Yes I....greetings and welcome once again to the pages of the vibes. This time we'll try to delve into the controversial subject about what amounts to "good" music, and what can be regarded as just "created sounds"...Because they are not one and the same, there exists a wide open section of unclassified sonar territory, and it's there that we will attempt to arrive and explore. Most of today's commercially or otherwise available music consists of packaged ideas put together with the help of whatever electronic devices...from cassette to dvd. When multi track came out, it was looked upon as a great tool to assemble a couple ideas...then the thing just burst out to where we are today. The result is that the "art" of music creation has now boiled down to technical knowledge of a pc and whatever the name of the program at work. People may start reading and think..eh..he against computer...but that's not really the case here. What's at stake is pure creation itself. Push button remote controliing the business and if it doh cut it with the bigs, then is unseen and unheard...but now, thanks that the same tricks now can be played upon the tricksters. Music can be burnt and/or applied into all kinds fo gadgetry and gizmos that just exist to be sold for profits....useless junk, but a must for teens and those who want to be seen and known as "hip" or maybe "hoppy". Lots of videos now show only what's not needed to be really seen, and the nice parts appear for a split nano second to make the viewer keep looking and wanting more but gets nothing, but the same sequences differently arranged to produce the same effect. Lots of time and effort goes into finding the so called perfect sound for the song in question. In the end what comes up is always a kind of universal soup that media will then spout out mercilessly to a great majority of eardrums on the planet. A large portion of the music biz deals with paper, and not just dollars or euros. Books, magazines and other forms of print (posters,flyers) represent music in its unheard form, and the language and images therein can, does and is intended to send the folks to purchase the music in whatever format...concert, CD, DVD, soundsystem or what have we. It's one thing to mouse up a tune and make a burn for other ears to hear later, and quite another story to bounce up onstage armed with a couple laptops and blow the hell outta the mind of the tricknologignoramuses. That said, it comes as no surprise why the #1 of the "charts" will also be on page one of the magazines...although you doh even hear the sound yet!!

Well yah...always a controversial and unresolved subject, but we must take a small jab at it because last time I checked, no new laws were passed to ensure that spliff can burn, or chalice can blaze to give JAH thanks and praise. So it seems that we made it back again to point nowhere because everything just keep going round and round..like a game of monopoly...always passing "go". and see you on the next round...if you doh end up in the calaboose. Lots of arguments on both sides of the spectrum, but we have to agree that all what is said against ganja can also be said about legal (lethal) drinks and smokes. Mankind claiming everyday to be making advance in all kind of fields of all kinds of sciences and we so smart that we never sit back and realise how foolish and uncivilized we really are. To call someone a monkey today only shows that the caller has no idea what monkeys are about. Just like clubs where they blast reggae day and night but search upon entering to see if you have grass. What happen to freedom of religion and the basic right to be stoned....by the means of your choosing?

Dr.O.T.Yozott

Yo...whappenning!?!?! I wonder what your instant reply was or still is...things cool or things hard, or the world just getting worser and worser day by day and night after night. In years gone by, there was the rallying call for all kinds of remedies to social injustices plus the 20th century's greatest undercelebrated devolutions took place right under our noses. After more than four hundreaded years of downpression and all its accompanying sins, a new mentality whose time had come, just blossomed from seeds planted in the 30's when bible quoting Dreadlocks challenged the brutish colonial rule in JA at that time.The early reggae singers and players of instruments began paving the way for the new expression and before we knew it, Bob was all over the place and then the next thing was that reggae was alive and kicking on all the four corners of the earth. Then something happend, and today we hardly see or know anything about the real reggae people. Most conscious artists find it extremely difficult, if not downright impossible to get to the riverside, so don't even talk about entering the main stream. Plus the whole issue gets a bit clouded when a lot of dreads just flash their natty and go about doing all kinds of un-Rasta things. People see pictures or videos and think, oh that's what rasta is about then? One thing for sure is that the people of JAH are there, seeing and doing the right thing as little or insignificant as it may seem to the world. Today we know that ites gold and green gone commercial and that outer trappings just serve as reflectors of the inner reality. Rasta today can safely meditate upon the truths that have unfolded since the movement began to spread its consciousness over the world. He may not be the top charter, neither will he be seen in the farce that passes today for a music video...but that again is another subject altogether. Give thanks...

