Dateline: 14/03/2009 Venue: Sissari. Sardinia
We owe. We owe. So it's off to work we go.
Another early flight and another sleepless night!
We were booked on a 0615 flight with that airline that just likes to say "you need to pay for that".
Every time we have to be herded with that cattle truck of the sky I am reminded of the Andy Fairley track
that contained the line 'Privatise The Air', also utilise by Gary Clail.
But still, until air passengers boycott this travesty of a carrier they will continue to take the pennies from the eyes of the dead.
We had been invited to play in Sardinia at the 6th anniversary of the 'Bass Conqueror Sound System'
General Felpas (Matteo), Bigga/Test One(Simon), Little Prince Of Mu (Guissippe)
We arrived at the airport car park at 04:00 and lo and behold even though I had pre booked the car park number plate recognition system didn't recognise my car number plate! I pressed the assistance button to be told by the voice at the other end to press the ticket button for entry. I explained that this would mean that I would have to pay the non discounted pre booked rate and the voice answered "You can sort it out later on line when you leave".
Hmmm! Not a great start to a fragile person suffering from a lack of sleep.
I did as I was told vowing that on our return, dem man deh in the car park customer service office will be sorting it out before I left the car park. The last time this happened I ended up paying £82 for one day's parking and it took forever to get my money back.
Well we made our way to the terminal and check in area. There is automatic check in now so I went to a terminal and put in the reference number on the email sent to me by 'Rancher's Air'.
Guess what happened. Damn right, the reference number was not recognised. I tried again and again it refused. I went and spoke to one of the 'Wrangler's' (assistant to the cattle drive boss) and she told one look at the number and said "There is a digit missing". She then entered the number putting in a 1 after the first three digits and then the rest of the reference number. Lo and behold the reservation details came up!
How are people to know that that is the process I asked her. "That is why we are here" she replied. Makes sense, not!
The rest of our travel through the airport customs and security were as always interesting.
The plane journey was uneventful, I think, as I found a seat and went to sleep. Not only was I very tired but the philosophy here is this; if the plane crashes or hit turbulence or any other mishaps, what me worry (Mad Magazine circa 1970), I am asleep.
The landing at Alghero airport was what woke me up. Not the actual landing but the people smashing me in the head with their bags as they hurried to get off the plane. Must have been a very good landing yet again, by the rush to depart the plane. The fact that the stairs had not even been attached to the plane did not deter those with the Lemming mentality.
Well no problems getting through the customs and passport control and then we were through the arrival gate and in Sardinia. Hmmm! There was no one to meet us. But as the plane has landed 25 minutes early that was to be expected.
The sun was beating down outside, so Aba and I entered into its warm embrace.
We had been outside for about 20 minutes when someone can up to us and asked if we were Aba Shanti.
We answered in the positive and he introduced himself as part of the 'Bass Conqueror' crew. He said he had come to drop off his mother at the airport as she was going on holiday.
He called Matteo and then we went and got a hot drink while we waited for Matteo to arrive.
Well after about 30 minutes it became obvious that Matteo was not about to show. He was called again and after this conversation the guy said he would take us to Simon as Matteo was the little the worst for wear having made great friends with Bacchus (God of wine), the night before.
We were driven to Sassari in the north, a journey of around 35 minutes. Once in the city we left the wide roads and started negotiating small very narrow cobbled streets. The driver explained that parking was a major problem in the town and pointed out the parking wardens who were omnipresent.
We eventually found somewhere to park and were taken to the home of Simon to chill until Matteo surfaced.
Members of the 'Train to Roots' band were also there as well a maniacal dog called, wait for it….Shanty.
Shanty was a terrier by breed and a playful terror by nature. He was forever biting at mine and Aba's trainers.
There was also a very sedate large white cat that the dog would playfully attack at every opportunity.
The dog might have been playing, but the cat was having none of it.
Well we chilled and watched a DVD of the 'Sardinia's Reggae Festival 2008'
