Preview

Rasites features the talents of Kashta Menelick Tafari (guitar and lead vocals), Jahmel Ellison (bass guitar and lead vocals), Cyrus Richards (keyboards) and Otis Cox-Rodney (drums).

Until the arrival of Rasites, UK reggae hadn't witnessed the emergence of a young band of musicians intent upon writing and playing their own material since Aswad and Steel Pulse first blazed their international roots trail a generation ago. Likened to LMS or Morgan Heritage by some and to Musical Youth by others, Rasites are already being hailed as future stars of the resurgent roots and culture movement, and not without good reason.

Following on from the success of singles such as 'High Grade', 'Bring Back The Rub-A-Dub Style', 'New World Disorder' and a brilliant new version of the Naturalites' 'Picture On The Wall', their debut album Urban Regeneration has all the hallmarks of a future classic. Imagine the youthful outpourings of the Wailers, or the spirited, early works of so many reggae legends besides. Like them, Rasites' music is alive with social realism and joyful spirituality - qualities seldom found in today's music industry, where contrivance rules and originality is so rarely found, those who practice it almost qualify as an endangered species.

Raised in NE London, the members of Rasites grew up with the sounds of JA greats such as Bob Marley, the Abysinnians and Burning Spear. They began their own musical journey at Rastafarian gatherings, where as small youths, they would play conga drums and chant alongside the elders, all the while absorbing knowledge of their spiritual and ancestral heritage before eventually forming Rasites in 1995.

"It's like we were all meant to be together from the day we were born," says Jahmel, whose tall stature is matched by his towering performances on the bass. "We see it as something that was ordained," agrees Kashta, who at the age of twenty is already an accomplished guitarist, having learnt to read and play music from childhood. The son of Melody Muzik's Dawit Menelick Tafari, he's grown up around talented reggae musicians such as Hue B and Hughie Izachaar, and lacks nothing by way of roots credentials. As Rasites' lead singer he fronts the most exciting band of young Rasta warriors since Morgan Heritage came to prominence during the mid-nineties, and he's in good company.

Tonight they include two guest musicians bringing the band up to a stonking 6-piece rhythm machine.

"Perhaps the most exciting debut of 2001, 'Urban Regeneration' is a throwback to good ol' fashioned roots reggae, with soothing harmonies, live instruments and positive messages. Imagine the shock, then, to find out that this quartet is not only British, but they're also teenagers!"  reggae-reviews.com

"The UK's most exciting new roots reggae act!"  reggaevibes.com

Review

For our Christmas bash this year, we dispensed with the mince pies and the dreaded raffle (praise be!), leaving Britain's best young reggae act as the principal attraction.

If my addled memory serves me right, the chosen soundtrack to the lives of many of us 1970s neo-hippies consisted largely of reggae: drop into any crumbling rented cottage in the hills around these parts for a cuppa and a chat, and Bob Marley would get a spin, or perhaps the more extreme smoke-wreathed dub of, say, U-Roy. Trouble was, I preferred American folk and country-rock at the time, and over the intervening years reggae has continued to pretty much pass me by ... in fact, The Rasites are probably the first full-blown reggae outfit I've seen live. Always was a late starter ...

These four dedicated young London Rastas have most aptly been summed up as 'a throwback to good old fashioned roots reggae, with soothing harmonies, live instruments, and positive, righteous messages'. This proved true, and the audience was on its feet and dancing halfway through the first number, and stayed that way for the duration of a near-two-hour show, during which most of the material was drawn from their highly-praised 'Urban Regeneration' CD: 'Live Consciously', 'Disaster', 'Universal Love', 'World Festivity', and other songs, some seasoned with MC rap, speak eloquently and constructively of their beliefs and their experience of life in troubled North London. There is quite enough righteous indignation and social realism built into the Rasites' material for everyone to get the message, so the appearance on stage of the band's manager at the halfway point was somewhat uncalled for; if anything, his polemical diatribe on the injustices heaped on black metropolitan youth in general, followed by an embarrassing 'interview' on the subject with each hapless band member in turn, served only to undermine the strength of the boys' music. Which is not to deny that poverty, unemployment, drugs, and random violence are rife in the capital city - it's just that, as day-to-day experience (and a depressing weekly trawl through the Cambrian News) proves, even rural Wales has its share, too. That's life in Blair's Britain, folks. This seemed like a clear case of a band's 'manager' exceeding his brief ...

Musically, precocious talent oozes from these four (they're just edging into their twenties): Kashta Tafari plays great choppy guitar (nice fuzzy lead, too), while the phenomenally lanky Jahmel Ellison (rib-rattling bass) and Cyrus Richards (a comprehensive keyboards exponent) chime in to provide the band's trademark harmonies. As for drummer Otis Rodney, at 18 the baby of the band, the maturity of his work is simply astounding. Together, whether they're playing it straight or dropping into a convincing dub groove, the Rasites certainly cut the mustard, and were a real pre-Christmas crowd-pleaser.