Supercrawl Presents
MAD PROFESSOR
No Protection 30th Anniversary Tour
Equally renowned for producing deep roots reggae, trance-inducing dub and bittersweet lover’s rock, the Mad Professor’s Ariwa Sound stable is a veritable institution of British Reggae. Prof was ridiculed when he first set up a studio in the front room of his south London home in the late 1970s, but plenty of hits soon followed thanks to his creative drive, perceptive production skills and technical expertise behind the mixing desk; in the best reggae tradition, Ariwa drew from diverse influences to create a unique sound, making use of unbridled artistic ambition to fill any gaps that may have appeared due to a lack of finance. Since those humble beginnings, Mad Professor’s music has seen him circumnavigate the globe countless times and his skills as a dub remixer have drawn requests for collaboration from numerous stars working in different popular genres all over the world, all of which is testament to the pervasive and broadly appealing nature of his creations. We are now celebrating over 40 years of Ariwa ingenuity and those who have had the pleasure of spending time in Professor’s company know that he is a man of high intelligence and easy wit, committed to progressive social change as well as evolutionary music; he is also a gentleman in every sense of the word. Ariwa Sounds studio was officially inaugurated in 1979, its name drawn from ariwo, a Yoruba word meaning “communication”; it was then located in the front room of the Fraser household at 19 Bruce Road in the south London suburb of Thornton Heath, not far from Ariwa’s present HQ. Somewhere along the way, Fraser’s alter ego appeared as the Mad Professor, his backing band initially known as The Sane Inmates; minimally equipped with a Teac 3440 tape machine and discarded gear picked up from Soundcraft and other sources, Ariwa’s early days were certainly inauspicious. Noteworthy moments from the original studio at Bruce Road include the landmark dub piece “Kunte Kinte” by Brixton based band Aquizim and “Pleasures of the Dance” by reggae-inspired punk group, Ruts DC. The move to a basement studio at 42 Gautrey Road in Peckham, instigated in May 1982, brought Ariwa to a next level.
Mad Professor issued the first of his Dub Me Crazy series in 1982; by 1993, he was up to Chapter 12 and quickly followed such releases with the Black Liberation Dub series and further dub excursions with Scientist, Mafia & Fluxy and Sly & Robbie. He also strengthened ties with Lee Perry, cutting a series of albums with Scratch at the mic and Prof behind the mixing console; their bond was so strong that they have toured the world together for the better part of fifteen years, evidencing the longest musical partnership Perry has fostered during his entire career. Other great Ariwa records surfaced with U Roy, Horace Andy, Yabby You, Michael Prophet and Earl 16, while Prof continued his habit of nurturing new talent through works with rising hopefuls such as Chukki Star, Starkey Banton, Queen Omega and steel-pan player Pan Africanist, better known Patrick Augustus, author of the popular Babyfather. In 1996, Prof opened the now dormant Are We Mad studio around the corner from Ariwa; the smaller facility was kitted out with 1970s equipment, giving it a different sound, so Prof made specific use of it on particular projects for a number of years before ultimately shutting it down. Meanwhile, his mixing skills grew ever higher in demand. Ever since the days of his collaboration with Ruts DC, Professor has always been willing to lend a dubwise hand to a multitude of international musicians; he mixed material for The Beastie Boys in the 1980s, which sadly has not yet surfaced, before altering the manic creations of radical duo KLF and spaced-out ambient house pioneers, The Orb. Definite high points in the 1990s came with an exceptionally sensual dub mix of Sade’s ‘Love Is Stronger Than Pride’ and a dubwise deconstruction of Massive Attack’s Protection; further collaboration was achieved with bull-horned pop-star Jamiroquai, edgy Swiss techno-rockers The Young Gods and Boston neo-ska group Bim Skala Bim, while in the new millennium Prof has used his dub skills on material by former Jane’s Addiction front man Perry Farrell, New Zealand’s Salmonella Dub and experimental duo Jack Adaptor, as well as myriad others in Japan, Brazil, Argentina and other territories on five continents.
In the new millennium, Mad Professor continued the aural onslaught with all manner of enthralling Ariwa discs. Max Romeo’s Pocomania Songs showed the reggae bard on top form, his politically-relevant and spiritually-minded lyrics riding tough Ariwa rhythms built with drum-and-bass heroes Sly and Robbie, saxophonist Dean Fraser and percussionist Sky Juice, alongside Ariwa stalwarts like Black Steel, with Leroy Mafia on keyboards; U Roy’s Old School, New Rules revisited some old hits and had plenty of new material. Trinidad’s Queen Omega Servant Of Jah Army brought a different take to the Rastafari perspective, while Joe Ariwa went head-to-head with Jah Shaka’s son, Young Warrior, revived jungle with General Levy and went the dubstep way with brother Karmelody in their Tricksters side project. Then, in the ‘teen’ years of the new millennium, Prof cut dub showcase LPs with Cedric Myton of the Congos and Luciano, before versatile veteran Nadine Sutherland shook things up with the deep roots blast of “In A Me Blood,” while Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry revisited some greats of the past on Black Ark Classic Songs. More recently, lover’s rock queen Carroll Thompson tackled the epidemic of knife crime blighting Britain’s black communities on the 12-inch “S.O.S. (Save Our Sons),” a dynamic slice of exceptional roots reggae, while Horace Andy lamented the difficulties of “Life In The Ghetto”; U Roy’s Talking Roots was the best album from the pioneering toaster for ages, while Prof continued his excursions into unknown dub territory on releases such as Electro Dubclubbing.
Over 40 years ago, Ariwa started out as a family affair and it certainly remains one today: Neil’s wife Holly has been involved in the administration right from the beginning and sons Joe and Karmelody are increasingly part of the picture, the younger generation helping to move things perpetually forward. In fact, it’s all part of the gradual evolution at Ariwa, which has taken British reggae towards all kinds of areas it might otherwise have never ventured into. So what’s next for the Mad Professor and the Ariwa posse? Having just completed a string of productive new sessions with known and unknown talent alike, the future still looks bright for the Mad Professor; watch this space because whatever emanates from his creative mind is bound to be nutritious to the ears.
