Jah Shaka

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This is a page about the reggae artist Jah Shaka. For the video editing software, see Jahshaka.

Photo of Jah Shaka on his own soundsystem used on the cover of the Authentic Dubwise album.

Jah Shaka has been operating a London-based roots reggae soundsystem since the early 1970s. His name is an amalgamation of the rastafarian term for God and that of a zulu warrior.

He started out on the Freddie Cloudburst soundsystem, before setting up his own.

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.

In 1980 Shaka played himself in the film Babylon (directed by Franco Rosso), operating his soundsystem in a soundclash at the climax of the story.

In 1989 Shaka visited Jamaica and worked with many musicians there, including King Tubby.

In 2000 he suffered numerous injuries during a house fire.

The Jah Shaka soundsystem continues to appear regularly in London, with occasional tours of the USA, Europe and Japan.

[edit] Non-musical work

Shaka has also established the Jah Shaka Foundation to carry out assistance with projects in Ghana, where the foundation has bought seven acres of land in Agri, thirty miles outside of Accra. It has also managed to distribute medical supplies, wheelchairs, library books, carpentry tools, drawing materials (and of course records) to clinics, schools and Radio stations in the Accra area establishing important links with the local communities.