Hello there...I wish that there was some real way to demonstrate rage over a keyboard...Smiling icons won't do the trick because I an I just plain vex about the way things are being portrayed again by the mass media and their cohorts in the music business. No music, no music business...so the business factor just drives lots of today's so called artists to go out there and literally prostitute themselves before the world public...and still say in the end that there's no substance to it. The pornophonic shit keeps coming our way one after the other. What does wining butts has to go with good music? Well, the car companies put nice blondes nearby to sell the cars, so the "hot" acts of today do the same....or do they really have a choice? I hope detractors are not there already condemming and not really understanding that the issue here is not about VDO's but the quality of the prevailng acts that just bombard us daily...some may say, well turn the TV off, but then I might as well return to listening to radios....problem is that the artist cannot be "seen", so we make up all kinds of ideas of how they look and what facial expressions come when they sing or perform our favourites....but no....advances were made and now we can see the people. What they choose to let us have is really geared to making us think of them as super powerful and heavy when in reality they may be doing that just to please the whims and fancies of those who have them propped up there and are afraid to lose status. Nothing else seems to be able to explain the attitude of a large majority of today's screenshot stars. Plus the fact that the media is there giving a helping push towards the productorisation of everything that passes through its doors. Sad times for those naive enough to think that things are about to change or will get better. With the passing of catastrophies most of which are man made or man caused, one can take a glimpse of the new "slavery-period" coming ahead. No gas chambers but chat rooms. Sex sells well, so why not mix it with popular culture and put all in one package? Adults, do you really like the average modern music video? Is it an ispiration to you or your kids or other people's kids? If we keep up the trend, I just cannot imagine what will pass tomorrow for art.....or music.

Actually started long pants ago when reasonable folks got tired of the machine driven riddim that took over in the 80's and 90's when everybody thought that the vibes would go with the passing of Bob and Tosh. Not so... the true soldiers of JAH army just went into tactical positions and began to do the real work. Lots of folks today are directly and indirectly influenced by the words and actions of the great masters. More often than ever, I keep hearing Tosh's "no justice without equality" coming from the lips of the so called higher ups who have the power and abilirty to thrust themselves into our senses when the time is right for them...Yes, I have heard endless "follyticians" using our boys' lyrics to big up themselves and make it look like they really into the vibes. Nowadays, downloading has become a serious "problem" for the sick tree of dust that think they could "control" music. I am not saying that all downloading is legal or necessarily good, but when tricknology alows people to do all kinds of stuff, you think they will stop and just be treated like cows for cash? Many an indie artist can today set up his vibes and with the right connections be able reach a good amount of people by the riverside..i.e. outside the mainstream. Internet still exists for the benefit of a few who would rather spend some extra time searching to find the exact thing needed and not influenced by the daily visual and sonic attacks...Just look up roots or reggae, and all what is hidden away under the mainstream riverbed will just come up to the surface. In that process the waters may become muddy, so let us enjoy "online facilities" while they are still around.

Tcha T

FROM THE DREADITOR'S DESK

Hail up me bredren and sistren wherever you may be at this point in these trying times. All with eyes and ears can see and hear the flicked up reality that we are supposed to accept to live with. But as they say, at the edge of the desert lies the oasis where thirsts are quenched and another aspect of what is really reality comes to be. Times goes by and we see the same precycled things come back again...more off and more daring than the last thing you were just thinking was the baddest in town. Where will it end? The only solution may be total recontruction.....in mind and body. What are known as nations may plot and fight or co-operate and survive...there is no third way. By the look of things from an artistic point, it would seem that lots of yoths just get dragged and drugged astray by predominant images of a really false idea of fun and happiness. Localwise, in this part of the world there seems to be a flicker of consciousness of the new realities of "their" 21st century. Popkom going on in Berlin these days... I wonder what the impact will be on the local scene. Maybe not much, but hopefully someone or ones will take the musical art to higher heights and it's not just showcase business like the presentation of next year's new car models etc....or maybe that's what's really going on.At least it brings in a certain amount of new faces who are always ready to discover and learn a "new" city. Rootical Vibes extends a hearty welcome to first and second time visitors to the city called Berlin...all is here, one just has to look patiently and carefully...trod on in the name of JAH.

The Dreaditor

So you make up your mind to visit Germany and Berlin in particular? Well, a few helpful hints to guide you thru. Reggae lovers, roots, dub, soundsystem, concert, clubbing or whatever. All the above mentioned things exist here in da city but to find out where what is and when, could be a little confusing sometimes. Assuming that one gets to know the basic transport routes and points of historical interest, the rest is all left to any individual's ability to communicate to people and seek out information. Language should not be a big barrier, since most Berliners speak and understand English. A little knowledge of basic German can also be helpful, but it's safe to say that most people will get the vibes especially if it's not some kinda heavy southernish twang that even Britishers themselves would have problems to take in. So, just try to ease off on the accenting and with cool positive vibes, anyone will be directed to his/her area. Hoardings are usually plastered with megasize posters of international and sometime local faces and names. Get your ticket quick because the place is changing fast...in times to come there will be no pieces of that infamous wall to see, or even figure out where it was, or how it was. The only real wall that one risks of bouncing into, is that of the misunderstanding of what this country and city was, is and probably will become.

Ari Ree

"..who has the gold makes the rules."

"...Homeland Security.. fighting terrorism since 1492."

"...there is no defense or security for any of us except in the highest intelligence and development of all."

"...not by speeches and decisions of majorities will the greatest problems of the time be decided."

"...chance favours only those minds which are prepared."

"...man cannot fulfil his destiny alone, he cannot redeem his race unaided."

"..there are times when the insignificance of the accuser is lost in the magnitude of the accusation."