{"id":114226,"date":"2016-12-03T14:24:17","date_gmt":"2016-12-03T19:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kingston12.net\/?p=114226"},"modified":"2022-11-22T16:16:01","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T21:16:01","slug":"king-viper-sound-carrying-on-the-dancehall-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kingston12.net\/2020\/2016\/12\/03\/king-viper-sound-carrying-on-the-dancehall-tradition\/","title":{"rendered":"KING VIPER SOUND: Carrying on the Dancehall Tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"kv-crew-at-work\"The tradition of Jamaican dancehall Sound System has often been referred to as a kind of mobile disco. The \u201cdancehall disco\u201d was the linchpin for the development of the entire Jamaican music industry \u2013 which today has evolved into reggae and modern dancehall genres. These \u201cmobile discos\u201d actually gave rise to the country\u2019s recording industry. The first local disc pressing plants were set up to press American and British records for Sound Systems. Similarly, the first locally produced discs were produced for the Sound Systems.<\/p>\n

The late fifties saw a significant increase in both the number of Sound Systems and discs producing outlets. Jump Blues from the United States was the dominant music played at the time. Artists like Fats Domino, Rosco Gordon and Balladeer Johnny Ace dominated the Jamaican dancehall. The dominant Sound Systems at the time was Tom the Great Sebastian (the original home of the great Count Machuki) and V-Rocket. By 1960, the Sound System phenomena had expand to include major players Vincent Edwards \u2013 King Edwards the Giant; Clement Dodd\u2019s \u2013 Sir Coxsone Downbeat; Arthur Reid\u2019s \u2013 Duke Reid the Trojan and later Cecil Campbell\u2019s \u2013 Prince Buster the Voice of the People. The large Sounds cultivated prot\u00e9g\u00e9s such as Dr. Dickey\u2019s Dynamic (the original home of the great U-Roy and King Tubby), Supertone the Ambassador, Count Bells the President, Prince Lloyd the Matador and Sir Nyah the Conqueror.<\/p>\n

The establishment of local production facilities in Jamaica \u2013 first Stanley Motta and later West Indies Records (WIRL) launched Jamaica into the record production business \u2013 at first for Sound System operators only, and later for consumers. Records were initially produced with blank second (flip) sides or instrumental version of the song on the flip side. This gave rise to toasting as the DJs quickly learned to \u201cride the rhythm\u201d on the flip side. Count Machuki is credited as the originator of this concept.
\nThroughout five decades, Jamaican music has evolved through several genres \u2013 from Jamaican Jump Blues, to Ska, Rock Steady and now Reggae and Modern Dancehall. However, throughout these decades, the concept of real Dancehall has remained constant. The huge oversize speakers \u2013 usually in an outdoor space with DJs that incorporate a kind of African call-and-response in their toasting as they \u201cride the rhythm\u201d defined what dancehall is all about.<\/p>\n

Today, King Viper Sound \u2013 a Sound System based in Washington DC area of the United States takes the history and the cultural phenomena that characterized dancehall culture very serious whenever they play. Owner and Technical Director Tony Armstrong (Father Lulu) and son Kevin, plus a team of DJs and selectors provide local and regional dancehall fans on the US east coast with a true taste of what music use to be like back in the day when Sound Systems competed for the title \u2013\u201cKing of Jamaican Dancehall\u201d. They have built multiple sets, which allow King Viper to perform in multiple settings simultaneously.
\nArmstrong was introduced to the Sound System during his formative years while living in Jamaica. He actually ventured into the business in 1973 when he built his first system \u2013 Lulu\u2019s HiFi playing for house parties and helping to sow the seeds for Ska and Reggae as a prominent music genre the Washington area.<\/p>\n

Over the years he has remained an integral part of the Washington \u2013 Metro area Sound System scene, either as an operator or as sound engineer for one of the prominent sets. This period included time with Emperor Sound and at the Turntable and the Hummingbird \u2013 two of the first nightclubs in the Washington area that featured a format of predominantly reggae music.
\n\"oversize-speakers\"
\nKing Viper can be heard live on digital radio at kingston12.net every Saturday night form 10:00 PM to 3:00 AM as they take real Jamaican Dance to the World. During this five-hour session, listeners get to enjoy dancehall music in its purest form. The play-list may range from the early nineteen sixties to the Friday prior to the air date.
\n\"father-lulu-at-work\"
\nAs Armstrong describes it \u2013 Each week they use the music to take listeners into the heart of the places – to \u201cmeet\u201d some of the players that to a large extent, define Jamaican culture. King Viper\u2019s main objective is to enable listeners to feel like they are actually there in a space with no walls, surrounded by large, oversize speakers, great music, and good vibes.<\/p>\n

Listeners at home can move their furniture to one side, call up friends and have a dancehall session. Armstrong describes King Viper Sound really simple\u2026.\u201da Sound System that plays reggae music with a calming vibe, that is conscious, but can sometimes hit hard\u2019. But as the great Bob Marley once said \u201cwhen this music hit you will feel no pain\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The tradition of Jamaican dancehall Sound System has often been referred to as a kind of mobile disco. The \u201cdancehall disco\u201d was the linchpin for the development of the entire Jamaican music industry \u2013 which today has evolved into reggae and modern dancehall genres. These \u201cmobile discos\u201d actually gave rise…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[57,58,53,70,72,145],"tags":[323,418,545],"class_list":["post-114226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-artist-feature","category-broadcasting","category-culture","category-djs","category-soundsystem","tag-dancehall-culture","tag-king-viper-sound","tag-sound-system"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kingston12.net\/2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/dancehall-Saturdays-feature-1.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":115663,"url":"https:\/\/kingston12.net\/2020\/2026\/01\/28\/the-echo-in-the-machine-how-ai-redefined-the-music-industry\/","url_meta":{"origin":114226,"position":0},"title":"The Echo in the Machine: How AI Redefined the Music Industry","author":"Sydney","date":"January 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"For decades, the music industry has navigated digital disruptions\u2014from the MP3, the shift away from large production studios to the streaming revolution. 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