::: friends ::: u-roy

U-Roy with Ilhan and John Farris
by Jonh Farris

Born Ewart Beckford, 1942, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies, U-Roy began as a sound system DJ in 1961, spinning reords for the Doctor Dickies set, later known as Dickies Dynamic, in such well-known Jamaican venues as Victoria Pier, Foresters Hall and Emmett Park His inspiration was the DJ Winston Count Machuki who worked for Coxsone Dodd and subsequently on Prince Busterís Voice Of The People sound system. By the mid-60s he was the DJ for Sir George the Atomic, based around Maxfield Avenue in Kingston. Around 1967 he began to work with King Tubby as DJ for his Home Town Hi-Fi. From this association developed the whole modern DJ style: Tubbyís work at Duke Reidís studio, where he was disc cutter, led him to discover dub. He found that by dropping out the vocal track and remixing the remaining rhythm tracks he created new versions of much-loved tunes. This interview was conducted at NUBLU on June 24th 2005 during the NUBLU record label launch.

John Farris: U-Roy, so you were actually born Ewart Bekford in Kingston? How did you get be U-Roy?

U-Roy: My cousin was the one who gave me the name U-Roy.

JF: What was it like back then in Kingston when you were growing up?

U-R: It was just normal, you know, it was much violent and stuff like that. I grew up with my parents and they sent me to school. I did the best I can, I have never been to high school and in terms of elementary, I did the best I could.

JF: How did you come to music?

U-R: It was something that I loved from day one. Music is something that keeps me going. If Iím down it picks me up, it lift me higher, you know?

JF: And what got to you, what music were you listening to?

U-R: I used to listen to a lot of American music, because at that time we didnít have our own production of music as yet. American music like Louis Jourdan, Louis Prima, James Brown, Ruth Brown, Fats Domino - those are the people we used to listen to. Rufus Thomas and stuff like that. So I grew up listening to pretty much jazzy type of music you know?
When I started to work as a sound system DJ I didnít have much problem in fitting in between the tracks. Like the singer will be singing, I could fit myself in without disturbing him. So thatís how it is, man - thatís how I get involved. And then I started playing -

JF: That's who you were spinning, when you were with Doctor Dickie - you spun what music?

U-R: As I said, Fats Domino, Smiley Lewis, Ruth Brown.

JF: What influenced you to make the transition to dub?

U-R: When you say making the transition to dub, the music in Jamaica at this time is changing -

JF: Who and what was changing it?

U-R: It changed from... you had the ska, Jamaican musicians, and the ska comes to rock steady, which is another form of reggae, to reggae. So, in this way, I was forced to change from one thing to another, because you are doing whatís going on, whatís happening at the time. At that time Iím a young man so, hey, you try to fit yourself in if you are a lover of music. Then, you gonna love every music that sounds good to your ear, you know? Iím home - I listen to everybody! All of them - I know every rap artist that America possesses. You understand - I know of every singer, and Iím talking about young kids, three times younger than me. And I know all of them, because I play their music. I live around young people in my house, so hey, they listen to Alicia Keys, Ashanti, Mariah Carey, Whitney - she is one of my favourites. And so like that, you know. You go with the time. You don't try to dispute or disrespect when a change has come.

JF: So something happened in 1975, what was it - you had already gotten your own sound system, and something happened on the political scene?

U-R: Yes, well, being a man that grew up in the ghetto as a youth, you have a lot of friends like bad guys, good guys and everything like that. And so the police didnít like the sort of crowd that follow my dance. But in Jamaica you have a sound system, and you have the number one sound system in the country, you are gonna have a lot of different people that come to listen to you, which you have no control of that. You canít tell who will come, because you want everybody to come to your dance. So that was the problem - with the police, not with me! It was too much of a bad crowd following me now.

JF: So you met Michael X?

U-R: No, I never met him.

JF: Because you werenít involved in all of that.

U-R: No, no, at that time I was pretty young, just a young kid. I wasnít to much involved in the political thing. Me - I just believe in my friends and equal rights and justice. Thatís what I believe and I do not want to take no part and segregate myself from my friends. You understand? Because look - in this business you have a lot of supporters - you donít know who supports you. You cannot afford to have enemies or segregate yourself from people. I walk down the street, people say ìHey Daddy U-Roy!î and it is my duty to say hello, you know, whatever it is - not in a bad way, just a good way that the people hear me up.

