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Geneva Dimension The truly international reggae of Switzerland's Addis Productions |
Addis are a rasta duo; Jil plays keyboards and programmes the drums, Stuff plays bass and percussion whilst production is shared. They'd worked together in various Swiss bands in the eighties and adopted the name Restless Mashaits in 1991. Their first move was to go to Jamaica because even the most well equipped studios in their hometown of Geneva couldn't give them the right reggae sound. The following year they decided to create their own label, with the help of Bravo who is engineer at Leggo Studio in Kingston, and have been visiting Jamaica regularly ever since.
Their first releases were four instrumentals on 7" which quickly found support from the English reggae scene. Sounds like Abashanti and Jah Shaka, who are partial to an instrumental, quickly seized on their early productions. But as Jil points out the admiration was mutual "We like the UK sound and I've followed your scene from the early nineties" Unlike many others who are connected in Jamaica and Europe he doesn't diss the British roots scene." I love the work of producers like Shaka, Disciples, Jah Warrior, Abashanti, Vibronics, Iration Steppas, Zion Train and Manasseh. I work on a little vinyl distribution service here in Geneva so I receive stuff from England and we used to run a sound system playing mostly the steppers/roots style" It's great to hear this because all too often we're told that our so called 'UK dub' just isn't happening; quite often by people who've raved about Restless Mashaits. Most of the critical acclaim, and there was plenty, came about when they released an album entitled 'Kingston Sessions 1992 - 2002'. It featured a host of veteran Jamaican musicians including Deadley Headley, Dean Frazer, Dizzy Moore, Keith Sterling and Flabba Holt. "Basically it's a compilation of the best instrumental/dub songs that we put out during that ten years. We are really proud of the result; riddims and melodies to elevate people's spirits in this time of confusion" The good reviews came flooding in but the Mashaits were still seen by some as a live group, the type that backs visiting artists on stage, and their music was often shoved in the 'revival' category. However their next move placed them right at the cutting edge of the neo-roots movement.
At the end of 2002 they released the 'More Redemption' rhythm featuring vocals from Mark Wonder, Natural Black and Turbulence. 2003 saw them come with the 'Frontline' rhythm with Admiral Tibet, Chezidek, Mark Wonder, Turbulence and Natural Black. This year they've done it again with the 'King Of The Nile' featuring the voices of Luciano, Junior Kelly, Lutan Fyah and Natural Black. These productions simply can't be praised enough, each one has managed to sound both classic and contemporary, beautifully melodic yet tough and driving. Great to listen to at home or in a dance. I begged Jil to tell me how they did it. "We recorded the basic riddims right here in Geneva (drums, keyboards, bass, guitar) and after that we took the tapes to Jamaica and recorded the lead vocals, harmonies and arrangements (horns, keyboards or guitar sometimes) over there. For the backing vocals/harmonies we work with Maria Smith (who is the daughter of Earl Chinna Smith) and with Jennifer Barrett who we also produce. After that we did the mixing with our friend from Kingston, Bulby (owner of Fat Eyes Records). As for the vocalists, we work with cultural artists that we've met already" These are obviously the fruits of of an enormous amount of work and devotion, great neo-roots rhythms featuring the cream of Jamaica's roots vocalists. They are a tribute to the way that Jamaicans enthusiastically accept foreigners who can play music that speaks to them and prove just how international reggae music can be. After all, these are Swiss productions of Jamaican artists that, given the support they've had here, the UK has every right to be proud of!
June 2004
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