Jah Shaka is one of the most important roots reggae and dub artists. He’s a composer, musician, singer, mixing engineer, producer, record label owner, and the operator of the heaviest roots/dub sound system in the world!
His name is an amalgamation of the rastafarian term for God and that of a zulu warrior.
Jah Shaka has been operating his roots reggae soundsystem since the early 1970s. Shaka is perhaps best known for sticking to his rastafarian beliefs in the 1980s whilst other soundsystems followed the Jamaican trend towards playing “slack” dancehall music. His refusal to compromise inspired a host of new UK reggae artists and soundsystems such as Eastern Sher, The Disciples, Iration Steppas, Jah Warrior, Conscious Sounds, The Rootsman and Abashanti-I. Non-reggae artists such as Basement Jaxx have also cited Jah Shaka as an influence during interviews.
On his own record label he has released music from Jamaican artists such as Max Romeo, Johnny Clarke, Bim Sherman and Prince Alla as well as UK groups such as Aswad and Dread & Fred. He has released a number of dub albums, often under the Commandments of Dub banner.
The Jah Shaka soundsystem continues to appear regularly in London, with occasional tours of the USA, Europe and Japan.
