LEICESTER CARNIVAL 2010
20th Year of 
THE MIGHTY ABA SHANTI-I

Aba had driven up the day before so that we could get on site by the required official time of 08:00 on the Saturday morning. The Lioness and I had also travelled up on the Friday. But we had used that grandiose purveyor of people, the train.
We were also playing an after show at Leicester's new venue 'The Auditorium' straight after the carnival and so I had arranged to check out the venue with Aba at 21:00 on the Friday night. The Lioness and I reached the venue at 2100 and waited for Anthony (co-promoter) to arrive.

Our hotel was only 200 metres from Market Place where the venue was located. Aba, Sweet T & Benji were staying in another hotel that had parking for the truck. They were being picked up and transported to the venue by Babar.

Anthony arrived at 21:20 and we gained entry to the venue. Aba and the lads had not yet arrived.
The venue was an old 'Odeon' cinema that had been used most recently before it closed down as a bingo hall. Bredrin Jahorge remembers going there as a yout to watch Saturday morning pictures in the distant past.

The venue had a mirrored staircase, very 70's retro, which led to a small lobby with doors going off in all directions. We followed Ant into the main hall and what a sight greeted us.

The venue had been stripped of all remnants of it previous incarnation as a bingo hall and all that was left was the original ceiling, walls and a three tired flooring area, which would have been as it was when it was a cinema and had seating.
Ant took us on a guided tour. The place was huge with various floors and levels beyond the main area which had the potential to be developed, if they so wished.

21:45: I called Aba to find out where he was, to be told that they were just around the corner.
Hmm! Where have I heard that before?
We went down stairs to wait for them to arrive. Must have been one hell of a long corner as they took another 10 minutes before their car pulled up outside.
They exited the car and we exchanged greetings, we then made our way into the venue.
On reaching the main area, Aba was suitably impressed with the place, but made the comment that if the floors were not tiered it would have been better.
After surveying the place and working out the power and the stack placement for the following night, we left the building.
Aba and the lads went to get some food and the Lioness and I returned to the hotel to get some sleep.
Tomorrow was going to be one long day!

I was up with the rising of the Sun (strange thing to say as I have no idea what time my son had got up, as he wasn't with us) and left the Lioness in bed as I went for a wander around the town.

08:00: I returned to find the Lioness up and ready to go. We left the hotel and went and had breakfast at a local café. We were going to stock up on the carbohydrates to last until we could get another decent meal; because the food situation at carnivals anywhere is not always the best. Yuh see it, but don't yam it!

09:20: Suitably carbed up, we undertook the 800 metre walk to 'Victoria Park'. As we walked to the park we saw a double rainbow.

This is a good sign I thought. The weather in the UK has taken a turn for the worst in the last few weeks; previously the water companies were screaming that there would be a water shortage, a drought if you will. The Sun was beating up the place and causing man and man to get dem air conditioning inna dem ride sorted. This had now turned into some serious flash flooding in certain parts of the UK as the weather changed and rain start lash up de place. Memories of last year's Leicester Carnival not far from the front of my mind; came like de carnival was trying to rival Glastonbury for mud.
But, see yah, Jah has sent a sign and all was going to be well. You've got to be optimistic in these situations, ain't it?

09:50: We arrived in the park and set about searching for Aba. I mean search as the organisers had not provided a map/guide to where things were to be sited. It was the Lioness who spotted the truck in the distance and we made our way over.
Sweet T, Jah T, Babar, Babs, and Jahorge had made great strides.
The boxes had been set up, but not wired up and the lads were erecting the shelter to cover the amps and Aba.

Yes it is nice to be optimistic, but momma didn't raise no fool. Rain, electricity
and high power amplifiers are not a match made in Heaven, not unless you have a
huge Charles Bronson films fixation ie: a 'Death Wish'!
Well I went and assisted in the assembly of the shelter and then the covering of the speaker stacks with plastic.

11:00: Everything was set up and ready to be tested. People had started to arrive
already, but we could not sound check as one of the conditions of the carnival committee was no music till midday.
Still the people gathering were making their own entertainment and it gave people a chance to come over and say "Hi" and ting to Aba and to get their photographs taken with him.

Big raspects to the three people (left hand side of pix) who set up their camping chairs complete with umbrellas, blankets and their food and drink, in a prime location in anticipation of the forthcoming musical explosion. Serious make your self comfortable, hear the music and feel the vibe.
Rooftop who was filming the event was setting up his tings.

