WOMAD

The Mad Professor

From United Kingdom

British reggae had many bases in the early seventies, all of them in the country's urban sprawls. Aswad in London, Steel Pulse in Birmingham and Black Roots in Bristol, each had their own specific take on the music and used it for social comment as well as entertainment. But just as Jamaican reggae was led into new pastures by producers such as Lee Perry and Joe Gibbs, so has the British version been heavily influenced by mixing desk masters like Dennis Bovell, Adrian Sherwood and, all the way from Thornton Heath, Neil Fraser, aka the Mad Professor. Fraser was given his name at school after he built his own 4-track studio in the garage at home. At the end of the seventies, he launched his Ariwa label (it's the Yoruba word for "communication") and since then the Ariwa Posse has been home to some of the country's brightest reggae talents, including Macka B, Pato Banton and Sandra Cross. The Professor has also issued a series of dub albums, collectively known as 'Dub Me Crazy'. Inspired by the likes of King Tubby and Lee Perry (with whom he has cut a few tunes), the Professor developed his own distinct brand of dub, updating his studio all the time - the 4-track garage machine is now a 48-track. But just as important as the studio work has been his concentration on the live scene. The Ariwa Posse sets have been a showcase for UK reggae for two decades, and early sound system clashes, such as the Ariwa Posse versus The Wild Bunch from Bristol, led to the Mad Professor adding his dub magic to the sounds of The Bunch's successor Massive Attack. His reworking of the band's second album into 'No Protection' (Virgin, 1995) was a classic fusion of two major UK talents. The Professor has also worked with another giant of the Jamaican scene, U-Roy, on the 1991 dancefloor hit, 'True Born African'. This year he has also contributed to the Dub War project from Axiom, one of the many names under which US studio pioneer Bill Laswell has traded. The Professor shows that he is well in tune with this futuristic mix of techno, dub and ambient sounds.

The Mad Professor 'A Dub Lesson'