July: Oslo Dub Club

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Oslo Dub Club is on a summer residency at Kunsthall Oslo, where they are rebuilding their hand built “Sound System” that they tragically lost in a fire in March 2015. There will be an opportunity to see, hear and feel the “Sound System” at our summer party in August. More info about the event coming soon!

About Sound Systems and the residency:
These days the title “Sound System” is used by DJs, bands and musical collectives – but originally the phrase referred to Jamaican style, custom made speakers, amplifiers and pre-amplifiers made and used exclusively by one crew. The pre-amps create a unique sound and enable the operators to control and exaggerate the frequencies of the music so that the body feels the music as much as the ear hears it. As many have said in the past, it is not really possible to describe or communicate what is so special about a real sound system, you have to stand in front of it and feel it!

The tradition travelled from Jamaica to the UK in the late 50s / early 60s and inspired a new generation of music lovers who couldn’t hear Jamaican music on the radio or anywhere else. The sound systems became a crucial channel for sub cultures and a meeting point for diverse groups of young people. In the 90s the UK sound systems began to travel with their sounds around Europe, inspiring and assisting people in Italy, France and Germany to build their own sound systems. The sound system phenomenon exploded and today there are sound systems operating in every continent of the world.

In Norway, the first sound system was built in 2011 – Roastfish and Cornbread Family Sound System. They inspired others to start building and by 2014 there were three sound systems in Norway and two more on the way! Tragically two of these – Roastfish and Cornbread and Roots Invasion were burnt down in a fire in March 2015. Speakers, amplifiers, effects units, cables and records that had taken 10 years to assemble and build were all gone in a matter of hours. Both crews immediately started to re-build with a lot of support from Oslo music lovers.

As they say themselves:

“the roastfish & cornbread family is back up and rebuilding their vol 2.0 sound system (still under construction but already kicking hard ! ) thanks to a lot of help from good friends and supporters – some donated money, some equipment, some borrowed stuff and tools, manpower, some bought beers & food, others just encouraging them in other ways, and like Oslo Kunsthall giving us much needed space!!

the sound crew is thankful for all support and looking forwards to stay in the Kunsthall over the summer, where they are going to finalize the new sound, fine tuning and testing new and old sound waves in the rooms”.