Jelani ‘JB Wassifa’ Brown is continuing a sound system legacy that began more than half a century ago (Picture: Adam Dawson/Cap7ure/Getty/PA)
Reggae is ‘a thing of the soul’ says Jelani ‘JB Wassifa’ Brown as he reflects on his musical tribute for the 75th anniversary of the Windrush Generation’s arrival in the UK.
The DJ and presenter is in the second generation of the Wassifa sound system but speaks as one who has become friends and performed with many of the genre’s biggest names.
As events get underway around the country today to mark the HMT Empire Windrush’s disembarkation at Tilbury dock in Essex, he has drawn on the musical dynasty’s Jamaican heritage in an exclusive mix for Metro.co.uk.
JB, from Handsworth, Birmingham, represents the third generation of his family after his grandparents arrived from the island seeking work and brighter prospects in the 1950s.
His dad, Mykal ‘Wassifa’ Brown MBE, joined with friends and family to start the sound system, which marked its 50th anniversary last year.
JB is now keeping the ‘roots and culture’ side of the music alive in an era when many of the ‘late greats’ they play — along with members of the pioneering first generation — are no longer around.
Jelani ‘JB Wassifa’ Brown, Full Rass and Mykal ‘Wassifa’ Brown at a dance in Manchester (Picture: Courtesy Jelani ‘JB Wassifa’ Brown)
‘Music is a thing of the soul for the Windrush Generation,’ he says.
‘It is a form of therapy. When they came to England the culture was different and the music brought a sense of identity. When it was performed on sound systems at house parties and gatherings it brought the community together.
‘People also found out a lot about their history and culture as the mainstream media wasn’t really delivering on that forefront.’
Mykal, 62, was a schoolboy when he helped fashion speaker stacks and ‘play out’ on what would become Wassifa Showcase.
Growing up in a household with a veritable merry-go-round of imported vinyl, JB, now 38, was always bound to follow the tradition.
‘There were records around me in the bedroom, the living room, I saw new records coming in, records going out to be played and my dad rehearsing to perform at events,’ he says. ‘It’s just been second nature.
‘You have children who wake up with a football in their bedroom, I woke up with records around me, it was my gift from a young age. My dad got me a turntable in my bedroom which me and my siblings would use and we’d have a few records which Wassifa had extra copies of.’
Mykal Brown helped establish Wassifa sound system while still in school before going on to tour across the UK (Picture: Josh Layton/Metro.co.uk)
Wassifa outside the Stamford Road HQ in Birmingham more than ago 30 years with (from left): Cornell ‘Jahweh’ Brown, Brian ‘Daddy B’ Hayden, Mrs Vera Brown, Macka B, Mykal ‘Wassifa’ Brown, Cleveland ‘Jahmi’ Williams and Michael ‘Mykie Tuff’ Richards (Picture: Wassifa Showcase)
Wassifa at Simmerdown Festival with (from left): Full Rass, Mykal ‘Wassifa’ Brown, Jelani ‘JB Wassifa’ Brown and Ranking Bev (Picture: Wassifa Showcase)
Wassifa is part of the Windrush Generation’s enduring musical legacy which can be traced back to calypso singer Lord Kitchener, who wrote the song ‘London is the Place for Me’ during the voyage.
Kitchener was among 802 people from the Caribbean who had bought cheap tickets for passage on the former German troopship, which disembarked its passengers on June 22, 1948.
The Windrush Generation has generally come to describe people from the Caribbean who sought better lives in the UK from then up until 1971.
The ship’s arrival at Tilbury dock has provided the defining moment of the post-war migration from the islands which filled labour shortages in key sectors and helped shape multi-cultural Britain.
The generation included JB’s grandparents, Elrick and Vera ‘Miss Dotty’ Brown, who laid down their family’s roots in Birmingham, where Wassifa has its long-standing base in Handsworth.
Calypso sounds brought by the early arrivals would give way to stirring messages of Black consciousness espoused by singers such as the legendary Dennis Brown, whose ‘I Don’t Want to be no General’ features in JB’s mix.
Faced with racism and discrimination at the doors of pubs and clubs, and in society in general, reggae gave the generation a sense of pride, while gigs in ‘shebeens’ and other unlicensed premises provided a social focus.
JB has also chosen many of the tracks in the mix because they represent connections between his ‘sound’ and the artists and their music.
Max Romeo’s spiritual ‘Valley of Jehoshaphat’ — Wassifa’s title is taken from the way the singer pronounces the Biblical name — is among the classics.
Two tracks regularly played by Jah Shaka, the sound system legend who was a close friend of the Wassifa family, are also playlisted.
Jelani is part of the second generation carrying the Wassifa flame in the British reggae scene (Picture: Adam Dawson/Dawson Visuals)
Shaka died in April 2023 after a lifetime producing and playing music, which included appearing at numerous dances alongside the Birmingham sound.
JB’s choice of ‘Warrior Charge’ by Aswad and ‘Kunta Kinte’ by the Revolutionaries reflects the ‘inity’ between the two movements.
While Shaka’s heavy dub sound remains immovable, reggae has also given rise to or influenced an ever-widening pool of music, including dancehall, bashment, jungle, drum and bass, grime, pop and rock.
Wassifa has expanded over the years to play at crossover festivals and alongside the likes of Shaggy, Sean Paul and Shabba Ranks.
Building a legend: Roy ‘Frenchie’ Hamilton (technician/designer), Mykal ‘Wassifa’ Brown (selector/operator/designer) and Cleveland’Jahmi’ Williams (manager/engineer) with sound boxes in the garden (Picture: Wassifa Showcase)
In the mix, Wassifa’s links to the reggae world’s most influential names are evidenced on a ‘dub plate’ — a bespoke track where the artists reference the operators in the lyrics — featuring British stars Kofi and Macka B.
The selection’s burning words and rhythms are a fitting backdrop to the Windrush story, which has involved successive generations having to overcome racism, discrimination and injustice.
The ongoing Windrush Scandal and fight to recompense those who were stripped of their citizenship rights casts a shadow over today’s anniversary.
But the eternal sounds of the Abyssinians, Fred Locks, and Burning Spear, another friend of Wassifa’s whose acapella ‘Jah No Dead’ is featured in the mix, speak of the generation’s staying power.
Outside of music, JB works as a teacher in access to business at South and City College Birmingham, where his dad is a lecturer, giving him another link with the city’s young people.
JB in the Jamaican sound system tradition where TDK cassettes of dances would do the rounds in the weeks afterwards (Picture: Cap7ure)
‘Music gives us a sense of identity,’ JB says of the Windrush descendants.
‘Music is there forever, no matter how lost we get in everyday life. When you go back and listen to the music from those times, it’s still so relevant now, the songs are about faith, struggles and staying on the right track.
‘It’s so important for young people to understand that while the young people are born in England, this is where we are coming from.’
JB will be DJing at a sold-out Windrush event at the Birmingham Rep Theatre tonight, where his dad is hosting the celebration.
Mykal told Metro.co.uk: ‘Reggae music is very important to us because it’s like a storybook telling us about our history and our heritage.
‘In Windrush anniversary year, the music gives us stories we can identify with, right through to the African beat.’
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A DJ representing the second generation of a sound system dynasty has paid a musical tribute to the Windrush Generation.