Summary: Dub Session's National Reggae Showcase Series brings you its first installation, the New Zealand Reggae Showcase, Vol. 1. Stardate: 1992. Place: Wellington, New Zealand. Status: there is a reggae buzz in the air. New Zealand's reggae scene is emerging and expanding. "The strange music booming and crackling from the speakers ripples the loose skin on your kneecaps. It sounds like the record is scratched beyond repair, but somehow it sounds good. It's the early 90s at Taki Rua Depot - a small theatre-cum-live music venue tucked down a seedy alley off Wellington's Cambridge Tce - and the Roots Foundation Sound System are educating the masses about roots, reggae, ragga, and dub. Like many in this smoky room I'm witnessing not only new music but a new way to experience music - in New Zealand, at least. "- Scott Kara,The NZ Herald. Over the last ten years, reggae roots and dub have grown to become mainstays on the national music scene thanks to bands like TrinityRoots, Salmonella Dub and Fat Freddy's Drop. These artists blend local styles, political culture, island roots, and global messages together seamlessly. Since 1992, the Dub and Reggae scene in New Zealand has blown up to super-size proportions. Just as Jamaica was abuzz with Reggae in the early 1970s, and England was the launchpad for the birth of global reggae in the late 70s/early 80s, New Zealand thriving, culturally significant and powerfully popular reggae culture is now emerging on the global scene. Like Musical Youth said in 1978 "we are the heavy heavy mothers yeah!" This is the spirit of the NZ Reggae scene today. This episode of the Dub Session explores the defining artists of the New Zealand reggae scene. New Zealand's music has a special, unique flavor - a distinct blend of reggae-funk-hip hop-Maori roots-dub styles that provides a fresh expression of roots culture, modern technology, and future vision.
