Adrian Sherwood presents ‘Dub No Frontiers’

‘Adrian Sherwood presents Dub No Frontiers’, released 30^th September via Real World Records, is a platform for some of the great international female artists currently operating to unite and celebrate in dub, and is inspired by and features female vocalists the On-U Sound producer, and brainchild behind the project, knew from the UK or had met while travelling around the world. “Many of the singers said they felt the dub/reggae arena was a male preserve and a little intimidating even, so we decided to invite artists to perform a song of their choice, all in non-English on our rhythm tracks.”

There’s no arguing that the most famous names in reggae are those of men. Despite reggae’s reputation for calling out injustice and inequality in its rebel music, it is still very much dominated by male voices, male producers and male musicians. Women have been key in shaping the music’s identity from its very inception. Back in the 40s, the folklorist Louise Bennett-Coverley laid the groundwork, championing the island’s native patois in her poetry; in the 50s dancer Anita ‘Margarita’ Mahfood campaigned for the public acceptance of Rastafarians, then persecuted and seen as outcasts, utilising the Rastafarian drumming troupe Count Ossie and The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari at her recitals while Patricia Chin co-founded the legendary Randy’s Record Mart (she currently helms VP Records). In the 60s Millie Small introduced ska to an international audience with her hit ‘My Boy Lollipop’ and Sonia Pottinger began her producing career bringing innovation from behind the desk. Then, of course, there are those great female voices from Phyllis Dillon to Lady Saw who have pushed the music forward from rocksteady to dancehall and beyond.

The results are spectacular: the ten tracks produced by Sherwood, with half co-produced with the late great Lincoln ‘Style’ Scott and arranged by Skip ‘Little Axe’ McDonald, ring out with a vibrancy, richness and energy. From Rita Morar’s ‘Meri Awaaz Suno (Hear My Voice)’, a fragile, beautiful piece sung in Hindi over the Sacred Ground Rhythm and Tunisia’s Neyssatou’s potent take on Bob Marley’s ‘War’ sung in Arabic, to Kerieva McCormick’s (who spearheaded the project with Sherwood) hypnotic ‘Chavale’ sung in Romani, this is all crucial stuff.

Ahead of the release, Adrian is pleased to share album track ‘I Dupe (Thanks Giving)’ by Temi Oyedele. Oyedele is a singer, songwriter and guitarist from Lagos, who sings in Yoruba. She previously worked with Adrian Sherwood on his and, Tectonic head honcho, Pinch’s first album ‘Late Night Endless’ and has also collaborated with Afrologic and is a member of DuduWorx. EMBED

‘Adrian Sherwood presents Dub No Frontiers’

The critics on Adrian Sherwood:

Adrian Sherwood of course knows his musical herstory and has spent a lifetime working as an ally with female artists from the very beginnings of his On-U Sound label with the New Age Steppers, a supergroup he co-founded with the Slits singer Ari Up that also featured Neneh Cherry, Vivian Goldman and Vicki Aspinall in its line-up. He also released New York-no wave singer Judy Nylon’s sole album 1982’s ‘Pal Judy’, worked with Akabu, the all-female reggae band and premiered Shara Nelson of Massive Attack fame on his label issuing her 1983 debut single ‘Aiming at Your Heart’. He also put out ‘Short and Sweet’, the 1992 debut album from Annie Anxiety Bandez under the Little Annie moniker and aided his daughter Denise Sherwood’s auspicious first album 2020’s ‘This Road’ on Evergreen Recordings.

Putting the project together was lengthy. It’s been some ten years in the making but the process itself was remarkably straightforward. “In this day and age it’s easier than ever to connect,” says Sherwood. “You simply digitise a rhythm, send a file of it to Japan, China, Tunisia, Africa, the vocalist sings on it, sends it back, it’s brilliant. Technology means we can unify the world through music.” He adds, “like most people who love reggae, I am obsessed with versions, which are unique to JA music. When you hear the rhythm it’s a work of art and you love to hear countless versions of the same rhythm. I started accumulating and versioning rhythms, some existing rhythms such as ‘War’ and some new ones. At one time I even considered doing a whole album of versions of the ‘War’ rhythm.”

The nucleus of the new versions originated from a session in London with such reggae luminaries as keyboardist Franklin ‘Bubblers’ Waugh, who played with Sly and Robbie; the late bassist George Oban and the aforesaid drummer Style Scott, together with Sherwood’s trusty rhythm section, plus guitarist Vince Black and the Ital Horns. “We broke the rhythms down and re-cut them,” he says. “We remade them, rebuilt them completely, then upgraded them, making them better and better and better each time and then we invited the singers to sing over them. The project kept evolving. It kept growing and has turned into something extraordinarily powerful.”

Sherwood is proud of the work everyone has created, and rightfully so. “It’s the right people working together at the right time with the right label. It might not be commercial but it is a beautiful thing. I know people are going to love it.” He also has plans to take the ‘Dub No Frontiers’ album out on the road. “The vision from the beginning was to make it a live thing, to have this amazing line up backed by an all-female band. Imagine that.”

The album artwork is a striking image of Afeni Shakur Davis painted by artist, musician and filmmaker Peter Harris. His bold portraits of trailblazing, transformative women dominate the album’s accompanying booklet forming a perfect visual foil to the music within.

Yehaiyahan – Love Hurts

Likkle Mai – Haste Makes Waste

Rita Morar – Meri Awaaz Suno (Hear My Voice)

Temi Oyedele – I Dupe (Thanks Giving)

Neyssatou – War

Maria Wenda – Okama Werek Halok

Kerieva – Chavale

JaGodDa – Krysztalowy Aniol (Crystal Angel)

Saba Tewelde – Semarulay Daqey

Nadya Ostroff DR.NO – Little Cosmonaut