The Pop Corporation

The sound system culture in the UK is arguably the most important movement in club culture since people started selling recreational drugs at music gatherings. Acid house, hip hop, drum ‘n’ bass, trip hop, grime, the top 40 – everyone owes a debt to the pop-up events that burst out over the country in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.

With that, a devotee to sound systems is looking to digitise and publish live recordings to preserve the history of the scene.

Ashish Joshi, based around the Bristol area, has been collecting tapes from his yard and other areas, so that they don’t “disappear forever”. Video, tapes, everything else – they will allow people to soak up the atmosphere and feel what those times were really like in their heyday. It’ll also preserve some of the names and voices who absolutely need to be championed.

Of course, in the Bristol area, without sound system culture, we absolutely wouldn’t have Massive Attack, Portishead, Roni Size and more.

“As it was developing in the 70s, 80s and 90s, the music was so special, the music came from the heart and a lot of that music you don’t hear nowadays,” Joshi said. “It comes from centuries of oppression and was basically put into an audio art form that people could feel.”

Of course, mainstream radio wouldn’t go near the nitty gritty of reggae, dub and dancehall – so it was left to pirate stations and sound systems to champion the cause. It’s party music, but it was also protest music – the best kind, honestly.

“They were basically live recordings of reggae sound system dances on tapes, recorded by owners of the sound system and captured the atmosphere, sounds, dance and music played at functions,” he added. “You can hear the sound system guys talking to the crowd as well as introducing the tunes being played and also rapping over the tunes… it is an authentic experience of reggae music at that time.”

A worthy cause, all told.