 

11:10-12:00: We had a few light sprinkling of rain, but it was more like sea spray then rain.
12:00: Aba started the sound check and we checked out the set, everything nice.
12:15: People come. Ant in the area.
12:30: More people come and we have a little light sea spray.
12:45: Lioness is amused by the generations of Aba Shanti-Ites by the left-hand side stack and nags me to take pix of them as they skanked away.

13:00: Bredrin Lapo from Italy and Sister Samari from France are in attendance.

13:15: William De Conqueror and his son Thomas arrive.
13:30: More people come and we have a little light sea spray. Mikey Muscle inna attendance.
14:00: Shanee, Ez and Malachi arrive to enjoy the day. They didn't enjoy the night, but more on dat later.

14:45: Blood, Fuzzy, Alan & Bredin, Kojak & Sis Amanda are in attendance.
14:50: More people come and we have a little light sea spray

15:00: By now Aba was drawing some wicked old tune; Martin Campbell, Steve Wright, Dub Judah, Disciples and the crowd which had now swelled to a multitude were rocking. Justine 'Sista from a Higher Region' and friend inna de area.
Blood was spitting feathers over the fact that Jah T had not set up a stall to sell his and our tings. He had brought the new release by Emmanuel Joseph, 'Psalms From The Heart' as well as the wicked and I will say again WICKED metal medallions/stickers to commemorate Aba Shanti-I's 20th anniversary, as well horns and general Falasha products. What with this being the very place 20 years ago that effectively launched Aba Shanti-I and Falasha onto the World.
Jah T kept mumbling about licence, pirate tings and Babar not sorting tings out. Me, I kept out of the discussion and the firing line. You see drumsticks can become like mini spears in a drummer's hand and anything that resembles a drumstick in shape and size can be used instead. Drummers are used to beating tings…yuh get me!
Jah T still mumbling to himself wandered off into the crowd with his bag of products to try some direct selling, Blood continued moaning. He tried to engage me into his dissatisfaction. I listened for a while then pointed him in the direction of Babar to discuss this situation. There was no point asking me what had gone wrong, I hadn't been part of any discussions or arrangements with the carnival committee.

17:00: The session is going very, very well albeit interspersed with some minor light sea spray, which facilitated rushing to the speakers to drag over the protective covers.

18:30: Aba announces that we will be finishing at 19:00 as we have to play a session later that evening in the town centre. He also applauds the Leicester massive for opening up their hearts, minds and consciousness to embrace him and the music and for basically making him an honorary Leicester-ite.
Back in the day when Aba played sessions in London promoters would wrongly billed him as coming from Leicester, because they genuinely thought that.

19:00: Aba signed off and takes the plaudits.

19:05: The heavens open up and unleash a deluge. That certainly cleared the park!
I distinctly heard people calling out for Noah, or maybe I just imagined it.
The downpour lasted for 15-20 minutes as we sheltered in the back of the truck waiting for it to subside.

19:30-20:45: The system is broken down and packed into the truck.

20:50 The Lioness and I leave the park heading back to the hotel for a change of clothes and something hot to eat. The truck drives off in the direction of the town centre to make the load in for the session at the 'Auditorium'.

22:00: The Lioness and I arrive at the venue. The lads are loading in the last of the system, or what's serviceable anyway.

But wait! Me forget to tell you de drama!!!!!
During the early part of the session I told Aba that at least one of the big power amps "Was smelling kinda funky". I can smell shellac melting and semi conductors cooking at a thousand yards/metres and Aba was not even drawing any heavy power yet.
Aba said "Nah it will be alright" Famous last words springs to mind.

Well yuh see about 16:00 we had a slight technical problem with the sound. The bass scoops on one side stop play and the low mids on the other side start breaking up the sound. I checked out the leads and the boxes on both sides and they were fine. So Aba switched the speakers to one of the other amps and they came up. Two amps dead and gone! He got T & Mikey to get the two spare amps out of the truck and they were wired in.
Aba start draw power now. I respectfully requested to Aba that he takes it easy as there was no way of telling what damage had been done to the speaker coils. It fell on deaf ears!

At around 18:10 the sound became noticeably thinner. Guess what dear reader? Yup you're right. You must be sidekick or some ting.