After about an hour we left to go to the house we were staying in which was outside the city and not far from the new venue we were playing in. It was the place we stayed in when we came to Sardinia last year.
As we were getting in the car for the trip to the house, Matteo appeared.
He apologised for not being at the airport to meet us and explained the reason why.
I went in Matteo's car and Aba went with Guissippe and Simon.
Matteo and I chatted about the new venue and he explained that the old venue which was a disused theatre in the centre of town had been brought by developers to be converted into a multiplex cinema and shopping area. He said that the new venue was much bigger. It was also outside the city and not near any residential area, so there would be no problems in regards to noise. We arrived at the house and waited for the rest to arrive.
When the others arrived Guissippe prepared a meal and we sat down to eat and chat.
After the meal they left Aba and to get some sleep arranging to come and collect us at 1830 for the sound check.
We were collect at the appointed time and driven to the venue.
The venue was at least 5 times larger than the old theatre. It had a raised dais as a small stage in front of the DJ booth with two sets of two small bass speakers and a tall mid/tops box.. At the back of the club was quite a large bar.
The 'Arawak Band' were sound checking when we arrived and the sound coming from these small speakers (in comparison to their size) was incredible. The bass was solid and the transparency in the mids and tops was just wild! I went and investigated these speakers and carefully noted the manufacturer. Am I going to reveal the name of the manufacturer? What do you think?
The band finished their sound check and Aba began his. Yeah for real, the PA speakers sounded a way, dread.
The sound check finished we went to get some dinner.
We mused and talked as we ate and some of the revelations that Matteo was forthcoming with were truly frightening.
Things like, the Italian government wants to build four, I will say again four nuclear power plants on the island! The island is not the biggest in the world and only has 1.7million people, but Matteo said that the rock the island is composed of is very stable and so less chance of an earthquake. The power from these plants would supply the mainlands of France and Italy.
The industrial areas in Sardinia have serious pollution problems. We were near one in Sissari.
But an area of the island where the military bases are, called Quirra. It is so polluted with ground based and air borne contaminates including radio active ones, that there is ban on growing stuff and drinking the water. When it rains contaminates in the air are washed down on the people and the ground.
There is seeding of the clouds with Silver Iodine to induce rain so that these air borne contaminates are not carried by the winds to main land Italy or France. He told me this was found out when people started asking about the criss crossing vapour trails being left by high flying planes seen in the sky in that area.
There is a high percentage than normal of cancers, defect births and a host of other health problems.
That the itinerant Sardinian farmers were conned out of their land by sharp business practices and dodgy contracts they were made to sign, which some of them, due to low levels of education, could not read let alone understand. Their land was taken for not much more than baubles and glass beads. Sounds very similar to all colonial land thefts then. English and the Native Americans springs to mind.
There is also the question of the bottled gas. There is no mains gas, so people have to use bottled gas.
Gas is bottled on the island, no problems there then. Well you see there is, because that gas is then transported to mainland Italy and re imported back into Sardinia with a 40-50% price mark up.
The more Matteo told me the more it became obvious that Sardinians were being treated rather like how the colonial powers treated the people of the lands they stole, with huge disregard and distaste. Oh hang on, Italy once was a great colonial power back in the day, they even laid claim to Ethiopia as recent as 1938. No change there then.
The seas of the coast of Sissari and the aforementioned Quirra are so polluted that the fish is unsafe.
The fishermen have to go far out into the Mediterranean to get fish which is edible.
The biggest problem with the whole saga is the political and business corruption that is just staggering, allowing unfair advantage to be taken of the Sardinian people.
Bwoy life is rough the world over and the strong are taking liberties with the weak! I know some of you readers of this are thinking 'What as this got to do with music. Just get on with it!" Well I have stated before that this web site is not just about our music it is about education. Ignorance is a curse!

