The motley Riddim Bandits crew, born out of a shared passion for the rich tapestry of reggae music and its diverse styles——from ska's contagious beats to dub's deep basslines—have gradually ascended as a pivotal force in promoting reggae music and culture within the Romanian cultural landscape. Their saga begins with a deep-rooted affection for Jamaica's sonic gifts and leads to the birth of the Riddim Bandits Soundsystem. More than a mere sound system, it is their pledge to disseminate love and contest injustices, as represented in their ethos to "mash down Babylon." On Friday, April 12th, the Riddim Bandits Soundsystem amplified the 11th edition of Black Rhino Residency at Control Club. On this very special night, the dub/grime combo of Footsie and Dubkasm came together for the first time in Bucharest, with Black Rhino's own Low Freq and MC Yardie Flo also representing the local scene.
Beyond staging electrifying shows, 2017 marked a critical digital expansion for Riddim Bandits—launching platforms to kindle a global reggae commune. Their website, radio, and social channels are now reggae havens, buzzing with cultural exchanges and rhythmic dialogues.
2018 then saw them double down on their sonic ambitions, crafting their soundsystem and spotlighting Romanian reggae artisans. The 2019 soundsystem debut, a charged night featuring reggae luminaries like Word Sound & Power Sound System, would ultimately declare their mission while celebrating the unifying power of Reggae music.
In this exclusive dive into Riddim Bandits' odyssey, we unravel the passion propelling them, the hurdles they've vaulted along the way, and their plans for 2024. Through their own words, we glimpse the fervor that animates Riddim Bandits, their imprints on the local reggae canvas, and their aspirations for its vibrant future.
It's music that tries to touch people's souls, uplift them, and make them smile. Sometimes, the message can be militant and political, other times relaxed and peaceful or even quirky, but most of the time, the tunes talk about being conscious and a better person.
So, the first reason that comes to mind is the message of the music. After that, the overall sound is presented with its tempo and catchy phrases, heavy basslines, horn arrangements, and clever wording by the singers or deejays. And the soundsystems, of course.
They all have the same roots and are genres of Jamaican music. You can usually tell by the tempo, themes, lyrics, and sound characteristics.
Reggae is known for its offbeat rhythms, prominent basslines, and conscious lyrics about love, unity, and the fight against oppression. Roots is mostly about 'one-drop' riddims, features Afrocentric influences, and teaches the rasta principles and way of life.
Dub is a subgenre that appeared as reggae was evolving and is characterized by remixing and manipulating recordings, stripping down elements, emphasizing the drum and bass and adding sound effects like echo, reverb or phasing, to name just a few. Dub brings the mixing engineer to the forefront, is often just instrumental, and leaves you the space to put your own lyrics to it, whether in your mind or on the mic. It's the foundation for many modern genres of music through the innovative approach it brought to music.
Dancehall has a fast-paced tempo, and artists usually toast (deejay) over a digital riddim. It's often viewed as the rebel cousin of the family as the lyrics can often go to totally different areas than the others (sex, gangster life, etc).
We have very nice memories from that time. We were gathering information for some years but needed more practical experience to start the project. Around the beginning of 2018, I met Boji from Bass Healing Hi-Fi, and we got his full support, so we started the building right in the middle of my living room some months later. After doing the tops, mids and kicks, we realized we had to find another place to assemble the big bass speakers. By then, it was winter already, but we got all our electric heaters together and moved to my parent's garage, where we worked for more than two weeks.
We were a pretty tight crew before this experience of building the sound, but this gave us a new motivation to do things right and spread the good vibes. During this process, we could just imagine how hard this would have been in the '70s and '80s (before the internet and CNCs), which made us appreciate the foundation sounds and sounds all around us even more. They had to invent most of the stuff we use today.
We have been organizing events for almost 10 years now, and we've done about 8-9 of them with international artists before we had our soundsystem. We chose locations with good PAs, and we had very happy people and very good events, but at some point, we realized that the experiences we were putting on were not showcasing the music and the culture as they should be.
As good as a club PA can be, it's hard to sustain the basslines for dub and reggae and to disconnect you completely from your daily thoughts and struggles for the duration of the party. So there, the soundsystem comes in… to lift you up from the ground and make you feel the music in all your body, not just listen with your ears.
One of the rules of dub is that there are no rules, so we could talk for a week. I guess it's mostly the values at its core nowadays and the music and message it spreads. I saw a nice in-depth article you wrote on Black Rhino that goes a bit into the details.
The history is less old than in other countries, but there is a decent following around the country and potential for growth. Also, you can probably find some Romanians in Europe at most big events. We have 10 soundsystems spread around the country: Kogaion, Irie Warriors, Jah Order, Jah Guidance, Bass Healing, Riddim Bandits in Bucharest, Genmaica in Cluj, Kaze in Iasi, High Culture in Timisoara and Piranha in Deva.
The first local dub/soundsystem events I remember were at Street Delivery and One Love in 2009, both of them with Kaya Foundation at the controls. For One Love, they had Aba Shanti I on the lineup, along with a few other really nice artists. I almost couldn't believe I didn't have to travel abroad to attend such an event.
Other important events for me were Mad Professor in Club Berlin (now Control) in 2012 with Low Freq and Irie Warriors, Subsonic Festival near Ploiesti also in 2012 (a very heavy lineup for that time), OBF in Colectiv with Serious Dub, the Roots Stage at Electric Castle, as well as the Reggae pon di Hills and other editions of One Love.
Romanian soundsystem culture has been steadily growing over the years, and since 2015, with our first party/event and 2019 with the soundsystem, we have been trying our best to do our part. At our events, we bring international and local artists together, trying to provide a way for us all to learn from their experiences. Most of them are not just selectors but also producers, label founders, soundsystems, studio builders/owners, and so on.
To help grow the community, we do a lot of free events in different places where the public is often more mixed. We sometimes find ourselves in front of people who listen to reggae for the first time in this form, delivered from a soundsystem.
Since 2017, we have also had an online radio with carefully curated podcasts and mixes from local and international artists. We stream 24/7 Jamaican-inspired music for anybody interested. It's mostly reggae, dub, and early dancehall, but there are some other genres, such as Jamaican soul, jazz, or cumbia, that might pop up from time to time.
To name a few that had a great influence on me and on us as a crew, I have to name Jah Shaka, Jah Tubbys, Fatman and other foundation sounds from the UK, Blackboard Jungle from France which is the first soundsystem we ever experienced, Aba Shanti I, Channel One, Word Sound and Power, Maasai Warrior, King Earthquake or Lord Ambassador.
