Tubby's and politics...

Here's a link between our two last books, King Tubby's biography and Reggae And Politics...

ABENG was a far-left underground publication that played a key-role in the late 1960s. They were the first ones to really talk about Rasta as a political force and a cultural challenge. Some "sufferers" (a word and a concept very important during the 1972 elections) were writing in their pages... Police brutality, music, politics. Everything was described in this short-lived publication (even the role played by... juke-boxes! in the struggle).

Artists like Prince Buster or sound systems like Buxie's adevrtised in Abeng. In one issue, we find a wonderful news regarding the "postponement of a dance" (illustration). Sock and Macko were very sorry to announce that the dance planned for August 17 was postponed to Sept. 21st. 1969. The last line reads:

" SOUND WILL BE PROVIDED BY THE FAMOUS SOUL TUBBY'S."

Already "famous" (U Roy had joined in 1968, when the sound turned high-powered), Tubby's sound system (or Soul) was already at the heart of progressive music in Jamaica! And Abeng at the heart of culture and politics.