DENNIS ALCAPONE: Musical Intimidator!!! A cura di: Pier Tosi Scroll to right column for english version Parlando di Dennis Alcapone rievochiamo gli albori del deejay style moderno e gli anni a cavallo tra i '60 e i '70 in cui grazie al grande successo avuto al microfono nelle dancehalls di personaggi come U Roy ed Alcapone medesimo, alcuni produttori coraggiosi pensarono di metterli su disco aprendo cosi' una nuova importante frontiera della creativita' del reggae. Abbiamo incontrato Dennis in Italia ed e' stato assai piacevole chiacchierare con lui anche grazie alla sua ottima memoria ed al piacere che provava a rievocare i vecchi tempi. Negli ultimi tempi tra l'altro Dennis e' tornato ad esibirsi dimostrando che la sua voce ed il suo stile sono rimasti inalterati. D: Come hai deciso di iniziare a lavorare in campo musicale ed essere un deejay? R: Be, sono cresciuto in una zona dove si suonava parecchia musica, c’era una big dance nella mia strada chiamata 20th A Dance e ci suonavano tutti i sounds piu’ popolari come Duke Reid, King Edwards, Count Bells The President, Prince Buster, Sir Mike The Musical Dragon…c’erano tutti i migliori del tempo ed a me bastava solo attraversare la strada. Per me era naturale andare li sin da piccolo ed ascoltare la musica… D: Cosi’ tu ascoltavi la musica dei sounds molto prima che ci fosse in giro U Roy come deejay… R: Si, era parecchio tempo prima di U Roy: io ascoltavo musica sin dai primi anni 60 quando i sounds che ti ho nominato costituivano la scena. Tom The Great Sebastian suonava in un posto a Cross Road che si chiamava Silver Slipper ed io andavo regolarmente anche li… D: Scusa ma quanti anni avevi? R: Ero un teenager: non ricordo con esattezza ma ero veramente piccolo, probabilmente avevo quattordici o quindici anni. Stavo imparando a fare il saldatore perche’ volevo diventare un apprendista saldatore ma avevo sempre con me l’enorme amore per la musica. In casa c’era anche un grammofono a 78 giri ed io suonavo i dischi tutti i giorni. D: Che dischi erano? R: Musica degli Stati Uniti. Una delle tracce che piu’ amavo era ‘Bloodshed eyes’. Ora non ricordo chi era l’esecutore ma faceva cosi’: ‘‘It just because you’re pretty, and you think you’re mighty wise, told me that you love me…’ (Dennis ci canta la canzone). Io amavo quella canzone. Ce n’era un’altra intitolata ‘Red river rock’ (Dennis si rimette a cantare). Mi ricordo ‘Lonely teardrops’ di Jackie Wilson e la musica di Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, i Drifters e gli Impressions… D: Ascoltavi le radio che trasmettevano dalla Florida? R: No, riuscivamo a sentire la radio di Cuba con i suoi ritmi latini…noi in Giamaica siamo molto musicali ed ascoltiamo qualsiasi cosa purche’ sia valida. Una volta c’era un hit che veniva dal Giappone ed i giamaicani lo amavano… D: Quale e’ stato il primo sound con cui hai iniziato ad esibirti? R: Il sound con cui e’ iniziato e’ stato El Paso: quello era il nostro sound, lo avevamo fondato io e un tipo che si chiamava Winston Gammer. Abbiamo costruito un preamplificatore in una scatola di sardine e delle piccole casse e suonavamo con questo impianto rudimentale finche’ non abbiamo ampliato e potenziato l’impianto. Io suonavo con un altro sound che si chiamava VJ The Dubmaster, nel periodo del rock-steady. D: So che hai iniziato a registrare per il produttore Keith Hudson… R: Si, Keith era una ottima persona ed un ottimo produttore ed in effetti il primo a portarmi in studio a registrare. La prima canzone era ‘Macka version’: poco prima aveva registrato U Roy ed una canzone di Ken Boothe intitolata ‘Dynamic fashion way’. Io feci la mia versione di quel brano con il titolo di ‘Spanish amigo’. Keith era un ottimo amico e mi ha indirizzato verso la mia strada. Lui era anche un dentista e tutti lo chiamavano ‘ghetto dentist’. Mi ha trattato molto bene… D: Dove hai registrato quelle tracce? R: Ai Dynamic Studio D: E tu cantavi con i musicisti mentre suonavano o registravi la tua voce su ritmi pre-registrati? R: