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Starkey Banton

About Me

Dj on sounds throughout the 80s and early 90s.93 saw my first relase "lover dread" then "black awareness" start doing many stageshows all over england "Nuh dis di ras" was first real hit in 94 followed by the massive "Jungle Bungle" in 95 followed by many more hits from then Starkey Banton name get global first Lp "powers youth" was released in 96 many big tunes including I&I Saw Dem Coming and a combination with Mykal Roze "Love King Selassie".Stirred up a lot a controversy with a tune called "Nah wear versace". Toured Scadinavia with Freddie Mcgregor also the Carribean and Africa with Gregory Isaacs causing a storm in st lucia same year did reggae sunsplash in Jamaica got a big response from the crowd as well as other artist and musicians.97 was just as succesful touring Uganda as the headline with my band the powers band.Done most festivals in europe always getting good crowd response Geel festival,Rototom festival the most memorable.France,Spain,Italy,Germany,Switzerland,Croatia,Slo venia,Holland,Belgium,Norway,Sweden,Austria, all felt the fire of Starkey Banton.98 done the GuinessFestival in Nairobi Kenya alongside Earl 16 Johnnie Clarke Jah Shaka Sista Aisha Maxi Priest and the late Lucky Dube suprised a lot of people with my performance. Got a gold disc for collaboration with french group Raggasonic toured France extensively with Ruff Cutt band and Mykal Roze also toured with Cocoa Tea Barrington Levy and General Degree. Also with Buju Banton.Did a video for columbia records called "rolling stone girl" filmed in portland jamaica.Next lp was for Mad Professor in 99 entitled "Rasta Mystic" same year i moved to Gambia West Africa carried my sound Stereo Love Muzik.Had a club called Reggae Yard kept dances and stageshows.building the reggae vibes that all who came after me benifited from.Stayed for a few years then came back to england a lot of people said wat happen they wanna hear some new songs so i decided to record again "Joy Of The World" my first self produced works Was released in 2005 on my own label Bantonic records.Toured Grenada with Michel Prophet, Sweetie Irie and Judy Boucher again suprising many with my performance.Did a tour of South Africa in the eastern cape it was so succesful i was requested the following year to do a bigger tour kicking up Cape Town,Johannesburg Bloemfontein and Umtata home of Nelson Mandela.Right now got some new material soon to be released some getiing very good air play "smoking ban" "lion roar" all self produced all who thought i was done think again starkey banton the real ancient lion chanting Rastafari from that time up to the time and more time Jah bless />





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Member Since: 11/12/2006
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Starkey Banton





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Starkey Banton. Italy, 1998. Foto SuperbassThis is the third of several interviews done in the same day, in the backstage of Rototom Sunsplash in Udine (Italy), july 1998. The sequel of the interviews follow the musical line up of that night, with a set showing a slice of the contemporary english roots, strongly supported by the Mafia & Fluxi band. After Aisha's appearance there was an intermission for a change of the stage. The crowd went to the swimming pool area following a great PA free-style performance done by Sud Sound System from Lecce, Italy. When the show restarted, it was Starkey Banton's turn. I saw him perform in London during the summer of 1996 so I knew Italian audience was about to experience murderer!!! Starkey is a consci ous deejay and I consider him to be the UK answer to the Jamaican Bobo dreads. At Sunsplash, with Mafia & Fluxi, Starkey was at his peak, and his performance was absolutely top notch. His style is st rong, straight and essential, and this style fits his powerful roots and culture message. Starkey Banton shot heavy rhymes on the audience while moving from one side to the other onstage, and stoppin g the band when he wanted the audience to hear and understand his significant words over the music.------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------Q:Can you tell me how you started to be a deejay in UK? A:When I was a little boy my father sent me to Jamaica, that's where my father come from, so he said 'You get to grow up' yunno, so when I went to Jamaica I learnt the deejay music, from the dancehal ls, from the juke-boxes, you know juke-box? It was about 1976, 1977 and I started deejay. At that time I was just twelve...Then when I came back in England I started deejay there on sounds, a sound s ystem called Java. I just progress till I started to record and everything started to move on, from those days. Q:So you're born in UK, but you grew up in Jamaica... A: Yes, my father sent me there because my father wanted me to know the place where he came from, so he made me grow there.