JF: So how did you meet Peter Tosh?

U-R: Well we grew up in the same area, (unintelligible)... I grew up in Jonestown. Peter Tosh, Bob (Marley) and Bunny (Wailer) live in Trenchtown, which is just a stoneís throw from my neighborhood. So we all know each other. We being musicians - you go to the studio - we all meet each other. We are good friends for a long time. And we respect each other - we never had a problem with no-one.

JF: Your first big hit was "I Wanna Wear You To The Ball"?

U-R: No, my first big hit was "Wake The Town And Tell The People". And then I have "This Station Rule The Nation" with version, that was my second. On the charts, these two tunes becme number one and number two in Jamaica, on the top ten. And then "I Wanna Wear You To The Ball" a few weeks after that come along and take them down, put them two and three - so I have one, two and three for six weeks on the top ten. "Wear You To The Ball" at number one for approroximately twelve weeks - it was just a blessing.

JF: So when were you hanging with Tosh and Bunny?

U-R: We didn't really hang out, you know. We hail up each other as we go along. In the studio I went to do "Trenchtown Rock" with Bob, Bunny and Peter, one time they come and check me to put my voice in. So we go to the studio downtown, Studio 17, and we voice "Trenchtown Rock" and it was nice, man, good vibe between us. We don't have no problem at all with each other, it's just straight love. We all were a lot of rude youths at the time, so we lived good. I wouldn't say we were youngsters, because no, we were not youngsters, we just don't take stupidness from people.

(We are joined by Ilhan.)

JF: So, Ilhan Ersahin, how did you and U-Roy meet?

IE: We met... a long time ago. (laughter) I met him 1978, when I bought my first records. I was living in Sweden. I found this record - first I had a compilation called Version Frontline, I think...

U-R: Version Frontline, yeah, that's right...

IE: And U-Roy had one track on that, on the record, and I was like - "Thatís my man!" (laughter)

JF: So that was the first time you heard him!

IE: Yeah and then I went to buy the record, I remember I was thirteen years old, it was one of my first records.

JF: And when did you meet him actually in the flesh?

IE: Two years ago...

U-R: Two or three years ago...

IE: No - only a year and a half actually, September 2003 I think.

JF: And what was the occasion of that meeting?

IE: Well I have this band here called Love Trio, among others, and we like the way we mix in different sounds to our sound. Itís very related to dub and to reggae elements and then we had this idea - to try to find U-Roy.

JF: And you actually found him?

IE: Yes - that was amazing! The bass player, who unfortunately is not here today, Jesse Murphy, somehow told his mother and she had a friend who knew U-Roy from out in California, from Santa Cruz, so within sixteen hours we had U-Royís home number! And then I called, and then right away it was U-Roysís wife who answered first, and she said "somebody from New York City calling!"

U-R: And thatís how it is, man. That's how the business is set up. To get in touch with somebody, you have to call Dick, Tom, Harry, Mary or somebody, somebody must find out how you can get in touch with him.

JF: And how long did it take you to realise you were going to record?

IE: That was the reason. Mostly record, and do two or three shows together, and thatís what we did. It was a fast project.

JF: So what's going on now?

IE: We started a small fire, and now the fireís gotten bigger.

JF: So whatís the project now?

IE: The album is going to come out, in 12-inchers...

JF: With NUBLU Records?

IE: NUBLU Records, exactly. We have a 10-inch promo coming out this week and in September we have the 12-inch, of this project and three other bands...

JF: A compilation, a sampler...

IE: Four different 12-inchers on four different projects. One being Kudu, one is Forro (In The Dark), one is Our Theory, performing tomorrow, and Love Trio In Dub, with U-Roy.

JF: When you were thirteen years old, did you ever imagine you would meet?

IE: Yes I did. (laughter) That was the plan.

U-R: Itís a small world, you know, you say hey! It's like we're gonna meet, sometime.


