Ashanti

Throughout the 1980s Brighton's diverse population and esoteric and exotic musical taste allowed for an explosion of interest in African and Latin music - conveniently labelled with the catchall "World Music".

John Warr and I had both been collecting various styles of music from around the world and in the early 1980s we started DJ-ing at local concerts and club nights under the name The Ashanti Sound System.  We chose the name Ashanti because one of the main styles of African music that we enjoyed was Highlife  - popular amongst the Ashanti populace of Ghana.  The Ashanti name rolled off the tongue and was easy to remember.  We also played a certain amount of Reggae music and many reggae fans mistook the name as a reference to Desmond Dekker's "OO7 -Shanty Town" ("Dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail - in a Shanty Town").

Having worked solidly in local clubs and DJ-ed at some large concerts in Brighton (Fela Kuti, Hugh Masekela, Salif Keita, Thomas Mapfumo, Aswad, Steel Pulse) we had gained a local following and were thrilled when we were asked to present a show on Festival Radio.  We did two shows each week during the course of the special events radio licence.  We tried to present the shows in a chatty, informal and improvised manner.  It was basically two enthusiasts playing records to each other.  It was also great fun to guest on some of the excellent Festival Radio magazine programmes.  This allowed us to talk about whatever World Music events might be taking place during the festival, as well as plugging The Ashanti Show.  There was a real community energy flowing through the entire project.  Everybody was keen to share the experience and enjoy each other's particular area of musical or artistic interest.  We all felt that we were part of the Festival and we were privileged to be in a position where we could attend Festival performances and be an integral part of the event.  

The Ashanti Show was invited back for the Festival every year and we ended up with our own permanent show on Surf 107 when a permanent radio licence was issued.

Thinking back thirty years to those first groundbreaking Festival Radio transmissions makes me feel very grateful to have been involved.  It was an exciting and inspiring time to be a part of Brighton's ever evolving Arts environment.