early days with those rastaman that moulded I n I into the mon i am today.

Hope you enjoyed this story i could have mentioned alot more but it`s not a book lol. From the East Coast,Durban City,South Africa Peace out!

[Dubs_West]

@Leggo

Yeah bredrin those fire evenings were outter this world with amazing scenery surrounding us and a majestic looking mountain that was in the distance,really cool place shame that most the people there were very poor though, but religion and Jah music made them strong.

It`s a shame to hear that England is how you explained,cold and stormy i know but athiest and materialist what a pity my bru.Then again you also find alot of those type of people here to in the cities and rich suburbs just think about money,greed and see themselves better than others.

Onetime my bru keep well,

[glenn]

Being born and brought up in London, I used to live in an area that had a large Jamaican community. It was difficult not to hear reggae tunes blaring from peoples windows. 'Back A Yard' by In Crowd was the first tune that blew my mind away. I picked this 12" up in Sound City in Deptford, London, and have never looked back since. I used to spend saturday afternoons browsing through the vinyl in Sound City and also the record stalls on Deptford market - then would rush home to listen to Rodigan on saturday nights and then Tony Williams on a sunday lunchtime - wonderful days.

[digitalJ]

For me , dub played a big role in my eventual acceptance of reggae.
Negrea Love Dub together with Scientist In The Kingdom Of Dub ,LKJ In Dub(vol1) and Dangerous Dub ,fall into a set I call "The Genesis" .Those were the first dub lps I was introduced to by one Martin Mureyani a young working man from my neighbourhood.Growing up in Zimbabwe after the 1980 independence , reggae had made its mark and one would hear it all over the place.I would like to think the performance of Bob Marley at my home country's independence celebrations at Rufaro Stadium had a hand in it.By the way , Rufaro is a Shona word meaning "happiness" or "joy" .
My mom didn't know I was spending time at Martin place...assuming I was playing with other young boys from the neighbourhood. I remember just getting so fascinated and amused by this music that seemed so different from anything I had heard before.I was 12/13 that time.This was around 1986/1987.It got to a point where I just could not wait for the weekend to come so I could hang out at Martin's place to hear more dub.From Saturday mornings till Sunday evenings , those 4 pieces of acetate would make countless appearances on Martin's turntable and I was there the whole time.I remember him showing me the government health warning on the back of the Dangerous Dub sleeve and me being young and unassuming,I I really believed what it said.I still do.Look at me , I'm testimony to the truth in that warning!
Just looking at the sleeve designs of the four lps was an exceedingly pleasurable experience and to this day sleeve design is something I appreciate very much on any vinyl I get my hands on.I mean what could come close to that simple and yet dense picture on the front sleeve of Scientist In The Kingdom of Dub lp? Or the heavy and very meaningful red text floating in black background on the Dangerous dub lp (the one on the Copasetic label)?
I was so happy that, finally ,some people out there in JA had had the sense to make music that I so fabulously loved.I even used to worry about what "the word would become" when those special musicians gave up the ghost. I guess my fear was the death of reggae.That fear has lived with me ever since then.
I had heard some reggae before and in fact had the Rock'n'Groove 7 inch that I used to spin on our home turntable whenever mom gave me the go ahead .The first time Martin lent me his Dangerous Dub lp, I remember the trip from his house to ours was the longest I had walked!The thought of seeing this amazing piece of work spinning on our home turntable and the music truly coming out of our home hifi...my my my, I just couldn't wait.
When I eventually got to playing it , one of my aunts who used to live with us made a funny comment about how the music sound like it was "stuck like the record was scratched" .I couldn't understand how "she didn't get it" .I guess it was the thumping of those repetitive bass-lines...with Flabba Holt doing his thing.

In a nutshell thats how I came to be introduced to dub and thus reggae.
The only sad thing in all this is that the man who introduced me to this beautiful music, Martin, lost his mind and became mentally ill.I've never been able to solve the mystery of whether it was due to him locking himself in his house , smoking some herb and then listening to those dubs at full volume or perhaps Dangerous Dub was indeed dangerous in its hay days!You be the judges...

[jacob]

when I was in da 5th grade my brada turned me on to half pint "mary long tounge". I've been hunting one away root ever since.

bless

[stepper]

My dad, a music fanatic, had me taking naps to records like 'Rastaman Vibration' when I was a toddler.

He said that he (or my mom) would have to run over to the turntable to quickly flip the record before I'd wake up.

...of course, I loved to hear this stuff while I was awake, too.

It planted a seed that took root and continues to grow today (30 years later).

No doubt that hearing Carly's playing from such an early age left an eternal impression and had a massive influence on my drumming, as well.

Thanks, dad!