The Tribune

By LESH
Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

LOVERS of old school music were taken back as far as the 70s last Friday at Club Luna in celebration of the country’s living deejay legends. Pulling out the turn tables and old vinyls, deejays were made the centre of attention last week, as their work and efforts over the years were acknowledged at the “Tribute to the Living Legends” event, hosted by Jimbo and the 5 Star Generals.
Deejays such as David Bong, One Dwight, Mighty Pencil, Donavan, Culture Shock, Barry Da Pusha, Selecta Ty, Dion Da Butcha and Fadda Walty were amongst those who were recognised.

Event organiser and old school deejay Barry “Da Pusha” Smith shared with In Ya Ear his recollection of playing back in the day, and thoughts on where he hopes to see the local music industry go in the future.

“This has been something that has been trying to come together for a while because there are a lot of shows now where they leave out what we call the founders of the music game. You would see a lot of the younger guys on shows, but never often the older deejays in the game, or deejays who most of these guys look up to. This is the first time a show like this has been held,” said Mr Smith.
Although the turnout was modest for the inaugural event, Mr Smith said people got to experience something out of the ordinary. He said they tried to present the music the way it was done back in the day.

“Apart from the wild, out of control top 25 songs, we took it from the foundation and stopped probably in the year 2000. We didn’t want to go beyond that because we didn’t want anything new. It was a legendary show,” said Barry Da Pusha.

“In the late 70s, early 80s, deejays like Walty and David Bong, they were the ones that started the reggae dance events. Back then it was more on a cultural level. It was not the ‘get on your head’ type of dancing music. It was events where everyone could come out, enjoy the good culture music and go home,” said Mr Smith.
Speaking in regards to Culture Shock, Mr Smith said:

“He came along and he stuck to just culture music. Anything culture, he was into. You would never hear him playing the ‘gal a bubble’ and those sort of songs. I was doing my thing in 1989-2004 at the clubs: the Zoo and the Culture Club. I started to back away because things were getting too hectic and violent in the clubs and I didn’t want to be apart of it.”
He said most of the time when violence occurred in night clubs, it was always the deejays that got the blame.

“People would say it was because of the music that was being played in the club. I just steeped away and showed them it really don’t have anything to do with the music, it is just the mentality of the people.”
Mr Smith said after the word got out about the living legends show, there were deejays that wanted to take part, but did not get the chance to. “It was too late. When we were around asking fellas to be apart of the show, no one was on the same accord but when they saw it coming together, they asked to join,” he said.

“We want to try to make this an annual event to involve even more of the upcoming deejays. We want to do it so that they can come under our wing and learn it the right way other then going out there and thinking it is just for fun. This field takes a lot of time and work from the years we was in it. We had to buy our vinyls but nowadays you just need a computer and you can download everything, but there is more to know than just that,” said Mr Smith.
He said it is always best to look to someone that has been there before. “We need most of the young deejays to know that we are there for them when they need guidance and to let them know what they need to know to grow. We want to see the industry grow and continue,” said Mr Smith.
To see more unity and less downgrading, when it comes to the deejay relationships, is something Mr Smith said he would enjoy experiencing. “If you see someone doing something wrong on a set, pull them aside and let them know where they went wrong, don’t just try to pull them down because that is not helping the industry.

If we are pulling one another down we are never going to make it anywhere. I guess that is the problem people have with me because I am always going to help people, other people are fighting against. I see that as wrong to pull people down,” said Mr Smith.