Sly Dunbar: The Heartbeat of Reggae

Imagine a life where you are in a reggae band, playing drums for a well known reggae musician like Peter Tosh, whether on stage or in studio. This is the life which is likely familiar to Sly Dunbar.

Born Lowell Dunbar, Sly started playing drums at a young age.

“I started playing drums professionally at age 15. Lloyd (Parks) is the one that came around to play his guitar and I would play on a pot and pan everyday,” he wrote on his facebook profile.

He has been in the music industry for more than 30 years with his bass guitarist partner Robbie Shakespeare.

“My working relationship with Robbie is great; we support each other, I don’t try to outdo him and he doesn’t try to outdo me. We respect each other, and never forgetting where we come from.”

Sly and Robbie, also known as the Riddim Twins, played a vital role in the success of many reggae artist, most notably the likes of Black Uhuru and Peter Tosh to mention a few.

“I enjoyed working with every artist we have worked with because music is my life and has done a lot to help us. So every artist is important,” explains Sly.

Sly and Robbie have been known to be the best drummer and bass guitarist respectively in the reggae music industry. They are estimated to have played on or produced 200 000 recordings. They even went as far as releasing their studio albums and establishing their own recording label named Taxi Records.

They have toured many places around the world with different artists. When asked about his most enjoyable tour, Sly says that he enjoyed “quite a lot of them. Most of the tours have been enjoyable for me because I am playing music for people who have paid their money for a good concert.”

With a decline of audiences around the world and a lack of exposure, the future of reggae music looks uncertain. But Sly is very optimistic about reggae music’s future. “The future of reggae depends on the kind of songs we record. The future is bright; we just have to make great records just like in the past by those great musicians.”

And indeed Sly and Robbie have played an important part in the development of reggae music and the rest depends on upcoming artists to take the music further. Just like those musicians, Sly wants to leave a legacy for future generations. “The legacy I would like to leave is great music that will live on and on.”

What the fake is this?!!!

Here’s some of the well known fake brands. Some are creative, some are retarded. So you can decide which one is less fake. Enjoy and be careful what you purchase…

At least the owner has an extra stripe in case one goes missing…

this guy must have been a retard...

Even the pronunciation is incorrect…

No more fakes…

For the Playstation fans…

For the Playboys…

 

are you an Ifan?

I wonder how he felt with that shirt

 Did Snoopy change his name?

Who's going to be the last team standing?

As a South African soccer fan at the moment, you will have to admit that this year's ABSA premiership season was the most thrilling ever. This season had no "big" or "small" teams. Every team was capable of beating the other team, whether it was a big team or a small team. And now to conclude the season, only three teams now stand a chance of winning the title namely Ajax Cape Town, Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs. Now the question is that who's going to be the last man standing between these teams?

After a thrilling Saturday afternoon, we saw Mamelodi Sundowns' title hopes fade away as the lost to Maritzburg United by 3-1, Pirates played a 1-all draw against Santos and Ajax were humbled by Chiefs who beat them by 4-0.

 After the weekend's results, Ajax are currently on 1st position with 59 points, followed by Pirates with 57 points and Kaizer Chiefs on 3rd position with 56 points.

Looking at the current log standings, Ajax have a great chance of clinching the title because all they need is to beat Maritzburg United in their last match. Pirates and Chiefs will need a miracle for them to win the title. For Pirates to win the title, they will need a win against Golden Arrows and hope that Ajax loses to United. Chiefs on the other hand will have to make sure that they beat Amazulu and see if both Ajax and Pirates lose their respective matches. Interestingly enough, the Durban based teams will decide who's going to win the title (Amazulu, Golden Arrows and Maritzburg united). They hold the key to the title. So it all depends on the Durban teams. So may the best team win (in my opinion, Ajax will win the title)

What does it take for service delivery to take place?

Does it necessarily have to take vandalism, beatings and to claim lives for service delivery to take place? We are witnessing the rising number of protests due to poor service delivery, especially now that it’s municipal elections time.

One wonders if there is a need to have a government if its people are not heard or if we have forgotten that there would be no government without these people. Earlier on I had a conversation with my neighbor about the municipalities and the upcoming elections. Our conversation became steamier and rather worrying for me. I raised a question on what she thought about a certain district municipality, and her response was unsurprisingly what most South Africans thought.

She is dissatisfied with the service; hence she began to mention incomplete projects such as housing, water supply, and road infrastructure. Still in mind I had to ask what the solution was to these issues and she said, hopelessly as if she had already gave up, that it takes violence and lives to grab our leaders attention to come to a solution. We have become slaves of protesting. Indeed one can agree with her considering our poor service delivery in the country.

For instance in Ficksburg recently there was a service delivery protest where a man died. The incident was broadcasted on national television and it brought outrage and anger from most South African citizens. When the incident was brought to the attention of government officials that was when they promised to look into the matter. This, of course, fueled more service delivery protests across some parts of the country ahead of the municipal elections. Bob Marley once said in his song “It takes a revolution to make a solution”. For Ficksburg residents, it had to take a bloody and violent protest to alert the government about the living conditions there.

I also asked this lady if she’s going to vote in these elections and she said she won’t waste her time “voting for people who give their best when it comes to promises, but give less when it comes to service delivery”. This is understandable considering the fact that political parties usually campaign and promise people a better life during election time, but they hardly show up in most communities to observe how their government is progressing when it comes to service delivery. In other words we usually have to wait for a period of about 5 years before the needs of most communities are taken into consideration. So meaning if there were elections every year, then we would see political officials listening to the needs of communities.

Let’s hope that after these elections we will see a difference. Hopefully the politicians will not look at their own needs and forget about the poor communities. Let’s hope they will stop focusing on their oppositions and start focusing more on making South Africa a better country for everyone.