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Hi Hopes The stage is set for the return of the Roots Hi-Tek label. |
 
Roots Hi-Tek is looking forward to playing in the Lounge at the Reggae Festival Of Wales for the second time. The Reggae Lounge offers an annual opportunity for sound systems that usually play separately to get together in one venue. "It's a visionary kind of thing. You get to hear what everybody's doing and apart from that its just a joy to get together and share some words, sounds and power." The unity of the UK roots scene is immensely important to Hi-Tek. He may be an independent producer and have his own label, but its not a solitary existence. This is highlighted when he talks about the dub plates he plays out. "About 25% are my productions and 75% are tunes from other UK roots labels. We're a close network, most people know one another; producers, sound systems, labels and studios. Everybody kind of knows everybody so we support one another." It's the same story when I ask him who'll be holding the mike for him in Wales, "This year I aint got anybody in mind, but I'll probably be along with Afrikan Simba, maybe bredrin Ras Coztafari, maybe bredrin I Natural will come in on the set. Its just a unity thing."
The phrase 'music is a mission, not a competition' has never seemed so appropriate. Hi-tek is positivity personified. His sunny disposition is complemented by a refusal to see anything as a problem and a complete lack of any need to criticise others. He would happily have spent our meeting chatting about the great music that other people are making and how well they are doing, without ever comparing his own position to theirs or with any regard for self promotion. But its Roots Hi-Tek productions that I went to talk about and so once the conversation had been maneuvered in that direction I asked him why its been so long since the label has released anything. "I knew that was coming! I get phone calls from people asking what's happening with the Roots Hi-Tek label. In 2002 I released two LPs, three seven inches and one CD and there's been no releases since." A couple of the seven inches, in particular, made it appear that the label was headed toward the forefront of the UK reggae scene rather than into a long period of silence. The instrumental 'Umoja' was supported by David Rodigan who gave it multiple plays on his renowned radio show. "Brrup! A thousand sold out just like that. So it did help the single. it was unusual, and good to see Daddy Rodigan and dem support some authentic roots reggae." This was released at the same time as another tune, 'Angels' by Barbara Naps, which was also popular. It was a riddim that could have been cashed in on and would have carried numerous vocal pieces, but in the end roots fans were left without even a dub version to buy. "At that time I was getting mad phone calls about the tune. It was doing well. Barbara Naps is a fairly established name. The production was right, the riddim was fine, good quality song writing, good delivery - couldn't fault it." The plan was for the singles to promote a dub album called 'Sankofa' that was also released in 2002. However the album suffered with distribution problems and all the momentum was lost. I express my disbelief at a UK dub label that fails to put a dub version of its biggest tune on a single, but Hi-Tek is laughing when he explains, "It may have backfired, who knows? At the time my dub album was coming out. So I thought I'd save the dub of Angels for the album to help sell the album. Regardless of what happened at that time, a record label should be releasing music, so we're going to be addressing that soon. I may come across to some punters as an established label, but its been a learning curve and just observing the scene since 2002 has been a good teacher."
Things have certainly changed for the better in that time. The increased popularity of the internet and the flourishing overseas markets have made life more secure for UK roots labels and someone with Roots Hi-Tek's reputation for good production and a unique sound should find business considerably easier in 2005. He's also taken note of the way that the 10" has become the format of choice for UK dub productions. "At the moment I've got four ten inches scheduled. The first will be by Lidj Xylon of Lidj Incorporated. Xylon passed away in Ethiopia, but as a Rasta activist his work lives on. The tunes on the ten inch were recorded for Roots Hi-Tek between 2002 and 2003. They will be the first of many." There may not have been any releases in the last few years, but Hi-Tek has still been busy. He says he's got albums worth of material from Lidj Xylon, Tony Roots, Tena Stelin and Colour Red. He also licensed his 'Guide Us' rhythm to US based label Manilla Jeepney last year. They released the original vocal by Tony Roots which was recorded in London and voiced Michael Rose, Christinti and JD Smooth at the famous Living Room Studio in New York. 'Guide Us' was a landmark record in 2004, was extremely well received and a timely reminder of the potential of this producer. Hi-Tek greets my enthusiasm with the confidence of someone who knows that they've got loads more where that came from. He's keen to tell me where he's been working and who with. "I've been recording in Poisonous Studios in Shepherds Bush with an engineer called Little Wayne Antoine. I've also done some self production at Word, Sound and Power Studio. I've got an arrangement with my bredrin Russ D of Disciples/Back Yard Movements and use his studio for my projects. He does instrumentation and mixing. Mixing is one of his strengths and he's got a good all around vibe. I've also got an arrangement with Bongo Asher of Nomadix Studio, which is one of the powerhouses of dub, and I do my productions there." Listen out for his own dub-plates if you manage to catch him in Wales and lets hope that the ten inch singles, complete with dub versions, keep coming. Roots Hi-Tek should be one of the most established UK labels by now but there's no sense of impatience or frustration from the man himself. His last comment on the recording process really sums up his whole ethos. "We help one another inna dis."
June
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