Le tracce musicali c’erano gia’, erano gia’fatte. C’era ‘Big bad boy’ di Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson aveva cantato sul ritmo di ‘Run run’, c’erano tracce di Keith come cantante e di Audley Rollens che a quel tempo era uno dei cantanti della scuderia… D: Quali erano a quei tempi i tuoi produttori preferiti? R: Ce n’erano molti e non e’ facile distinguerli per la musica che facevano. Studio One era piu’ o meno l’universita’ del reggae, poi c’era Treasure Isle. Quelli erano i due migliori ed avevano i migliori artisti del momento, Studio One e Treasure Isle. D: E quali erano le differenze tra i due come produttori e come uomini? R: Per come la vedevo io, Duke Reid aveva piu’ tempo da dedicarti personalmente. Coxsone era troppo impegnato e non aveva tempo per gli artisti personalmente. Passava molto tempo in giro per vari affari. Duke Reid invece era sempre nei paraggi. Se c’erano sessions in studio faceva in modo di esserci oppure essendo il suo negozio di liquori sotto lo studio, aveva fatto cablare un cavo e messo una piccola cassa nel negozio da cui poteva sentire sempre cosa succedeva di sopra. Se gli sembrava che qualcosa andasse storto, saliva di sopra e sfoderava le sue pistole…eheheh D: E le usava per sparare sul serio? (risate) R: Ah ah ah…no, non sul serio…pero’ aveva varie pistole, aveva il suo cinturone ed un fucile e sembrava un cowboy del far west e quando qualcosa non andava magari sparava due colpi in aria per spaventare i musicisti e fare in modo che fossero piu’ concentrati. Personalmente Duke Reid mi ha trattato meglio, aveva tempo per parlare con me ed io e lui eravamo spesso a chiacchierare mentre con Coxsone questo non succedeva…perche’ come ho detto Duke era sempre li mentre Coxsone in realta’ tornava la sera ed ascoltava le canzoni che avevano fatto di giorno i vari artisti con Sylvan Morris come engineer e persone come Larry Marshall o Enid Cumberland dei Keith & Enid ad organizzare il resto. Loro lavoravano in studio: Sylvan Morris era un ottimo engineer e c’erano persone come per esempio Leroy Sibbles degli Heptones ad aiutare e mettere insieme le varie cose, il piu’ delle volte Coxsone arrivava di sera e sentiva i risultati della giornata. Duke non andava in nessun posto ed era sempre li: era assulutamente un perfezionista ed ogni cosa che faceva era perfetta. Si occupava di persona di fare il master per un disco, ricavarne la matrice e se il test press che ne risultava non funzionava analizzava personalmente l’intero processo per vedere cosa non aveva funzionato finche’ non otteneva esattamente cio’ che voleva. . Era cosi’ e non gli importavano i costi finali: da quello che io ho capito Duke non era nel business per guadagnare soldi, ne aveva gia’ parecchi, era un uomo che amava genuinamente la buona musica. Sua moglie aveva vinto una somma di denaro ed avevano messo su un grande negozio di liquori e lui non faceva la musica solo per soldi e questo e’ il motivo per cui quando era vivo il suo catalogo non era molto diffuso perche’ lui non faceva accordi di distribuzione con labels tipo Trojan o cose cosi’. Duke era un uomo che amava la musica. D: Poteva succedere a quei tempi che un deejay si esibisse non soltanto nei sound systems ma addirittura con una backing band? R: In origine un deejay si esibiva in un sound system ma poi quando iniziavi a fare dischi e diventare famoso passavi ad una categoria superiore: la gente ti chiedeva di esibirti in un vero e proprio show , magari con una band e cosi’ nel 1971 a Kington in un club chiamato the VIP ho lavorato con Derrick Harriott. Non ricordo di preciso come ma accadde che mi esibii al VIP dove la sua Chariot Promotion aeva ogni settimana uno show con i suoi artisti e cioe’ lui stesso, Scotty, i Chosen Few, Rudy Mills ed altri personaggi che potevi vedere li ogni settimana. Quando mi unii a loro per il mio primo show, nel pubblico c’era il manager dell’artista calypso di Trinidad The Mighty Sparrow e dopo avermi visto mi invito’ in tour con loro