					Brazilian Girls Butch Norris Chantal Ughi Charles Stella Clark Gayton Dj Hardedge DJ Renochild Eddie Henderson ElodieO Erik Truffaz Jochen Rueckert John Farris Juini Booth Karina Zeviani Kenny Wollesen Malik Burke Marla Turner Martin Ogolter Petar Santiago U-roy	U-Roy with Ilhan and John Farris by Jonh Farris Born Ewart Beckford, 1942, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies, U-Roy began as a sound system DJ in 1961, spinning reords for the Doctor Dickies set, later known as Dickies Dynamic, in such well-known Jamaican venues as Victoria Pier, Foresters Hall and Emmett Park His inspiration was the DJ Winston Count Machuki who worked for Coxsone Dodd and subsequently on Prince Busterís Voice Of The People sound system. By the mid-60s he was the DJ for Sir George the Atomic, based around Maxfield Avenue in Kingston. Around 1967 he began to work with King Tubby as DJ for his Home Town Hi-Fi. From this association developed the whole modern DJ style: Tubbyís work at Duke Reidís studio, where he was disc cutter, led him to discover dub. He found that by dropping out the vocal track and remixing the remaining rhythm tracks he created new versions of much-loved tunes. This interview was conducted at NUBLU on June 24th 2005 during the NUBLU record label launch. John Farris: U-Roy, so you were actually born Ewart Bekford in Kingston? How did you get be U-Roy? U-Roy: My cousin was the one who gave me the name U-Roy. JF: What was it like back then in Kingston when you were growing up? U-R: It was just normal, you know, it was much violent and stuff like that. I grew up with my parents and they sent me to school. I did the best I can, I have never been to high school and in terms of elementary, I did the best I could. JF: How did you come to music? U-R: It was something that I loved from day one. Music is something that keeps me going. If Iím down it picks me up, it lift me higher, you know? JF: And what got to you, what music were you listening to? U-R: I used to listen to a lot of American music, because at that time we didnít have our own production of music as yet. American music like Louis Jourdan, Louis Prima, James Brown, Ruth Brown, Fats Domino - those are the people we used to listen to. Rufus Thomas and stuff like that. So I grew up listening to pretty much jazzy type of music you know? When I started to work as a sound system DJ I didnít have much problem in fitting in between the tracks. Like the singer will be singing, I could fit myself in without disturbing him. So thatís how it is, man - thatís how I get involved. And then I started playing - JF: That's who you were spinning, when you were with Doctor Dickie - you spun what music? U-R: As I said, Fats Domino, Smiley Lewis, Ruth Brown. JF: What influenced you to make the transition to dub? U-R: When you say making the transition to dub, the music in Jamaica at this time is changing - JF: Who and what was changing it? U-R: It changed from... you had the ska, Jamaican musicians, and the ska comes to rock steady, which is another form of reggae, to reggae. So, in this way, I was forced to change from one thing to another, because you are doing whatís going on, whatís happening at the time. At that time Iím a young man so, hey, you try to fit yourself in if you are a lover of music. Then, you gonna love every music that sounds good to your ear, you know? Iím home - I listen to everybody! All of them - I know every rap artist that America possesses. You understand - I know of every singer, and Iím talking about young kids, three times younger than me. And I know all of them, because I play their music. I live around young people in my house, so hey, they listen to Alicia Keys, Ashanti, Mariah Carey, Whitney - she is one of my favourites. And so like that, you know. You go with the time. You don't try to dispute or disrespect when a change has come. JF: So something happened in 1975, what was it - you had already gotten your own sound system, and something happened on the political scene? U-R: Yes, well, being a man that grew up in the ghetto as a youth, you have a lot of friends like bad guys, good guys and everything like that. And so the police didnít like the sort of crowd that follow my dance. But in Jamaica you have a sound system, and you have the number one sound system in the country, you are gonna have a lot of different people that come to listen to you, which you have no control of that. You canít tell who will come, because you want everybody to come to your dance. So that was the problem - with the police, not with me! It was too much of a bad crowd following me now. JF: So you met Michael X? U-R: No, I never met him. JF: Because you werenít involved in all of that. U-R: No, no, at that time I was pretty young, just a young kid. I wasnít to much involved in the political thing. Me - I just believe in my friends and equal rights and justice. Thatís what I believe and I do not want to take no part and segregate myself from my friends. You understand? Because look - in this business you have a lot of supporters - you donít know who supports you. You cannot afford to have enemies or segregate yourself from people. I walk down the street, people say ìHey Daddy U-Roy!