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Lee "Scratch" Perry - producer, arranger, dubmaster, songwriter, composer, talent scout, genius, madman or just an eccentric. All these terms fit into the Rainford Hugh Perry's persona. The Upsetter, Pipecock Jackson, Jah Lion, Super Ape, or Scratch are just a few pseudonyms under which he has been hiding. A man without whom reggae music would not look the same.


Born 20 March 1936 in Kendal, Jamaica in the parish of Hanover as the third of four children. In the 50's enlisted to work on the construction of the first road to Negril (West Jamaica), where he was a tractor driver. In a short time, like so many young people, Lee went to the city in the search of a better life.


When he came to Kingston there was no indication that in less than a few years he would revolutionize the existing music and move it to a whole new level. He started at a time when the dancefloor was dominated by ska music working as an assistant in the Downbeat Sound System belonging to Clement Coxsone Dodd. Close but sometimes stormy relationship opened the way to Studio One to Perry. He worked there as an engineer, arranger, songwriter and an author of the music. It was there that he met Bob Marley, who later worked as a producer. Perry recalls, "I wrote a lot of songs that have never been assigned to me - they thought they could do that only because I was a country boy not knowing too much about business matters". Interestingly enough Lee wrote almost thirty tracks for Studio One, but the financial conflict with Coxsone resulted in their separation. Perry quickly found a new job at Joe Gibbs and his Amalgamated Records. Once again, Lee's unruly nature and another business-related argument was followed by rapid separation with Gibbs. It was 1968 when Perry decided to form his own Upsetter label.


Perry continued to record, and the first hit was "People Funny Boy" from 1968 which sold in 60 000 copies bringing not only fame, but also the funds to invest. This piece was the first in the history where a sample of crying baby was present. Perry has completed the team he collaborated in the studio The Upsetters, so that he could have complete control over the recording sessions. 1968-1972 saw him record in different studios, working with various artists thus gaining notoriety and fame as an incredibly innovative producer. It was at this time that Lee reunited with The Wailers and produced their two albums, "Soul Rebels" and "Soul Revolution". Those discs were the original versions of many of the later Marley's hits, such as "Kaya" and "Sun Is Shining". The partnership was a rather stormy one - Perry sold the Wailers' rights to the songs to the British label Trojan, which enraged the group.


In 1973 he founded his own studio. Black Ark has grown to become a legend, not only because of the total burnout, but above all because of the productions created there. Such classics as "War Ina Babylon" by Max Romeo, "Silver Bullets" by The Silvertones, "Police and Thieves" by Junior Murvin or "Heart of the Congos" by The Congos are just a few studio productions that Perry stood behind. Let alone the dozens of other singles that Perry helped to bring to the music market. Although short-lived, it was one of the most important recording centres in Jamaica in the 70s and the only place on the island where artists could fully feel at ease singing Rastafari songs. The fame of Black Ark and Perry went far beyond the native country. Musicians from all over the world were coming to the studio to record there with Lee Perry, Paul McCartney and Robert Palmer to name just the most famous ones.


In the late 70's the situation on the island was getting hotter - all due to the fighting between supporters of the two political parties that led a bitter and bloody campaign - PNP and JNP. Perry's response was "City Too Hot" that perfectly described the situation in Kingston. In addition, Black Ark became the target of local gangsters who demanded the money for the protection of Scratch. The decline was close. The final nail in the coffin was the Island Records's refusal to publish Perry's productions that were in the record company's words "not adapted to the needs of the market." Island simply found Perry's productions overly experimental, which infuriated the author.


To separate himself from the people, both rude boys and the artists who were taking advantage of his position, Lee lew into a rage destroying everything that was located in the Black Ark. The studio which was once the pride of Jamaica suddenly resembled one big garbage dump. In April 1979 another important fact took place. Lee Perry's studio was visited by Henk Targowski, a Dutch and Polish descent who was the founder of Black Star Liner distribution willing to distribute the Black Ark productions in Europe. Targowski and his team decided to rebuild the famous studio, to renovate the leaking roof and order and install new PA equipment. Unfortunately, the project was abandoned in the spring of 1980 and the whole Black Star Liner team left Jamaica for good.


Perry went to the USA in 1981, where he worked with several reggae bands giving a series of concerts. In 1982 he returned to Jamaica Scratch and started to work on the album "Mystic Miracle Star". It appeared that all the bad days are gone for him. Not really... Studio burned down on the morning of 1983. The fire destroyed virtually everything that was inside: from the instruments, through the music production site, to the master tapes of many works that would never be published. Perry explained the incident in the following manner:"The Black Ark is inhabited by evil spirits, it was too black and it wanted to devour me. I had to burn it to save myself and my brain ..."


After ten years of existence, Jamaica lost one of the most valuable recording studios. The burn down of the Black Ark studio marks the end of a certain era. The times of advanced experiments with reggae and dub music. The era in which perhaps the most extravagant pieces in the history of the genre were created. Perry left the island and went to New York, then to London, and finally settled down in Switzerland. He was never to be a producer again. Perry alone knows what really burnt down along with the studio. Which albums will never come to light? What singles will never be played during the sound system parties? That is something not to be known. Every now and then another great Black Ark release is published, like in November 2010 when "Lee Perry Presents Candy McKenzie" was brought out; but the question is how many more great pieces were doomed by the fire.


Perry is without any doubt a person who has had a powerful influence on contemporary music.He has inspired artists and music producers. It is thanks to him that mixing console has been seen as another instrument. This is something that Lee "Scratch" Perry has mastered to perfection. To this day very few managed to play his unique style - after all, there is always one master.


Positive Thursdays ina Black Ark Studio is a journey into the world of this amazing artist and his studio. You can find here both songs from the years 1971-1973 and recorded strictly in the "Secret Laboratory" of Lee "Scratch" Perry! Additionally, the mix includes the parts of speech of the exclusive interview that I made with Lee on May 10, 2012 during his visit to Poland.


Positive Thursdays ina Black Ark Studio
Total Time: 126 min 10 sec
Conception, Idea, Mix by Rafał Konert
Words, Sound & Power by Lee "Scratch" Perry

Featuring : Rafal Konert
Category : Audio > Mix Tape, Podcast
Total size : 115.51 MB • Total length : 2:06:10]]> https://talawa.fr/media/origins-of-dub-by-positive-thursdays-rxqMC Wed, 29 Feb 2012 02:48:11 +0100 dzubadzu Audio > Mix Tape, Podcast
*All cuts are coming from interviews made by Rafal an author of Positive Thursdays 2006-2011.
*

Featuring : Rafal
Category : Audio > Mix Tape, Podcast
Total size : 71.26 MB • Total length : 1:17:50]]>