nei caraibi. Andammo nella Guyana Inglese con la Boris Gardiner Happening come band con Keith Sterling alle tastiere, Tinga Stewart come cantante, Willie Lindo alla chitarra, Larry Mc Donald alle percussioni e questa e’ stata la mia prima esperienza con una band e da li in poi ho fatto solo spettacoli con le bands. Non ho piu’ lavorato con i sound systems e solo di recente mi sono riesibito con il Blood & Fire Sound System. D: Hai lasciato la Giamaica nel 1973… R: Sono andato in tour in UK per due settimane e sono tornato in Giamaica. Quando tornai ebbi un incidente: ero in moto per strada quando un tizio in auto mi taglio’ la strada….Quando mi risvegliai mi mancavano due denti davanti e vedevo i classici uccellini girarmi attorno alla testa cinguettando…Quell’uomo mi porto’ alla Polizia e poi all’ospedale. Per una settimana non riuscii a mangiare perche’ avevo la lingua rovinata. In Giamaica molta gente muore per simili incidenti ma quella volta evidentemente non era il mio momento…Quando la mia salute miglioro’ ricominciai a registrare e feci cose come ‘Wake up Jamaica’, ‘My voice was insured for a million dollar’, ‘Musical alphabet’, ‘Teach the children’. A Londra c’era questo tipo che suonava in un gruppo che si chiamava The Greyhounds ed avevano avuto successo con un pezzo intitolato ‘Black & White’. Organizzo’ un pacchetto di artisti con il nome di Jamaica Showcase che includeva me, Dennis Brown, Toots & Maytals. A quel tempo Sly Dunbar lavorava con una band chiamata Skin, Flesh & Bones in un club chiamato Tit For Tat posseduto da un cinese per cui lavorava la band. Il loro cantante solista era Al Brown ed ebero un grosso successo rifacendo ‘Here I am’ di Al Green. Loro si aggiunsero al tour ed anche una cantante chiamata Cynthia Richards. Praticamente era il primo tour inglese di Dennis Brown che aveva sedici o diciassette anni, era nel 1974. C’era questo grosso promoter inglese che si chiamava Admiral Ken e prese me e Dennis fuori dal Jamaica Showcase, mettendo in cartellone anche Desmond Dekker. Facemmo uno show all’Imperial Ballroom a Londra in Leicester Square. Quando fu il mio turno di cantare mi accorsi che Bob Marley arrivo’ nel backstage. Bob con i fratelli Barrett era in UK per promuovere ‘Catch a fire’: a quel punto dello show lo chiamai sul palco a salutare il pubblico e ho ancora una foto di me e Bob insieme su quel palco. D: Lo avevi gia’ incontrato in Giamaica? Lo conoscevi gia’? R: Si, ci incontravamo quasi ogni giorno perche’ Bob era sempre in giro: quando lascio’ Studio One apri’ un piccolo negozio di dischi a downtown Kingston ed era sempre la ed era la che ci incontravamo quando io lavoravo ancora con Keith Hudson. Quando io lasciai Keith Hudson passai a Studio One ed in quel periodo Bob non voleva nemmeno sentire parlare di Studio One perche’ se ne era andato da quella etichetta anni prima ed era piuttosto arrabbiato con Coxsone. Un giorno a downtown andai al negozio di Randys alla Parade insieme a Lizzy e Bob era li e mi disse: ‘Ho saputo che stai lavorando per Coxsone. Attento perche’ lui e’ un ladro’. Io gli dissi che l’unico motivo per cui registravo per Coxsone era il fatto che avesse i migliori ritmi. A quel tempo Coxsone e Treasure Isle erano i migliori e se volevi avere a disposizione la miglior musica dovevi lavorare con loro. Per vincere le gare ti occorre un cavallo da corsa e non un asinello. Lo dissi a Bob e lui disse ‘Hai ragione’. D: Cosa ne pensi del modo in cui il deejay style si e’ sviluppato atrtraverso gli anni? R: In tutti questi decenni molti deejays hanno migliorato molto lo stile. Mi piace il nuovo stile ma non amo particolarmente le liriche sulla glorificazione delle armi e le liriche degradanti e volgari. A parte cio’ credo che ci siano dei grandi deejays in giro. Negli anni ’80 c’era gente come Lieutenant Stitchie, Admiral Bailey, Yellowman, Welton Irie e se vai ancora piu’ indietro c’erano Dillinger, Trinity ed altri di quel calibro. Credo che la musica debba essere divertimento e vibrazioni buone e questo e’ il motivo per cui fui cosi’ coinvolto dalla musica. Io amavo divertirmi e non deprimere od offendere la gente con liriche depressive, degradanti o che incitano alla violenza. La musica e’ una cosa positiva, la gente ed in particolare i ragazzi ascoltano le tue liriche e c’e’ un sacco di gente che tiene in considerazione quello che tu canti, cosi’ bisogna essere positivi. Comunque a parte cio’ mi piacciono molto i deejays di oggi.     