Well with the dinner and the discussion over, we made our way back to the venue.

When we arrived at the venue the entrance was packed with people waiting to get in. We had to squeeze pass the throng to gain entry.

Once inside I was shocked to see the place with about 20 people inside. Massive crowd outside wanting to get in and they were not be let in. This confused me and and I went and had a word with the promoter.
It seems that the security were taking their duties very, very seriously and insisting on a search before entry.
The promoter must have gone and has a chat with them for in a little under 15 minutes the place was filling up rather nicely.

The first band on stage was the 'Arawak Band' and they did a good set.
Well the place was so packed by now that there was a low lying cloud caused by the people's perspiration.
It was hot and steamy. They had to open the fire doors to get some air in the place. I took the opportunity to go out into the cool night's breeze on a number of occasions.
Once their set had finished 'Bass Conqueror' filled in with music as the bands changed over.
The next band on was 'Train to Roots' and I must say they impressed me a great deal. Their music was tight and their sound put many a so called 'Roots' Band from many a land, to shame. It was no surprise to realise that the band had been together for a few years and was the backing band used by last year's 'Sardinian Reggae Festival' to back artistes like Al Campbell and Ranking Joe. These artistes have worked with the cream of the JA session musicians and would not have taken kindly to a so so band backing them.
They would have been high tailing it back to their dressing rooms with the words "Dem not ready yet" reverberating around the place!
03:00 Aba started his set and rinsed out some tuff tunes. I did my usual of wandering around taking pictures.
As the session progressed a birthday cake appeared in celebration of 'Bass Conqueror's' 6th anniversary and pieces were handed out to the assembled. Nice tasting cream cake too.
Well as dawn was breaking the security came and asked the promoter how long was the session going on for as it was now 05:35. Matteo had told me that 0700-0800 would be the finish time as we didn't have to worry about irate neighbours. Well we had to worry about the security who wanted to go home, and so with the lights in the place now on Aba spun the last couple of tunes.
Well people of Sardinia, Big Up yourselves. The young financial backer of the venture, you do good and you will be paid back many fold. Bass Conqueror Crew, Matteo, Simon, Guissippe, Train to Roots, The Arawak Band. And to all ……………One Love

SEE YOU ALL AGAIN IN AUGUST FOR THE 'SARDINIAN REGGAE FESTIVAL 2009. ABA SHANTI-I WILL BE THERE!

I looked out of the window to see if our plane had already landed and was greeted by a sight to put the fear of the almighty Jah into anyone!
The plane that was visible through the left of the window was soon joined by a fire engine and moments later another one. A medical emergency vehicle turned up to make three non welcomed sights for any air passenger waiting to board a flight. All the people in the two queues were looking anxiously wondering if the plane they were attending was our one? Just then another plane taxied into view and you could see the signs of relief on the passengers faces. This was our plane just arriving!

The flight was called for boarding and from around the corner appeared Ade and Little Roy. They came and joined us and then Ade asked the question,
"How do you know if you have priority boarding?"
I showed him my boarding pass and pointed out at the top where this was stated. Well on inspection it seemed that Ade and Little Roy did not have 'Priority Boarding' on their passes and so had to leave the queue and join the other one. I had assumed that the promoter had booked the same travel for all.
Well we boarded the flight and as usual I went to sleep.

We landed or rather pan-caked on to the landing strip at Wroclaw. The clapping of the passengers was more in relief then at any prowess of the pilots to land the plane. This scenario where the passengers applaud when the aircraft lands, is beyond me. It not like it is an option to land the plane safely! You don't applaud the train driver or bus driver when they get to your stop and they carry passengers also.
If it was like the pilot who landed his plane recently in the 'Potomac River' saving all his passengers, then that from me gets a standing ovation. But a pilot doing his regular job should be able to land a plane without the fear the plane over shooting the runway and braking so hard that the passengers all experience G forces that only astronauts are accustomed to, please!

We had no problems with immigration, but Little Roy who was in another queue was suffering some serious grilling. It does not matter where you go in the world, a Jamaican passport is viewed with suspicion.

Anyway we all travailled safely and we were greeted by people from Maken the agent. The driver had a video camera in hand and was recording our traverse from the arrivals area to the minibus. On board the minibus the driver put on a dvd of 'African Headcharge' in concert, Ade was not amused and asked him to turn it off. We spent the 30 minute journey into town chatting about tings and mutual people and friends we knew.

We were taken to a restaurant to get some well required sustenance.At the restaurant a fan recognised Ade and got her photo taken with him and went back to her table.
We were sitting at another table from Ade and the rest and continued with our meal. It was only when we got up to leave did she issue a scream and come running over. "You are Aba Shanti" she said and got her husband to quickly take a photo of her and Aba.
Nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice, Yuh Hear!
After the meal we went to the hotel to rest before the show.

1600: Arrangement were made to pick up Ade & Little Roy at 19:00 to do their soundcheck. They were playing before us so I said I would go with them to the venue to do our soundcheck and that would allow Aba to sleep and be picked up at 23:00.

