Aswad
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The British reggae band Aswad has attained a level of popularity in their native country as well as around the globe that few other reggae artists have achieved. Twenty years ago,Aswad was the only British reggae band with a strong enough following to perform on the same concert stage as the legendary Jamaican reggae artists Bob Marley,Bunny Wailer,Peter Tosh and Buring Spear. "The reggae that we play," said Aswad bassist Tony "Gad" Robinson,"does have a certain influence and feel to it. Growing up in England,it wasn't just the Rolling Stones and the Beatles that we listened to. There was a strong Ska,Rock Steady and Caribbean influence to the music we wanted to do when we first started out in 1974." The trio comprised of,Brinsley Forde(vocals,guitar),Drummie Zeb(vocals,drums) and Robinson were reggae pioneers long before the genre of music was popular with a cross-over dance hall crowd. In 1990,Aswad's version of the pop song "Don't Turn Around",put the West London group on the mainstream pop charts just about everywhere except in the USA. "We didn't get good mileage on "Don't Turn Around" here in America,"Robinson said,"but,I mean it was a No. 1 song on the international charts. A lot of people know that Ace Of Base (the Swedish pop group),covered "Don't Turn Around" and had success with the song after they first heard it from us." Aswad,a name derived from the Amharic word for "black",was formed by Forde,Drummie and Robinson in the Ladbroke Grove area of West London in 1974. The melodic reggae music created by Aswad featured the trio singing harmonies set to a pulsating bass and rhythmic drumbeat. In 1976 their debut release "Back To Africa" reached No. 1 on the British reggae charts and Aswad quickly grew in popularity within Britain's club and dance hall circuit. Throughout the next 18 years Aswad's music was featured in clubs and discos across the United Kingdom and much of the European continent. As the band grew in popularity,Robinson and his mates ventured into new realms of reggae and dub music and proved that a traditional reggae roots band could originate their sound outside of Jamaica. Aswad's latest album "Rise & Shine" continues the group's trend-setting ways. "We've always done the work we've wanted to do,"Robinson said. "For anyone to call us ambassadors of reggae music,well that's hard for us to say. All we do is go out a play our music to the best of our ability. We do love reggae music,that's what's kept us playing for so long. That's always been our first in inspiration." The dub beat style of reggae music which Aswad pioneered 10 years ago has become a part of mainstream American culture. Many of today's gangsta rappers have sampled the rock steady dub beats and incorporated the music into their rap recordings. Robinson believes that Aswad has influenced a younger generation of gansta rappers,yet he doesn't take credit for the violent themes that gansta rappers often portray lyrically. "Even before we started out in England,"Robinson said,"there was a element coming out within reggae music in Jamaca that had the bad boy attitude. We've all watched the American gangster movies and westerns. We've watched all of the bad boy films." The positive element of Aswad's music is an aspect that Robinson feels outweighs and any negative influences that might come out of their work. "Music has a very good influence on people,"he said. "We were fortunate enough to meet Nelson Mandella a few years ago when he came over to England after just being released out of incarceration in South Africa. We played the Nelson Mandella Party at Wembley stadium and he actually came backstage to talk to the musicians who were on the show that day. "Mr. Mandella said to us the music that people like us have been playing helped him keep the faith buring while being incarcerated in South African jails. He knew that helped to cause the changes that were goin on in South Africa. So we do feel a responsibility to keep our lyrics positive and say the right thing."
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