î and it is my duty to say hello, you know, whatever it is - not in a bad way, just a good way that the people hear me up. JF: So how did you meet Peter Tosh? U-R: Well we grew up in the same area, (unintelligible)... I grew up in Jonestown. Peter Tosh, Bob (Marley) and Bunny (Wailer) live in Trenchtown, which is just a stoneís throw from my neighborhood. So we all know each other. We being musicians - you go to the studio - we all meet each other. We are good friends for a long time. And we respect each other - we never had a problem with no-one. JF: Your first big hit was "I Wanna Wear You To The Ball"? U-R: No, my first big hit was "Wake The Town And Tell The People". And then I have "This Station Rule The Nation" with version, that was my second. On the charts, these two tunes becme number one and number two in Jamaica, on the top ten. And then "I Wanna Wear You To The Ball" a few weeks after that come along and take them down, put them two and three - so I have one, two and three for six weeks on the top ten. "Wear You To The Ball" at number one for approroximately twelve weeks - it was just a blessing. JF: So when were you hanging with Tosh and Bunny? U-R: We didn't really hang out, you know. We hail up each other as we go along. In the studio I went to do "Trenchtown Rock" with Bob, Bunny and Peter, one time they come and check me to put my voice in. So we go to the studio downtown, Studio 17, and we voice "Trenchtown Rock" and it was nice, man, good vibe between us. We don't have no problem at all with each other, it's just straight love. We all were a lot of rude youths at the time, so we lived good. I wouldn't say we were youngsters, because no, we were not youngsters, we just don't take stupidness from people. (We are joined by Ilhan.) JF: So, Ilhan Ersahin, how did you and U-Roy meet? IE: We met... a long time ago. (laughter) I met him 1978, when I bought my first records. I was living in Sweden. I found this record - first I had a compilation called Version Frontline, I think... U-R: Version Frontline, yeah, that's right... IE: And U-Roy had one track on that, on the record, and I was like - "Thatís my man!" (laughter) JF: So that was the first time you heard him! IE: Yeah and then I went to buy the record, I remember I was thirteen years old, it was one of my first records. JF: And when did you meet him actually in the flesh? IE: Two years ago... U-R: Two or three years ago... IE: No - only a year and a half actually, September 2003 I think. JF: And what was the occasion of that meeting? IE: Well I have this band here called Love Trio, among others, and we like the way we mix in different sounds to our sound. Itís very related to dub and to reggae elements and then we had this idea - to try to find U-Roy. JF: And you actually found him? IE: Yes - that was amazing! The bass player, who unfortunately is not here today, Jesse Murphy, somehow told his mother and she had a friend who knew U-Roy from out in California, from Santa Cruz, so within sixteen hours we had U-Royís home number! And then I called, and then right away it was U-Roysís wife who answered first, and she said "somebody from New York City calling!" U-R: And thatís how it is, man. That's how the business is set up. To get in touch with somebody, you have to call Dick, Tom, Harry, Mary or somebody, somebody must find out how you can get in touch with him. JF: And how long did it take you to realise you were going to record? IE: That was the reason. Mostly record, and do two or three shows together, and thatís what we did. It was a fast project. JF: So what's going on now? IE: We started a small fire, and now the fireís gotten bigger. JF: So whatís the project now? IE: The album is going to come out, in 12-inchers... JF: With NUBLU Records? IE: NUBLU Records, exactly. We have a 10-inch promo coming out this week and in September we have the 12-inch, of this project and three other bands... JF: A compilation, a sampler... IE: Four different 12-inchers on four different projects. One being Kudu, one is Forro (In The Dark), one is Our Theory, performing tomorrow, and Love Trio In Dub, with U-Roy. JF: When you were thirteen years old, did you ever imagine you would meet? IE: Yes I did. (laughter) That was the plan. U-R: Itís a small world, you know, you say hey! It's like we're gonna meet, sometime.