Breaking Down Some Of The Dub In New IR Deeder Zaman Video ,DR Das & Word Sound Power :The Bant Singh Project

Famous Lion Of Judah statue in Addis Ababa , Ethiopia

The new IR video for Deeders “brothers and Sisters “deliberately doesn’t have exotic images of Africa ..ie no wildlife inexplicably appearing in the middle of a scene …but in a very quiet dub way if you look carefully  you will catch some images with real dub significance …like the famous Lion of Judah statue in Addis Ababa  which has in some cases been responsible for inspiring many iconic images that can been seen in the reggae world like the image below

“As The Veneer Of Democracy Starts To Fade ”  was the classic album by Mark Stewart & The Mafia produced by Adrian Sherwood .Released on the ON U Sound label it has inspired many subversive actions and musicians …as part of our series IR Ital Roots Dubessential series IR has created visual mixes of  album,books,subversive arts that some of us feel are essential tools for dubversion..In this stil from the new IR Deeder video Ethiopian idren is  seen wearing an Ital Roots Dubessential t shirt featuring Mark Stewart

IR Dubdem's visual remix of Mark Stewart's " As The Veneer Of Democracy Starts To Fade "

ethiopian idren wearing IR remix of classic mark Stewart album cover " When The Veneer Of Democracy Starts To Fade "

IR Visual Remix of "African Anarchism The History Of A Movement"

When making a video in Africa one is confronted  by some of the very stereotypical images and narrow  concepts people worldwide have about Africa …. military wars ,despotic dictatorships, widespread famine , beggars everywhere ..etc etc

sometimes it necessary to search out and find some alternative realities & points of view …” African Anarchism The History Of A Movement ” by Sam Mbah and E. Igariwey

looks at the history of those activists in Africa whose focus has been on  collective anti authoritarian  social activities as opposed to the dynamics that has created power obsessed  despots like  prime minister Mugabe in Zimbabwe.Its a side of African history and a critique of authoritarian politics by Africans that doesn’t receive much attention .IR remixed the cover of the book for our Ital Roots Dubessential series .In the IR Deeder video you can see one of the dancers in the Ethiopian crew ” The Breaks ” wearing this t shirt .”The Breaks” are a crew of young Ethiopian dancers IR  came across . Very talented and humble  IR was impressed by how they interacted among each other .During their practices it was lovely to watch how they spontaneously   and effortlessly  pair off  and organise  their dance routines .Sometimes the community space that they practised in would be jam packed with other dancers who would come to learn moves from them. The space would be filled with loads of  dancers in a very chill way teaching each other moves and enjoying themselves and all of this without a single ” adult supervising ” them in sight . Very dub! These high school students took their school work and learning very seriously and IR had some very dub conversations with them about the importance of learning .Even though they came from humble circumstances no one in the crew ever put out their hands to IR begging anything .One of the things IR perceived is that this was a talented group and a very nice set of people very open to learning  but they were in front of many obstacles to get opportunities .This was especially since they didn’t have friends and ” connections ” in high places or in the media or music industry .We felt they were deserving of an opportunity .

members of Ethiopian dance crew "The Breaks" during filming of IR Deeder video

IR/dubdem visual remix of "Parable Of The Sower" by Octavia E. Butler

Octavio  E. Butler created   classic science fiction work….Underground Resistance is a fan of her work as many of us are .Quite simply she is a fierce writer and dub radikal! We love these quotes we came across on her work

Lawrence L Johnson  “Forget about star trek, that is kiddie stuff compared to Octavia . Bulter”

Nnedi Okorafor

“Feb 25   , 2011  .Today is the 5th year anniversary of the Great Octavia E. Butler‘s death. go out and read her books, they will change your world.”

One of the great things about Octavia Butler’s work is her dissection of the working of the money world , race and gender roles .Some of us love her subversion of gender roles and we tried to dub some of this into the “Sisters and Brothers ” video. Here in a still from the video you see an Ethiopian man cutting onions for a traditional meal. Cutting onions is usually a role that women do  in Ethiopia so we decided to subvert that .

Ethiopian idren wearing IR Octavia E. Butler remix t shirt cutting onions in scene from IR Deeder video

In fact we decided to subvert traditional gender roles in Ethiopia even further .In the video the men are the ones cooking and sewing and are the one  receiving knowledge and learning from the women inverting the traditional roles of men as the teachers and the transmitters of knowledge .The women in this video are the ones  who seek out knowledge about the death of Galdino Jesus Dos Santos the indigenous Pataxo man in Brasil who was set on fire as a ” joke ” by the sons of prominent judges and lawyers in Brasilia.After learning about the case and reading about how others in the world have organised concerts, made t shirts , banners ,posters ,handing out flyers  talking about what happened to Galdino;they decide to do the same in Ethiopia .They are the ones taking action.

Ethiopian sistren in IR Deeder video who outraged upon learning about story of Galdino takes action to spread the word about his case in Ethiopia. In the video she explains in the local language Amharic about Galdino.

On U Sound artistDeeder Zaman performing with Dubdem Soundsystem in Brasil at a gig to remember Galdino

Banner to remember Galdino Jesus Dos Santos (1952-1997) placed on top of buillding in Lapa, Rio de Janeiro Brasil by Labomb & IR

Wikkid bassist,remixer & IR producer Dr Das in a still from the new IR Deeder video. Dr Das did a remix for the very first IR release IR1 a blue 12 " vinyl given free to the public in Brasil and which honoured Galdino & indigenous resistance in Brasil .

 An integral part of IR work is constantly looking outwards and trying to make the connections between different forms of downpression happening in various parts of  the world. A while back  IR conspirators Dubdem Soundsystem & Mapuchedub posted a clip on their site from Word Sound Power :The Bant Singh Project  .This is a dub righteous project whiich among other things uses poetry and music as it focusses on some of the often unspoken about  injustices in India. They have an excellent website word sound power and it  is  well  worth checking out  ! On the site you can learn more about dub conscious  musicians  like Delhi Sultanate. Well as the dub would flow we just received a remix that Dr Das has done for the track “Into The Fire :The Bant Singh Project” .Its an astounding  dub tornado of a remix with massive bass  and maximum impact !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And finally …last but not least the video that has been the subject of most of this post ” Brothers and Sisters” by Deeder Zaman.This is a special mix Deeder made just for our IR 25 Dubversive album.Special big up to Deeder for all the dub work he did so tirelessly  in Brasil bringing the subject of Galdino into public consciousness.Now if you are wondering how this video filmed & edited  in Ethiopia   got on to the internet..well its classic IR dub , people in different countries working across the enormous digital divide , dub relaying files , messages , materials across borders .Special dub shout out to Sister Dub, Mapu,Tapedave ,Dubdem, Jahteecha & Senor Acai.For those of you outside of Brasil who agitate on behalf of Galdino and wonder what impact your actions have ..well we came across an interesting passage from the leaked cables released by Wiki leaks .The American embassy in an assessment of Brasilian foreign policy wrote that internally the Brasilian government was highly sensitive about how their actions in regards to their indigenous populations and the Amazon were percieved internationally ……It is our hope that this video will be broadcast on Ethiopian national television …..now does Brasil have an embassy  in Ethiopia which is the country that is headquarters for many very important African political organisation ? YES IT DOES ……..nuff said.

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