The four bass scoops and the two low mids, that had given, concern before, were now in the land of the dysfunctional, that is to say the speakers were no longer among the living; dem dead!
Aba reconfigured the set up and played with what Mark Iration would call 'Quarter Ounce', that is to say with very reduced power. But it sounded ok. Not as ground rumbling as usual, but hey you can only deliver with the tools you have got to hand or got left!

Well back to the main story line.
As the last of the serviceable equipment was loaded in, Samira and Lapo who had helped breakdown and load the sound were standing by the truck. I checked that both had been given guest passes (you must look out for those that look out for you..Yuh get me!) and made my way up the stairs to the hall.

I was told that Jah Voice was going to be reaching the venue at 18:00. But it seems that he hadn't arrived much before us as he was still setting up. Fatman on the other hand had already set up and was sound checking.

Well the drama continued for us when it came to wiring up the stack that was located across the dance floor. We tried unsuccessfully to fly the cables, but that just caused the struts on the suspended ceiling too break. The wires are very heavy! After numerous failed attempts and as time was running and passing, we bit the bullet and ran them along the floor.

All sounds were asked to bring a maximum of 8 bins otherwise the place would have resembled an old time sound run off. Back in the day, when sound would bring in all 30, yes 30, I kid you not, 30 bins and nuff mids and tops.

Queue ethereal music and mist:
Way back in the annuls of time, I once played against a sound system, no I won't name them to protect the innocent. What the hell, dem deserved to be named and shamed for dem was as guilty as sin. They were called 'Disco Rockers Hi Fi'. A 'Chicken Chest' sound. (Chicken Chest = puffed up, boasty sound of little significance. Who has delusions of grandeur).

Not to be confused with 'Chicken The Thunderstorm' from East London.

De man dem brought their boxes in 2 large removal vans. They had borrowed boxes from everyone they knew and packed out the hall. I turned up with my 12 Tannoys, perfectly matched and balanced transmission line bass speakers and proceeded during the course of the night's session to as my mother used to say "To box bwoy face and mek him know his place". It not quantity, its quality! This is exactly as I saw the session with Fatman and Jah Voice. They had 8-10 scoops apiece, we had 5! But still as Lapo said to me, they don't sound like Aba. Aba is more rounded.
The session went well. Raspects to Jah Voice for running the Mighty Massa dub. Big, Big, Tune!
The Lioness complained about Fatman running some tuff old tune and then only playing half the track. I explained that Flip was playing 'inna-juggling style'. As Shania Twain once sang, "That don't impress me much". The Lioness was also not impressed. All the more seeing as as a younger person residing in North London, she used to follow Fatman Sound. She is older and wiser now though.

One thing about the venue, it was hot. The amount of people inna de place raised the temperature to sauna levels. It was just like being in a session from my youth, when air conditioning was just that, conditioning for the hair. But bwoy it didn't matter as the music and the vibes was, as they say, nice! To coin a phase from our calypsoian bredrins, it was 'hot,hot hot'!

Over 35 years ago a friend of mine (who hails from Barbados) were in a club that had seen better days, listening to a sound called 'Suffer Hi Fi' (dat man Dennis Bovell) inna sound clash wid a sound from country (anywhere outside of London was called 'Country' inna dem days).
The place was hot and very sweaty! We went outside to cool off and as we stood against the wall a car pulled up which contained 3 well dressed sistas and a male driver.The driver beckoned my bredrin over and asked him what was happening inside the club and was it a suitable club for him and his occupants. My bredrin looked at the car, the driver and then inside the car, kissed his teeths and said
"If you want pretty, pretty, den you want, go uptown. But if it is the real ting you want, den dis is where you will find it".
That has always stuck in my mind.

Oh yes, just one more piece of drama.

Remember that earlier in this report I mentioned that Shanee, Ez and their son Malachi didn't enjoy the night, well here is why. When they left the park and went to their car, it had gone! No it was not stolen it had been towed away. So they had to come to the venue instead of driving back to London. They had tried in vain to get a hotel, but all were fully booked due to the carnival, plus they could not get their car back until Monday! The problem was compounded by the fact that Shanee's uncle Kojak who had space in his car and could have taken her and family back had left straight after the park session.
The upmost raspects and honour to Shanee's friend from Southend, who drove up to Leicester at midnight to come and collect her, Ez and the baby and take them home. A round trip of over 214 miles/250km and 4-5 hours journey time (if you keep to the speed limit).
Shanee! Dem kinda people there, keep them close, yer hear!

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One Love
                The Humble Lion  




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