Su Vibesonline.net c'e' anche: Profilo e discografia di Dennis Alcapone Vibesonline.net - 2005 Per tornare all'inizio pagina Per tornare all'indice delle interviste

DENNIS ALCAPONE Dennis Alcapone is one of the true legends of the early deejay style of the 70s. We met him here inna Italy and we're glad to get in our site this fully exclusive inteview. If you want to know more about him in english check this site. Q: How you did decide to work with music and become a deejay? A: Well, I grew up in an area in which there was a lot of music playing, there was a big dance on my road called 20th A dance. A lot of sounds were coming to play there as Duke Reid , King Edwards, Count Bells The President, Prince Buster, Sir Mike The Musical Dragon…there were a lot of sounds coming to that venue at that time and I was just slipping down the road, so it was very easy for me to just walk up the road an’ listen as a little boy… Q: So you were listening to music long before U Roy… A: Yes, long before U Roy, I was listening to music from the early 60s when those people were around…Tom The Great Sebastian used to play into a place call the Silver Slipper in Cross Road. I used to go there… Q: Sorry, how old you were at that time?? A: I was a teenager, I can’t remember exactly how I was, but I know I was young, I was just learning trade, probably I was about 14, 15…I was learning to welding, beacause I started out as an apprentice welder and my love for music was always there, yunno? The house where I lived had a grammophone that played the 78 rpm records and I used to play those 78 every day. Q: What kind of music did you play? A: US music, one of the tracks I loved was ‘Bloodshed eyes’, I can’t hold the name of the artist now…it goes like this (Dennis singing). I loved that song. There was another one called ‘Red river rock’ (Dennis singing again). I remember Jackie Wilson singing ‘Lonely teardrops’, people like Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, Drifters, Impressions… Q: Did you listen to the US radio stations from Florida? A: No, the station we could get was Cuba, playing latin music…we in Jamaica we are so musical, we listen to anything, as ,long as it’s good music, once there was even a japanese hit in Jamaica, and it was good. Q: What was the first sound with which you started to perform? A: The sounds in which I started was El Paso, this was our sound, we started that sound, me and that guy named Winston Gammer (??). We started from a preamp and a tin of sardines a little speakers and we play that little thing until we built from that to El Paso Sound System. Out El Paso I used to play another sound called VJ The Dubmaster. It was in the rocksteady era. Q: We know you started recording for the late Keith Hudson… A: Yes, Keith Hudson was a good producer, was a good guy, Keith was on of the first to get me to the studio to record…the song was ‘Macca version’: he had actually recorded U Roy before and a Ken Boothe track called ‘Dynamic fashion way’, I versioned it as ‘Spanish amigo’, but Keith was a wonderful person, he was a very good guy, Keith always point you in the right direction, he was a dentist by trade, they used to call him the ‘ghetto dentist’, he treated me very good, yunno? Q: In which place you did voice those tracks? King Tubbys? A: At Dynamic Studio… Q: And you were alongside the musicians playing or just voice over a pre-recorded riddim? A: Those tracks were already made…you’ve got tracks like ‘Big bad boy’ by Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson did sing over ‘Run