1850: I went down to the reception to await the pick up and there was Little Roy also awaiting the pick up, but no Ade! We waited for 30 minutes and Maken arrived. He was surprised to see Little Roy and myself in the reception. He said that he had phoned Ade to tell him that the pickup time had been changed to 2000 and that he had texted me. Ade hadn't told Little Roy and my phone I had turned off to make sure I had got at least a couple of hours shut eye. Ade came down at 1945 and we then left for the venue.

As we approached the venue the surrounding became familiar. The venue we were playing in was adjacent to the great 'Centennial Hall' we had played in when we first came to Poland for a Reggae festival in 2006.
On arrival at the venue we went backstage and I chilled out with Ade and Little Roy in their dressing room.
21:15 Little Roy left to go and get his stage gear from the hotel.
We were joined by a man from Dub Flash records who wanted to thank Ade for opening up his eyes and ears to Dub music. He asked me to take his photo with Ade and then asked who I was? He was shocked when Ade said that I was the Humble Lion. You see I had email contact from him way back in 2003 when he was just starting up and making music in his bedroom. He sent them to me and asked for my opinion on them and any advice I could give. He then started sending me his productions on the Dub Flash label to comment on ever since (each one, teach one), but we had never actually met. So he asked Ade to take a photo of us two.

Ade and Little Roy took to the stage at 22:15.
It was an absolute pleasure, to listen to Little Roy perform his songs, especially 'Jah Can Count On I' and the timeless and sublime, 'Tribal War'. Wicked totally wicked!
What you thought that Freddie McGregor wrote 'Jah Can Count On I'? Well you read and learn.
Little Roy has written some of the most iconic songs of Roots Reggae music that have been recorded by so many great artistes over the last 40 years.People don't even know that he wrote them and originally recorded them. Look on the song writing credits and if you see E. Lowe, that is Little Roy.
Some people back in the day even thought that with a name like Little Roy he was a Toaster like I Roy and U Roy and so a lot of his records got overlooked by those that didn't quite appreciate Toasting.
But let me tell you, since he has given up smoking (over a year now) his voice has started to reclaim that golden tone of yesteryear, and if you get a chance, go and see a true living Reggae legend in session, don't let him pass you by!
Talent like his, rarely passes through this Earth in any musical genre. Jah Know!
In 1969 his song 'Bongo Nyah' topped the Jamaican record charts. It was the first hit tune to sing about Rastafari.

I went and called Aba at the hotel to wake him up and to prepare to be collected by Bredrin Rafa, who first brought us to Poland in 2006.

Aba arrived at 23:20 and just caught the tail end of Ade's set. Little Roy had departed from the stage a good 10 minutes earlier leaving Ade to dub out the set.
After Ade had finished, Aba and I went to their dressing room and I praised Little Roy for his performance.
We then left and went to our dressing room to prepare for our session.
As we sat and talked there was a knock at the door and in came a young woman. I asked what she wanted and she said could she have a chat to us? So I told her to come in. I thought she was a fan until she produced a tape recorder and said could she tape the conversation. I asked her why and she showed me her press pass.
We agreed to the interview and after 15 minutes she had enough material for her report. As she got up to leave I asked her name and she told me her name was Anna.
Well the appointed time came and Aba took the stage. All the acts only had an hour slot or it was going to be hot stepping from the off. Aba played all the soon to be release and pending 'Falasha Recordings' tunes intermixed with dub productions from Keety Roots, Johan Dan and the Humble Lion (me).
The time just flew by and when I checked my watch Aba had been playing for an hour and twenty minutes.
Maken came up to me and said that the session had to stop as we had gone passed the official closing time of the festival which was 0300 and security were getting jumpy. But the crowd were demanding more.
I went up on stage and told Aba that the session had to finish and as he spoke to the crowd he drop one last killer dub and they went nuts.
One young lady in particular was doing a Zebedee impression (nuff spring inna de step) all the way through the set and she had the widest smile on her face throughout.
Aba bade farewell to the crowd and session was well and truly done.
So to the Promoters, Maken & Crew, Ade & Little Roy, Rafa and bredrin and to all the people in the place that made the session…………………One Love

One Love
      The Humble Lion 

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