CONTENTS
Vol.
12 #7
Free
Zer 0 Euro
Berlin
Reggae Runnings
Yes I, me bredren and sistren, the Vibes are very hot these days and many are running here and there proclaiming loud and clear to have the answers to the current wave of helplessness and despair that grips the minds of many of today’s world population. From south to north and passing by way of the central east, is just pure madness that seems to be on the majority of brave men’s minds today. I hear people proposing songs which they claim to contain lyrics that were inspired by today’s conflicts of interest. They were no more than recycled lines from Tosh’s equal rights song. Long after the man left us on a Sept. 11, his words echo and make sense when everything else just seem to cannot work. We are,they say in 2003 and it’s a long way from 83 and 93. Still, Africa not free and looks like it will be 4ever fighting rather more than enjoying the fruits of real freedom. Summer is here again and the tempers have to be kept cool in order to avoid "overheating" and subsequent negative vibes to enter the usual irie meditative thinkings. All over is the same complaint...either no dust or not enough of it. Prices going sky high and more and more are losing their main source of revenue. Lots of blaming going around but there is no particular individual that can be held to account. The new catchword is called "Globalization". Looks like misery and suffering will not be confined to any one part of the planet but will go global...if it has not yet!!! From the wino to the flashiest "yuppie", things have become worse. A false sense of security pervades the minds of those who have a lot because they know that everything can be gone anytime. New and old and true and fabricated threats now wreak havoc on the minds of ordinary world citizens. Mass media-induced paranoia and premeditaed conspiracies in high places have brought us all to the point where we have to question deeply what we think we know, and why we still believe what we were taught as kids...One good look around and we know that we have been duped for "hundreads" of years, so are we still are supposed to tell our kids the same lies? No wonder our world is the way it is...we were lied to!!!! Bob sang "tell the children the truth" and this is all so true today. When we think of what the kids who grow up on war games toys gadgets will have at their disposal tomorrow!!?? War up North and war down south....looks like the apocalypse is already ready for approval and execution. Where will the survivors be or go to after, is another question. What matters now is to find some way to turn off the pre-programmed heat!!
THE (un) CHANGING
ATTITUDE OF MASS MEDIA
Well yes, this one is about the big machines that are responsible for propagating all that we are supposed to know. Once it comes from there, it is automatically deemed authentic and hence will not be called into question on face value. Sometimes even if apologies and corrections appear later, the public always tends to believe the next "breaking" sensation to come via the most famous "Tell Lie" boys, or on the treated remains of murdered trees that we know as "news"papers. Recycling is o.k, but they still cut massive amounts of trees for other things too. A sensationalist trend is always evident in the way things are presented to the unwily public. Since the "invention" of the video clip, all can see the effect of trying to "sell" on the grand scales. There is surely a difference between soft core x-rated movies and today's chartbusting clippers, but this difference is not too evident. Ads purporting to promote new products always have some sexist slant that sometimes have nothing to do with what's being offered. Clips have to have (hope not!!) winer girls and all kind of suggestive poses and positions that I wonder what music has to do with all this. Voices in the wildernes are finding it more and more difficult to be heard over the loud and tinkling "MT" Vessels who are making the most noises and preventing reasonable and seasonable alternatives from taking hold and making way into mass consciousness. Tabloids just have to pick up a scandal and run the story together with picture of some blonde from somewhere stating her name age etc etc and the people just gobble up and by the end of the afternoon it's forgotten until the other one tomorrow. Whatever is news today becomes news for the greater part of the news-knowing public...in most countries. A great portion of today' s folks are being fed a daily and permanent dose of information that serves one primary purpose....what is not being reported is just as important as what is being fed again an again and again until next time folks!!!