run run’ before him, you’ve got tracks by Keith himself and by Audley Rollens, he was one of the Keith’s singers at the time… Q:Who were your favourite producers at that time?? A: There were so much, it’s not so really easy to differentiate amongst them and separate them…Studio One was more or less the university of reggae music, and Treasure Isle, those were the two big studios in terms of reggae with all the artists…Studio One and Treasur Isle. Q: What were the differences between them as men and producers too? A: As I could see the differences are that Duke Reid has got more time for you, Coxsone too busy, he ain’t got no time for no one, he’s on the road looking after his business…Duke Reid is always there, yunno? When the sessions are going on Duke Reid is in the studio and he have this record store below the studio and if he’s not in the studio he runs a wire down to the little store in order to follow the sessions there. If anything is wrong he’s coming upstairs with their guns blazing…eheheh… Q: With the guns blazing fe true? A: Ahahah…not really…he’s a man that he’s got a lot of guns, he’s got is holster, he’s got his rifle, he was like a cowboy living in the West, when things were not right he often shot a couple of shots in the air getting musiciand scared. Duke Reid treated me better, he had more time to talk to you, me and Duke were sitting and talking, me an’ Coxsone don’t really…because Duke was always there as I said, Coxsone did get back in the evening and listen the tracks that was made in the day by Sylvian Morris the engineer and Sylvian had Larry Marshall working with him and Enid from Keith & Enid fame, they’re working in the studio and Sylvian Morris is a very good engineer, you have people around like Leroy Sibbles from Heptones, helping to get things together, most of the time Coxsone would come in the evening and listen what was made in the day, Duke was always there not going anywhere…Duke is definitely a perfectionist, everything that he does is perfect, Duke would make a master for record, get the stamper cut and if he get the test press and it’s not right he will go back into the whole process all over again until he get what he wants, he was like that, it doesn’t matter what it costs, as far as I can see, Duke wasn’t in the business for gaining, he already have money, he was a man that just love music, beacuse his wife had won some money early and they were allright, he had this big liquor store, he wasn’t doing the music for money and that’s why a lot of people when Duke was alive couldn’t have Duke Reid catalogue, beause he wouldn’t do the business with people like Trojan. Duke is a private man that just love the music and that’s it. Q:It happened sometimes in those days that a deejay would be backed by a band for a performance? A: Originally a deejay would perform with a sound system, but later on you graduate from being a sound system deejay to an entertainer, right because you stepped in from starting recording, you were stepping into a different category, the people ask to come and perform a show and that’s with a band because I did my first show in 1971 in a club called the VIP in Kingston and I worked with Derrick Harriott. I can exactly know but something happened, Chariot, his promotion had a regular show in that stable with Scotty, Chosen Few, Rudy Mills and people like these, so every week you go to that club and you see those guys performing and when I did my first show there, there was a man in the audience and he was the manager of The Mighty Sparrow from Trinidad and he heard my performance and invited us to go on tour across the Caribbean. We went to British Guyana with Boris Gardiner Happening, with people like Keith Sterling, Tinga Stewart was his lead singer, Willie Lindo was the guitarist, Larry McDonald at percussions and this was my first experience with a band and from there it’s just pure band for me, I don’t really work on sound systems. I just do a thing with Blood & Fire with Steve Barrow and