Sound System

Definition

A Sound System is the equipment and associated personnel used to broadcast music within a specific location. Typically it would consist of a means of playing music (record player or more recently CD players and laptops), amplifiers, speakers and Deejays (mic men), operators (equipment controllers), selectors (selecting what music to play) and so on (this is not an all-inclusive list).
By the late 90's onwards the exact definition has been disputed as the term Sound System has been employed more as a marketing term and by individuals/groups who not operate a full sound system in the traditional sense, see the Soul Jazz Sound System for example.

History

Sound Systems began as a way of playing amplified music to outside gatherings in Jamaica. Initially this was just a small gramophone and speakers on a street corner or private land used to entertain friends or attract business to commercial establishments such as liquor stores (1). By the late 40's/early 50's larger dedicated sound systems emerged to provide popular music (mainly Rhythm & Blues) at larger outdoor gatherings and parties.

Early prominent sound systems included Tom the Great Sebastian, Count Nick The Champ and Count Jones. (1)

With the start of mass emigration to the UK in the late 50's the tradition of Sound Systems was transported to the UK. The UK Sound Systems tended to play exclusively inside, the lack of other suitable entertainment for West Indian emigrants encouraged the development of blues parties, where the UK Sound Systems flourished.

By the late 50's Sound Systems were big business in Jamaica and sounds of varying sizes and popularity were to be found in every Jamaican parish, and the larger sounds, such as Coxsone Downbeat had two to three sets so they could play in several locations on the same night. The competition for audiences and to be seen as the best engendered a deep seated rivalry between systems. A situation reflected in the development of Soundclashes that has become an integral part of Sound System culture.

Early Sound System deejays would copy their American radio counterparts and introduce records, talk over them and generally attempt to add to the atmosphere. This, over time, was to lead to a separation between the deejay (as mic man) and selector/operator (as the person playing the tunes). The earliest acknowledged star deejay was Count Machuki, followed not long after by Sir Lord Comic and King Stitt.

In the late 70's Sound Systems played a pivotal roll in the rise of Dancehall. The emphasis on the deejay as a live performing artist and development of the dance as a central part of the way the music was understood and articulated itself were primary factors in this change.

It is worth noting that in the 80's Jah Shaka's sound system in the UK resisted the trend towards Dancehall. Whilst not a succesful ploy at the time by the 90's his championing of Steppers Roots Reggae won him many admirers. He was almost singlehandedly responsible for an entire wave of Roots Reggae Sound Systems in the 90's and 2000's as a result.

In the 80's live deejays continued to dominate Sound Systems however towards the end of the decade there was a slow but steady drift towards dubplate specials at the expense of live performance. Initially specials were an additional weapon in a Sounds armoury and had existed as such throughout the 70's. By the late 80's their prevalence grew at a much faster pace and by the early 90's live celebrity deejays on Sounds was the exception and not the rule.

By the late 90's there was a significant rise in Sound Systems throughout Europe, Japan and other parts of the world. This was in part fueled by the availability of dubplate specials through the internet. The same period saw the (contested) shift in definitions of what actually constitutes a Sound with the physical equipment; amplifiers and speakers etc no longer being essential for an individual or group to call themselves a Sound System.

1) Reggae The Rough Guide - Steve Barrow & Peter Dalton (Rough Guides 1997)

• List Of Sound Systems - A list of active and inactive sound systems

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