Q:Did you record just in UK or in Jamaica too? A:Most of my recordings were in England, because I had a contract with Fashion Records. I did an album for them and I have another album that will be released soon. Currently, I am also working on an album with Mad Professor.Q: And will there be roots materials like the Dub Organizer album? A: Yes, mostly roots: even if I'm doin' dancehall music my message and my lyrics are just roots.Q: What is your opinion about the differences between the UK reggae scene and the Jamaican one? A:The difference really is environment, because it's the same people, cause if I were still in Jamaica I would be doing the same music. The difference is in the UK reggae is not the number one music, reggae is kept underground and in Jamaica it is more highlighted, so the artists are more highlighted in Jamaica than in England.


Q: Can we say that in Jamaica probably you have more possibilities? A: Yes, cause the world is looking to Jamaica, looking for reggae.Q: Can you tell us something about the great 'Powers youth' album? A: What happened was Dub Organizer, he's Chris Lane, from Fashion, he decided to put out some roots music with me. He was a journalist in the beginning and then he transferred himself to producing. H e started this label, he's known me from Lovers Rock and dancehall, but my true vibes are Rastafari and I was dealt with him before. He got the vibes to say 'Let's do some roots music'. I've done a t une for him called 'Tired of living in Babylon' because I'm living in England but my roots are not there, I just want to go back to Africa. That's why Africa is always on my mind. That's my home ... not even Jamaica is my home because Jamaica is Babylon. Everything I do is roots, African message, because many of my people seem to be lost. The whole world started in Africa. We haffe really make p eople know that, no matter like white people, black people ... all of we come from Africa. The title of that album was 'Powers youth' and it refers to a man like me, it's me that have powers, you kno w, always I have a militancy, I would make a stand...Q: Do you mean powers to communicate? A: Yes, powers to communicate, power to uplift people...Q: I saw you at the Weekender last year with the Welcome Band. Is it easy to perform in UK for a deejay like you, with a band? A: Yes, if you have your band. My right band is the Powers Band...Q: Is it a brand new project? A: That day it was a band I just put together, Welcome Band, but they're not really my band. Mafia & Fluxy are a good band, as is the Ruff Kutt Band. These are the bands I usually use. They all know my kind of vibes, deejay, dancehall style. I'm a dancehall deejay originally but since I met the roots, I don't left the roots. I'm versatile: I'm doing dancehall and roots...Q: Do you feel any difference between writing tunes for hardcore riddims and writing tunes for roots riddims? A: To me there's no difference. Riddims, like dancehall, is where I come from. Roots music was originally called dancehall and it was usually played at the dancehalls. The older generation they look pon this music like the boogooyaga, like ragga in the seventies, cause they like the old time music. So it's like now the people look at the roots like classical, and the new stuff is dancehall Prob ably ten years, twelve years time and dancehall will be the classical roots. To me. There are no differences. It's all reggae music to me.Q: What should the audience expect from you on stage tonight? A: I want to give my best to uplift the people, because this is the first time I come to Italy, really and I would like the people to really know what I'm dealing with because sometimes my message is sometimes misunderstood. True I'm the kind of deejay who says '... in your face' and some people doen't like straight talk like that. But that is who I am. So sometimes I get misunderstood. When I s ay I am an Arican a lot of people say I'm a racist or I'm against other people, but I'm not understood. Africa is the beginning, so as it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end.Q: I'm remember your performance at the Weekender where you performed 'Fire pon the queen' to the tune of the UK national anthem ... A: I got into a lot of fights fi doin those things, you know, because some people didn't agree with what I was saying. When I said 'fire pon the queen' I really meant 'fire pon the establishment' whe n I say 'fire fi di pope' I mean the establishment, beacause we all know what they are committed to in the name of politics and religion. So that is the kind of brainwashing I really want to erase.------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------Vibesonline.net - 1998 Back to top page Back to interviews index------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------This page is part of the Vibesonline.net web-zine home page http://www.vibesonline.net web design: Vibrazioni Visive - [email protected] Most High


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Sounds Like: Starkey Banton
Record Label: bantonic
Type of Label: Indie

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