Mad Professor on Reggae’s changing landscape
The post Mad Professor on Reggae’s changing landscape appeared first on Reggae Vibes.
Black News 
Mad Professor on Reggae’s changing landscape
On previous visits to Jamaica, Neil “Mad Professor” Fraser focused on collaborations with artistes and musicians for Ariwa Records, the company he started in 1979. His latest trip in June was for relaxation, but he could not help but notice how much the country’s music scene has changed.
The 71 year-old Guyana-born producer and engineer, one of the architects of British reggae, visited the Tuff Gong recording studio in Kingston. He also got reacquainted with old friends such as saxophonist Dean Fraser.
“I’m only here for a few days, but I caught up with a few of my friends. The landscape has changed with the loss of many individuals who helped shape the business, and who were not afraid to express their opinions even when it was critical of government bullies or exploiters,” Mad Professor noted. “The demise of the Lee (Byron and Neville) brothers, the Khouris, Coxsone Dodd, Joe Gibbs and Harry J has left a crazy gap.”
Those were some of the musical giants Mad Professor listened to as a youth in the United Kingdom, where he moved with his family at age 13. The Lees (Dynamic and Sonic Sounds) and Khouris (Federal Records) were leading music distributors, while Dodd, Gibbs and Harry J (Harry Johnson) were major producers.
The absence of men with similar influence, he observed, has resulted in a flood of mediocrity.
“These days the sonic flavour of reggae can be recreated in Spain, Japan, usually in a computer box with synthetic imitators as false as the dreadlocks wigs worn by plastic Bob Marleys!” Mad Professor exclaimed.
An admirer of the hands-on approach Dodd and Gibbs took to recording and releasing music, he worked with emerging and established artistes and musicians during the 1980s, which some followers of British reggae consider to be Ariwa’s most creative period.
That decade saw Mad Professor producing first-generation British loves rock singers such as Sandra Cross and Kofi. As well as deejays Macka B and Pato Banton, all of whom have Jamaican heritage.
High points of his career include the 13 ‘Dub Me Crazy’ albums he produced between 1982 and 2022. And 10 dub albums he collaborated with the legendary producer Lee “Scratch” Perry, the first released in 1990.
“Lee is one of my teachers. A very smart man with a powerful mind that never stop work!”, Mad Professor said of Perry, who died in 2021.
Mad Professor is scheduled to perform at shows in France, the United Kingdom and Canada in June and July.
(Photo: Neil “Mad Professor” Fraser and Dean Fraser)
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