UK Soundsystem Icon Jah Shaka Has Died
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Jah Shaka, a hugely important figure in the history of UK soundsystem culture, has died. As Mixmag reports, Horsepower Productions’ Benny Ill was the first to report Jah Shaka’s death on Twitter. No cause of death has been revealed.
Jah Shaka, also known as Zulu Warrior, was born in Jamaica, and he moved to London as a child in the late ’50s. As part of the Windrush generation, Shaka and his family faced tremendous discrimination in England. Shaka’s family and other Caribbean families would gather for house parties, where they’d dance to music, and they imported Jamaican soundsystem culture with them. Shaka started out with speaker builder Freddie Cloudburst, working as a soundsystem operator, before establishing his own soundsystem.
By the late ’70s, Jah Shaka had a cult following in London, and his dub reggae style was hugely influential on UK punk and post-punk musicians, especially John Lydon. Shaka appeared as himself in 1980’s Babylon, a British drama about racial unrest in London. He also founded his own record label and worked with artists like King Tubby, Mad Professor, Aswad, and Max Romeo. Shaka was still playing live shows as recently as last year, and his son performs under the name Young Warrior.
Below, check out some of Jah Shaka’s work.