The mourning and mystery continues regarding Smiley Culture's death.
The Emmanuel Family are holding a public meeting at Lambeth Town Hall this
evening starting at 7.00pm in the Assembly Hall.
This meeting will update us on what is known so far and garner support for
the continuing efforts to get credible explanations about his death.
TRY TO BE THERE AND DON'T FORGET April 10th (see attached)
D. Thomas
Devon C Thomas
-----Original Message-----
From: guardian.co.uk [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 24 March 2011 07:28
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [From: Devon Thomas] Smiley Culture remembered by Dennis Bovell and
David Rodigan
Devon Thomas spotted this on the guardian.co.uk site and thought you should
see it.
-------
Note from Devon Thomas:
this should be widely known
-------
To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/mar/16/smiley-culture-dennis-bovell-dav
id-rodigan
Smiley Culture remembered by Dennis Bovell and David Rodigan
The UK's reggae community recall their friend, the Cockney Translator
Paul Bradshaw
Wednesday March 16 2011
guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/mar/16/smiley-culture-dennis-bovell-dav
id-rodigan
Britain's reggae community burned their illusions a long time ago but right
across the spectrum there is wave of shock at the way David Emmanuel, best
known as Smiley Culture, died from "self-inflicted" stab wounds
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/mar/15/smiley-culture-dies-police-raid
">died from "self-inflicted] during a police raid on his home in Surrey on
Tuesday.
Back in 1984, Smiley Culture bounced into the nation's consciousness with
Cockney Translation and its Top 20 follow up Police Officer ? a graphic tale
of how he was arrested for possession of "ganja", but evaded prosecution
when recognised as the reggae artist who did "the Cockney Translator".
Following an appearance on Top of the Pops, doors opened for Smiley. In
1986, he made a cameo appearance alongside Sade and David Bowie in Julien
Temple's film Absolute Beginners and he earned himself a TV contract to make
a show called Club Mix On Channel 4. Unfortunately such momentum was to
fade.
Producer Dennis Bovell, musical director of the Barbican's recent Reggae
Britannia event
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jan/30/reggae-revolutionary-bob-marley
-britain], has no illusions when it comes to the law and black Britain. In
the mid 70s, after a sound system dance in north London, he was arrested and
charged under the archaic law of Riot and Affray. Dennis suffered
imprisonment and a protracted Old Bailey appeal before being cleared of all
charges and when I spoke to him on Tuesday night, he was clearly distressed
by Smiley's demise.
"I knew Smiley Culture as a youth," he told me. "His contribution was
invaluable. Smiley united the cockney with the Jamaican patois. He was a
cheeky chappie and his name says it all." Dennis also voiced his disquiet
over the circumstances surrounding Smiley's death.
Sound system selector David Rodigan [http://www.rodigan.com/] told me:
"Smiley was in the vanguard of British reggae MCs because he was one the
first to use London-style toasting on Jamaican rhythms ? branding British
regggae music with its own identity.
"I remember taking Cockney Translation down to Jamaica and playing it on the
radio and Jamaica went crazy for it. That record more than anything else
epitomised what he was able to do. He reflected a new culture, a new society
in which that first generation of West Indians were living. Brilliant timing
and in terms of his abilities as a writer ? very witty.
"Smiley was a pioneer of British reggae and he was paramount in announcing
that development, that awareness, because he did it live and on record. It
was completely fresh. Everything that happened in that period of 81, 82, 83
... for the first time British reggae music had its own identity. The
Jamaicans realised it: they were aware of it and they enjoyed it."
I first encountered Smiley myself, together with his sparring partner Asher
Senator, back in the 80s while freelancing as a writer for the NME. As MCs
they had worked their way to the peak of their profession alongside other
British acts such as Tippa Irie and the inimitable Philip "Papa" Levi. Of
course, they all studied the lyrical excursions of the Jamaican MCs, but
they opted to address the dancehall with tales that were akin to their own
inner city experiences. They reinvented their delivery, an innovation that
peaked with Levi's explosive "fast style". It was a sign of their standing
among the dancehall fraternity that Smiley and Asher were able to work for
the long-standing sound system Sir Coxsone Outernational as well as for the
fiercely radical Saxon Studio International.
Following his chart success with Police Officer, Smiley signed to a major
label, Polydor, but the recordings for which he will be remembered came out
on Fashion Records. The label was a spin-off from John MacGillivray's Dub
Vendor record store and Chris Lane's dub-cutting facility. They operated
from a subterranean studio beneath their emporium in Clapham Junction.
"Fashion was at the heart of UK MC explosion," MacGillivray also told me on
Tuesday night. "We were working with Maxi Priest, Papa Face, Pato Banton,
Macka B, Asher Senator and Smiley Culture. If you put Smiley in a room with
all those other people he was always the star. He had the charisma. When he
was doing TV work everyone wanted to know him. He could have gone along way
because he had the capability, a keen sense of humour and an ability to get
on with people.
"Smiley was the real deal. He had cross-over capability while being entirely
street. He was genuinely representative of his community at that time. He
was a cultural phenomenon ? the lyrics for Cockney Translation were used in
schools. If you were a reggae artist back then there was only one bite of
the cherry. He was the Dizzee Rascal of his time but they were different
times."
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