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The Conscious Sound: Van Gambia tot in Antwerpen

Weinig mensen kennen The Conscious Sound, maar dat wil niet zeggen dat ze niet goed bezig zijn! De soundsystem werd opgericht in Gambia en wordt nu verder gezet in Beljam. Sinds 2008 draaien General Kon’s, Malick en B-Lion regelmatig in kleinere zaaltjes en cafés. Na enkele sets werden ze opgemerkt door de uitbater van Kilimanjaro, één van de enige cafés in Antwerpen waar dagelijks reggae te horen is. Elke zaterdag kan je hier de nice vibes van The Conscious Sound ontdekken. De Gambianen hebben een goeie selectie, een leuke mc en een massa ambitie.

 Where are you from?
General Kon’s: Gambia. We were all born there, brought up there and we started the soundsystem there. Me and B-Lion came here 7 years ago.
Malick: I arrived 8 or 9 months ago.
General Kon’s: Antwerp is a really nice city, full time reggaetown!

 How did you start up a soundsystem?
General Kon’s: Here in Antwerp we started playing in River Gambia, a reggae café. We weren’t really a sound yet, we were just playing in the café. B-Lion was on the mic and I was playing the tunes. I already was a DJ and a little bit of a singer in Gambia, B-Lion was a singer as well. We came here and decided to continue with the music we both love so much. I think in Africa, Gambia is the number one reggae country. We have a lot of soundsystems and reggae singers there.
Malick: The most famous Gambian soundsystem is One Tribe.
General Kon’s: Have you heard about Junior King? (last summer @ Reggae Fever, Genk) He’s from Gambia as well.
I thought he was a really good singer and performer, I hope to see him again somewhere.
General Kon’s: He was the one who made that night BOOM in Genk! We are from the same neighborhood in Gambia, so we know each other since long time.
Malick: There’s also another great Gambian singer, Rebellion the Recaller.

 When did you start enjoying reggae music?
General Kon’s: Reggae was the only music I ever listened to, even while I was still a child. My favorite artist used to be Garnett Silk.
Malick: When I was young I was inspired by my older brothers. I always wanted to play Michael Jackson but every time I put it on my brothers turned it off and switched to reggae music. My favorite then was Gregory Isaacs.
General Kon’s: For reggae in Africa, Alpha Blondy is the most popular artist, together with Lucky Dube. Tiken Jah Fakoly is the next generation, he’s still growing. The sound was really founded in 2008. We hadn’t played a lot but East-End-Rock, from Oostende invited us over to play a set. It was good, it went ok.

 You play a lot at Kilimanjaro, how did that started?
General Kon’s: We play there every Saturday. Warrior Queen and we started playing at Kilimanjaro and afterwards Ricardo –from City Force- joined the crew. We have a new fixed party every week now on Thursdays in the Mozaïek, Bembe Thursdays. It’s a new café opened by a Senegalese.
Malick: Strictly reggae and dancehall on Bembe nights!
General Kon’s: I hope we can play at other parties in the future, as a warm-up sound to start. It’s hard as a new sound to play at parties. You have to have a little bit of luck but especially a lot of contacts. It’s getting better now. We played with JB sound in La Dolce Vita, afterwards we got a lot of positive comments and that felt really good. We also played at Izzy Maze and will play there again on Christmas. Now we want more, we want to play as much as possible. We’re trying to meet a lot of people and do our thing so everyone can hear us. When I first came to Belgium, in 2002, I went to a reggae party and saw Civalizee. In Gambia they select music on a top-level, Jamaicans are surprised when they see it! Still I said to my friends:”These guys are going to be top, they’re going to get big!” At the time they were one of the only ones who played the music the way that I enjoyed it.
Malick: The way they select is really good, each songs matches the previous. They have their own unique way on stage and bring the fire!
General Kon’s: I think as a sound you also need a good MC, he really brings the crowd in the mood. High Grade Sound is also really really good. Trust me, of what I’ve seen in reggae music all over Europe, Belgium is really top! At Reggae Fever in Genk we played with Irie Nation, after our show they told us we played good. The guy always goes to Gambia and knows a lot about our culture.
Malick: He even speaks some of our local language!
General Kon’s: He’s doing music over there to. We talked in Genk and now we have a link with him, we hope to invite him on New Year ’s Eve so we can play together.
Malick: I like the unity of the soundsystems here, everyone organizes parties and supports the others. The more unity we have, the further we will go. I think that one day Belgium can have an influence on other countries, regarding reggae I mean. Maybe they will follow our footsteps.
General Kon’s: Last year we played in Gambia, in one of the two best clubs of the country. At the time Sizzla was there for four weeks and he came in the club and did a little show! Our dream is playing at Reggae Geel or another big festival one day. We don’t need to be in the middle of the centre, the warm-up would be great!

 Are you already cutting dubplates?
General Kon’s: Yes, we just started, but when it comes to moving the crowd you don’t need dubplates. Sometimes it’s even very difficult to get them to move to dubplates. We’ve got two Sizzla’s, one Michael Diamond and one Black Marshall. We’re still a young sound, we don’t want to put our own money in the dubplates, so we can wait.
Malick: My favorite artist of the new generation is definitely Busy Signal…I really love his music! He does a lot of different things on great riddims, it’s a unique style. But if have to pick my all time dancehall favorite it would be Beenie Man. Love it or hate it, he’s still the king of the dancehall!

 As “The Conscious Sound”, do you only play conscious tunes?
General Kon’s: No, we also play the hits that aren’t always conscious. When B-Lion sang in Gambia, his crew was called “The Conscious Neighborhood”, so we changed it a bit but kept it. I’m happy for Belgium, reggae music is on a higher level here. Keep it up like that! Reggae music brings unification; it doesn’t bring discrimination or violence.
Malick: Reggae teaches the youth. Personally we don’t really like the guntalk, reggae isn’t there to promote violence! Reggae can heal you internally; it’s the healing of the nation. If we see that a crowd really wants to party and hear dancehall, of course we will play it for them!

 The Conscious Sound:

25/12: Christmas Special Bashments part 2 @ Izzy Maze, Antwerpen

31/12: Kilimanjaro’s New Year’s

Published on 17/12/2009 by Natty