During the 1960s and right through to the present day, sound systems evolved from their Caribbean roots into a distinctive British urban sound that now significantly contributes to the international music scene and attracts very diverse audiences on a local to global level. Sound systems, as shown here from these Bradford interviews and other materials gathered on this website, come from specific periods of times and places. At the heart of this early sound systems culture was a fight for social justice, spirituality, companionship and a love of music.
The history of sound systems is rooted in the details of what was important in the lives and experiences of people involved – groups of friends (posses), building and forming sound system equipment, playing at different venues, the followers of the sound system posses and respect. Sound systems brought meaning into the lives of urban youth at times when much about growing up with Caribbean (Black) heritage involved social and economic struggle and hardship. It was an escape from the daily realities of racism, inequality and social injustice.
Today there is still a strong sense of solidarity, rooted in the power of music. Sound systems still reach out to their core fan base and remain a vibrant part of British Black heritage.
Thanks in particular to Prince Dan I, Chris Peltier, Lincoln Oakley and Karl Oxford for this section and to others who have shared their memories so generously during the project.
Some background
Each sound system has its own identity and stories of who were involved and who did what, where they played, their followers, rivalries, friendships and memories. Some lasted longer than others and successive generations sometimes became involved. Over the years, musical styles, posse members and technologies changed but the love of the music and a passion to share it with others remains constant.
For Bradford’s Black youth, sound systems offered self-expression and identity. Early on, their wooden speaker boxes, rhythms and booming bass notes were part of a pre-internet, pre-digital and pre-mobile phone era of making and sharing music, far removed from today’s digital technologies. Sound systems created alternative informal networks of urban sound that were distinctive and uniquely shaped by the people, places and recordings they brought together.
Members of the Black community played in spaces and places they could claim as their own and where they felt comfortable. Their sound systems embodied an authentic cultural expression, release, talent and creativity. They provided full and unrestricted enjoyment as well as opportunities to socialise with people like themselves and meet potential partners.
For a generation badly served by schools, job opportunities and deep-seated prejudices within British society, sound systems offered Black youth and their communities outlets for expression and coming together safely.
There were different eras of sound systems in Bradford: mostly through the changing input of different generations in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Some pioneers have become legends and are continuing right through to the present day. They embrace newer venues, promotion via social media and digital technologies while retaining the authentic vibes and styles of earlier times.
Members of a younger generation are taking out their speaker boxes, acquiring new ones and sound system sets too. As they link to laptops, smartphones, Wi-Fi and introduce different musical influences, they sustain family sound system traditions and bring younger voices to fresh audiences. The different memories of people involved in the sound systems across these generations provide insights into the realities of being young and Black in Bradford during these years.
1960s
Many families coming to Bradford, mainly from Dominica and Jamaica, brought with them a love of music of all genres: dancing, songs and live music were part of their rural and urban life back home. After coming to England, newcomers found ways to bring music into their homes and new neighbourhoods: house and blues parties with radiograms blaring provided social places for gathering families and friends together.
Parties were impromptu, informal, noisy, and crowded. Partygoers were of all ages and filled the hallway, stairs or spilled outside as they drank, smoked, danced and enjoyed home cooking. Parties went on till late and often brought in people from next door. There were sometimes complaints about noise levels, but generally they were a widely accepted feature of community life, that contrasts with less tolerant attitudes of today.
Partying would go on through the night till early morning/daybreak and attending more than one party was not uncommon, even if it meant walking across the city and avoiding racists, Teddy Boys and the police.
1970s
For some adolescents and young adults, the blues and house parties of their parents were not enough. New urban sounds were coming from Jamaica and the wider Caribbean bringing lyrics and rhythms that resonated with their own increasing sense of alienation. Unprepared to accept the unjust treatment as second-class citizens experienced by their parents, music became an outlet for their own growing independence: free listening to the latest sounds available from London record shops or imports in Barry Roots’ music shop on Lumb Lane, Bradford, opened alternative musical possibilities.
Rhythms, basslines and styles gave distinctive identities to different sound system crews. Each posse gained a reputation that relied upon their style of music, message and their members. Skills -both personal and as a team – shaped how they could select, ‘toast’(MC), drop the bass and play in different venues in and beyond the city. From small beginnings like Sharks, sound systems took root in Bradford, informed and inspired by issues of the day. Sound systems including Scorcher and Commander, began to create their own fiercely local, distinctive and passionate outlets for being young, Black, working class and full of cultural expression and confidence.
People have memories that vary according to how old they were. They also remember different venues, particularly in the Manningham Lane/Lumb Lane areas, according to where they lived in Bradford, or went with friends. Places, fondly remembered by some people, and sometimes linking back to the later 1960s, include Afro, Bibby’s/Capricorn Club, Black Diamond/Silver Star, International, Mayflower, Palm Cove and Sugar Cane. Some venues have their own histories, including the Locarno (later Mecca) that gained notoriety in the early 1960s for its ‘colour bar’. Names changed too as owners, managers and business opportunities came and went. Sound systems owe much to the support and encouragement found at some of these venues.
1980s
The 1980s was a particularly boom decade for sound systems in the UK. As Black youths living in different parts of Bradford, they used to ‘trod’ regularly to the city’s main Black venues where the dances and sound system clashes were taking place. Early sound system clash venues included Green Lane Youth Club, Bradford West Indian Community Centre Association (aka Checkpoint) and McMillan Adventure Playground Association (MAPA). These venues highlight the importance of the city’s youth centres and community spaces as communal places where young people, as well as their parents, felt safe and comfortable.
As reputations and contacts grew, other places were frequented by the city’s Black communities and became well-regarded/premier venues, including clubs such as Palm Cove, Bibi’s (Capricorn Club) and Mayflower and other regular ‘nite spots’. Venues gained their distinctive clientele. Club managers became key in providing support, encouragement and running venues that were particularly welcoming to sound system dances. Sound systems brought with them their own fans so promotors and managers spotted the benefits of ensuring a good night out. So did publicans and some pubs, already established as welcoming drinking spots, helped sound systems to flourish particularly if there were a good-sized backroom where music, dancing and lively DJ-ing and MC-ing might continue after hours. For others, closing time meant heaving speakers into the back of a vehicle and playing out the night.
1990s
Over time, other interests built around the music: meeting the opposite sex – seeking and building relationships and creating families. Spiritual messages changed in style, although the key messages remained the same – faith, love and the rejection of social injustice (from distinctly unique Jamaican and British perspectives). Political tensions, riots and underemployment during the 1980s led on to government schemes and local council initiatives that promised improvements and better times which did not materialise.
2000s
A new millennium arrived. Old issues persisted and new ones came: insecurities about residency and permanent status, criminalisation, deportations, racial stereotyping and lack of opportunities. Unresolved social injustices, successive public enquiries into policing, years of economic recession and austerity policies, the Home Office’s hostile environment policies and the unlearned lessons of the Windrush Scandal. Then came the disproportionate impact of the Covid pandemic on Caribbean communities. As pioneers continue to pass, the baton also passes to those born and their descendants, and later arrivals to sustain the struggle for visibility and greater recognition in a society that remains unequal. The sound system posses – from back in the day and newer voices – still have much to give to their own communities and the UK’s wider urban music scene.
Rites of Passage: Bradford’s Sound System Stories now celebrates and pays respect to those pioneers, fallen soldiers and innovators from across the decades in a year-long project that will help to make their contribution to the city’s musical heritage and cultural legacy better known.
Rites of Passage: Bradford's Sound System Stories 