DREADITORIAL
Greetings to one and all in the name of the most High...This is the first direct online issue of the "Vibes" and the dreaditor and staff wants to wish all newcomers a pleasant reading experience. We were hardly prepared for the turns that took place at the begining of this year and now we begin to see the effects of the madness and lies that forces suffering and disaster upon the lives of many people in America and "Eyerakk". Soldiers' families have to cry when the body bags keep up the present riddim. Weatherwise, is pure hell fire and damnation on the capitals of Europe. Never such a heatwave in years...Is it natural? Some start to murmur about weather warfare but if we have to believe everything the alternatives say, then we're surely gone!!! This time around, we look at the local Berlin runnings and try to discover the similarities and differences with other famous capitals. Not a promising outlook because of the desertification of Berlin after the fall of the wall. Dread dread and dreader, but when compared to an oasis, we begin to get the idea of what this city is all about. All in all,we have to wait some more years beofre the full effect of the coming together of east and west to manifest fully. Modern cosmopoilitan Germany of today has a leading role to play in displaying the fact that peoples and cultures of diverse and extrapolar origins can live together in a modern society ruled by law. Lots of artists on the outside of Europe always wonder and long for the day to get a breakthrough inna Europe. Since we cover the Berlin area more than anywhere else, a couple good address are essential for the benefits of those who want to make that initial thrust towards trying to further their movements over here. It must from here be clearly overstood that everything is goverened by law and it is always best to know what they are in any particular country before enagaing in serious business.
BERLIN
THE DESERT and.......
Yes I, some might think it insulting to refer to a place with so many people inside it to an empty desert, but we know what we are talking about. In wall days the place was like a fortified military area and lots of dust used to flow especially in the hands of the boys who had to be over here to keep the peace after the end of war of the "world" #2. From wall fall is another chapter in the history of this place. East met West and so the resulting clash brought about developments a go go on both sides of the now non-existent divide. From the intolerance of a minority of the "Westers" towrds their newliberated "Eastrens", to the total incomprehension and disbelief on the part of some of the "Freedups" over the realisation that the old ways had to go to be replaced by what at the time was perceived as total chaos and disarray .....freedom and democracy. In spite of low level objection, the day finally came when everyone saw the infamous wall being pick-hammered away by a crowd. Now years later and the balance is still yet to be arrived. The Federal Govt. moved to the capital city and thus Berlin became another capital in Europe just like the others. No special status of wall/military or otherwise soldier money to go around like before. The news spread like wildfire...Berlin is now free so lots of folks from all over came over to check the scene.Like it was the place to go start something because the impetus was on rebuilding the neglected east and bring it up to par with the west. This will take time, and in the meantime the process has been hard for many. But, the gems are here and well hidden. Lots of wonderful folks are residents of this sprawling city .....a walk around town and one will encounter a virtual cross section of world citizenry. Africans, Orientals or any imaginable mix can be found here. So yes, it may be a desert today, but where else does one find an oasis? And what is as welcome and life sustaining ?
LOCAL
RUNNINGS UPDATE
Yes folks, some local news fresh outta de press. New CD out in the stores from the artist formerly known as Tikiman. Paul St.Hilaire has his first self produced solo album out on his own "False-Tuned" label and distributed by Indigo. For more information you can visit his website at www.false-tuned.de.
Musicians who want to jam on mondays are welcome to visit Friends Club in Schöneberg and take part in the sessions.
Yaam continues to pack the crowds on Sunday afternoon although it's the most boring place to be if there is no live action onstage. Last time they had to turn people away for a Seeed concert...full up to the max!! Locals feature every now and then, but those responsible seem to prefer to spend as little as possible on putting live acts because the crowd always gravitates to that spot once the sun becomes unbearable...which is almost every weekend from June to end of September.
IMPRESSUM
Editor
and Publisher:
Ras Perez
ROOTICAL
VIBES
is
a timely paper
checking on reggae and related musical scenes
in and around Berlin.
Contributors:
Ari Ree, Dr. O.T. Yozott, Kabwitt, Ras Zékal, Touloulou.
For
Comments & Feedback:
info@rasperez.de
Hotline: 0163 442 4551
©2003 Ras Perez
NEXT ISSUE
TRUE
DEMOCRACY
(
Not just a Steel Pulse song!! )
21st CENTURY RASTA
WHY IS THE MUSIC INDUSTRY SUFFERING?
THE MOST NATURAL MEDICINE
DUB
AND SPACE....
is
there an "outer" connection?
THE
DREAM OF REPATRIATION
TIPS & QUIPS
"The Courts cannot be fair if the laws are unjust!!"
"Democracy has no set formular!!"
Judge:
You are here alone?
Where is your escort?
Defendant: I pakkit outside sir!!!
Fly:
I want to change my name.
Tick: I myself wish I was a clock!!