Shakedown DJs (Gin, Black Obsidian Sound System B.O.S.S and Ash Walker) Nzinga Soundz B2B with Aisha and Yamina

Join us for Deptford X Live, a day party hosted at Busta Mantis introducing live music to the festival – think Lovers Rock, Rocksteady, Reggae, Ska, Calypso, Old School Dancehall, Dub, Mento, or Jamaican Soul.

Deptford X Live features Shakedown (Gin, Black Obsidian Sound System and Ash Walker) and Nzinga Soundz, featuring Aisha from Brazilian DJ duo Aisha and Yaminah. Hosted by MC Mad X.

Shakedown brings you another female led line-up of heavy hitters including a Q&A with Nzinga Soundz, Aisha Mbikila and Ana Beatriz Almeida about Soundsystems & Dances in the UK, Brazil and beyond!

Please book your free Eventbrite ticket here.

Shakedown. There aren’t many Lovers Rock, Rocksteady, Reggae, Ska, Calypso, Old School Dancehall, Dub, Mento, Jamaican Soul nights playing solely the classic records from the 60s/70s & 80s. We will be bridging this older music and delivering it to a newer audience, breaking down the previous barriers of past generations, making a dancehall atmosphere that is inclusive for all regardless of gender or spirituality. Shakedown brings back the love and enjoyment of the dance! We use the music as a means of education for our guests taking them on audible journeys through time, with carefully selected Dj’s, Mc’s and special guest singers.

Sound system culture and the Jamaican dancehall have a big part to play in the modern music scene, and the essence and spirit of Carnival and the dancehall is what Shakedown pride themselves on for a new generation. A lot of people forget there wouldn’t be modern genres without Soundsystem culture from Jamaica and the Caribbean having such a major influence in the UK since the wind rush times. Things wouldn’t have been the same and we’d like to celebrate the Caribbean bearings older genres have had on the way UK culture has developed over time. Playing all vinyl, and with a majority female lineup, we differ from most other male led Dj’s and Sound Systems in the reggae scene.

Nzinga Soundz. This veteran African Caribbean female sound was established in the mid 1980s by DJ Ade (Lynda Rosenior-Patten) and June Rankin (June Reid) and is now one of the UK’s longest running, all women sound systems. Their music selection spans Reggae, Dancehall, Soul/Rare Groove, Soca and incorporates Afrobeats, African, Caribbean, Latin and Jazz and they have played at many festivals, venues and events in London and across the UK as well as in the Gambia, Barbados and Sierra Leone and Paris, France. Venues include the Astoria, Charing Cross (supporting The Mighty Diamonds), Kentish Town Forum (supporting Burning Spear), Shakedown @Southbank, We Out Here and Radiate festivals.

Aisha and Yaminah. With their vast repertoire, that ranges from Amapiano, funk baile, house, afro house, rap, trap, to Brega funk, dub, dancehall, reggae, r&B, arrocha, jazz, R&B, samba/pagodão, this dynamic DJ duo has been conquering territories inside and outside Brazil.  They have already played in Colombia, Berlin, London, Mozambique, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília and Espírito Santo and are back in London for Carnival 2022 and the Deptford X Festival.

Image credit: Lynda from Nzinga Soundz and MC Chickaboo. Photo by Cosmo Hildyard.