we play 60'S ska, rocksteady & reggae on STRICTLY ORIGINAL 7" VINYL RECORDS

When we started fun it up we had one goal in mind; TO BRING THE SOUNDS OF 60'S jAMAICA BACK TO BRISTOL. tHE REASON FOR THIS WAS AT THE TIME THERE WERE NO OTHER EVENTS PLAYING 60'S JAMAICAN MUSIC IN bRISTOL, OR THE SURROUNDING AREAS. bRISTOL HAS A massive HERITAGE OF REGGAE CULTURE, SO IT SEEMED ODD THAT THERE WERE NO EVENTS FOCUSING ON THE GOLDEN ERA OF JAMAICAN MUSIC. WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THIS ERA OF MUSIC, WE SPLIT IT INTO 3 MAIN GENRES OF ska, rocksteady, & reggae. These can be split up into smaller sub genre's and there are records that cross multiple genres, but this is a basic foundation. see a brief description and example of each of these genres below
ONE OF THE KEY FEATURES OF OUR EVENTS IS THAT EVERY song IS played on strictly original vinyl. a lot of these records are extremely hard to find. like every serious collector we have spent years making contacts, and researching the music to build our unique collection. we firmly believe that SEEING SOMEONE PLAY A SINGLE THAT THEY HAVE SPENT YEARS tracking down ADDS TO THE EXPERIENCE. this passion is something that you simply cannot match from a repress/carver dj, or even worse a laptop selector.

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Ska

ska was the dominant music form coming out of Jamaica in the early 60's. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat. we love playing ska, as its fast tempo makes you want to dance.

 

rOCKSTEADY

rOCKSTEADY WAS THE NEXT STAGE OF JAMAICAN MUSICAL PROGRESSION. iT WAS MUCH SLOWER, AND MORE RELAXED THAN SKA. I ALWAYS LIKE THE TALE THAT ROCKSTEADY KICKED OFF IN THE SUMMER OF '67, WHEN IT WAS TOO HOT TO DANCE THE SKA.  ROCKSTEADY was the dominant style of music in Jamaica for nearly two years, performed by many of the artists who helped establish reggae.

 

Reggae

Reggae was the progression of Rocksteady. we specialise in playing reggae from '68-'72. AS REGGAE IS SUCH AN EXPANSIVE GENRE THE PERIOD OF REGGAE WE PLAY IS OFTEN REFERRED TO AS BOSS REGGAE, OR "STREGGAE"