Dom. Q: You left Jamaica in 1973… A: To tour England, yes…I left for two weeks and I went back to Jamaica. When I went back to Jamaica I had an accident: I was riding a bike and that man came out from a side road and to the main road I run right in the side…when I wake up I was minus my two front teeth and I saw some little birds spinning around in front of me singing songs…That little man he take me to the Ospital, he take me to the Police Station, from one week I couldn’t eat, my tongue was messed up. In Jamaica a lot of people is dying in similar accidents, so this was not my time, it was the destiny. When I get better and start feeling good again I started recording again and I recorded songs like ‘Wake up Jamaica’, ‘My voice was insured for a million dollar’, ‘Musical alphabet’, ‘Teach the children’. This guy in London used to work in a group named The Greyhounds, they did a tune named ‘Black and white’, he get a package together called Jamaica Showcase which include me, Dennis Brown, Toots & Maytals, at that time Sly was working with a band named Skin, Flesh & Bones in a club named Tit For Tat, a chinaman own the club and own the band as well, his lead singer was Al Brown and they had a huge hit named ‘Here I am’, the Al Green tune, so they came to tour, and there was another singer named Cynthia Richards and she came also in the tour. That’s was Dennis Brown very first UK tour, he was just a boy, sixteen or seventeen, it was in 1974. There was a promoter in London called Admiral Ken, he’s a big promoter in London, he took me and Dennis Brown from the Jamaica Showcase ahd put also with Desmond Dekker. We did a show at Imperial Ballroom in Leicester Square in London, while at the venue, when was my time to took on stage I noticed Bob Marley came backstage because Bob Marley, Familyman and Carlton where there. He was in UK to promote the ‘Catch a fire’ album so I did call him on stage letting him greet the people and that was my contribution to that: I still have a picture with me and Bob Marley into the stage together. Q: Did you meet him in Jamaica before that? A: Yes, we use to meet each others everyday because Bob was always around the place: when he left Studio One he had a shop downtown so he was always there, we always get along, when I was with Keith Hudson, I left Keith Hudson and I went to Studio One but at that time Bob just left Studio One and he didn’t want to know anything about Coxsone, he was upset with Coxsone, one day I went downtown and went into Randys record store in Parade and Bob was in there laying at the counter by this time he told me and Lizzy (at that time I had a partner named Lizzy) ‘I know you bway working for Coxsone’ and he said ‘’im a thief’. I told him the only reason I work there is because Coxsone have the riddims. At that time Coxsone and Treasure Isle were the two biggest studios and if you want to win a race you got to voice their riddims, you can’t win an horse race riding a donkey, so he said ‘Allright’ Q: What you think about the way deejay style had developed through the years? A: Well the deejays over the decades has improved a lot: I like what their doing, the only thing I don’t like is the lyrical content like the gunman lyrics or the degrading lyrics, the slackness, yunno, apart from that when they put their art together they’re very good: from the seventies to now we have a lot of good deejays. In the 80s you had people like Lieutenant Stitchie, Admiral Bailey, Yellowman, Welton Irie and people like those further down, Trinity, Dillinger and on. I rhink that music is fun and enjoinment, that’s the reason why I get involved with it at first place, to enjoy myself, not to depress people with depressing lyrics or degrading lyrics insighting violence. The music is a positive think and people listen to music, the kids are listening to what you’re saying and you got a lot of followers like kids that follow everything you do and say, so you got to be positive. Apart fro that I do enjoy to listen to them.