The traditional Chilean Ska band Chinatown Ska had prepared a great year full of live performances and various releases, but the pandemic said otherwise and like the entire music industry, They have been focused on their digital platforms where they have already released their first self-titled EP, the prelude to his first studio album that -as they claim- will be released before the end of the year.
While in Santiago, capital of Chile, the lack of refinement has been progressive, the city still hasn't made progress in opening for massive music events, so the band has been quarantined since March and unable to play live. Even so, Chinatown have been active and creative, these days presenting a Reggae Challenge through its social networks where different Latin American artists have already participated.
Inspired by the sound of the first wave of Jamaican Ska, "The bullets”-His first EP released in April of this year-, is a preview of the full-length album they hope to release in December. Contains two original tracks - "Oasis Ska", “Early Love”- and the promotional single that bears the name of the EP, "The bullets", song in tribute to people who suffered eye damage, victims of police action during the social outbreak that occurred in Chile in October 2019.
His first studio album - soon to see the light - was made between Chile and Jamaica, bond that was created with the members of the historic Jamaican Ska band The Skatalites in one of their presentations in Chile in 2018. From then on they forged a friendship that resulted in collaborations for the Chilean album and also in a trip that undoubtedly marked a milestone in their lives.. During 3 weeks in Kingston, they recorded the guitars and drums of the complete album, a dream come true.
This production contains 11 songs recorded between Factoría Estudios (Chile), Mixing Lab Studio (Jamaica) y Big Ship Recordings Studio (Jamaica) belonging to the renowned Reggae artist, Freddie McGregor. The material has the participation of two great exponents of Jamaican music: on Drums Trevor “Sparrow” Thompson (current drummer for The Skatalites) and on guitar the talented Dalton Browne, musical director of Freddie Mcgregor, who passed away just a few days ago. further, has the collaboration of Ignacio Rosello, trumpeter of the group Santa Feria, and the engineer Esteban Descalzo, prominent Argentine musician and producer who was in charge of mixing and mastering.
Reggae Chalice spoke with Pablo Jara, managing Director, composer, and founder of the band, who told about the difficulties of these months under a pandemic but always with optimism and eager to continue advancing in their projects such as Chinatown Ska.
"Like all musicians who make a living from playing, we have been well stopped, we can't touch, it's difficult to rehearse, no live performances, as we already know. This year is our second year as a band on stage and we had an EP release planned, discus throw, singles, and it all fell apart. We had to rethink and rearm the agenda of the 2020 and do it all online, the same plans, all planned releases of the album will be digital, there will be no gigs this year but we will release the album anyway ", he asserted.
Chinatown started under the idea of a duo dub steppa, in time it drifted to conform as a ska band. His first live performance was in the summer of 2019. At the end of January of that same year they traveled to the island with the purpose of recording for the album and they succeeded.
Made up of eight Chilean musicians active on the local scene, the project was born from the idea of playing traditional Ska with original themes, where the musical imaginary of the band is based on the Jamaican rhythms of the fifties and sixties, whose main references come from the first wave of Ska as Prince Buster, Laurel Aitken, The Skatalites, Roland Alphonso, Derrick Morgan, Alton Ellis, Lee Perry, Tommy McCook, Don Drummond, Lester Sterling, Jackie Mitto, to name a few. It should be noted that several of its members graduated from the emblematic Conchalí Big Band.
Quarantined Sessions and Reggae Challenge
It has not been easy to rethink work in the midst of this pandemic that is hitting the entire world. Even so, The Chinatown Ska have shown their creativity and ingenuity in this process in which they have been promoting works with collaborations from different parts of the world, all virtual jobs that they have managed to carry out despite the distance and quarantines.
This is how a few months ago they presented their Quarantine Sessions, which consist of three songs available on the band's YouTube channel featuring prominent musicians such as trumpeter James K. Smith, who was the trumpeter of the Burning Spears band for 10 years and also from The Skatalites. Musicians from Argentina also participate, Spain, U.S, Brazil and Chile. “Don Drummond Style” (in tribute to Jamaican trombonist Don Drummond, one of the great references of world Ska), “Ska Boggie Suffle” and “Kingston Ska Town”, released just two weeks ago, Are the 3 quarantined sessions that are part of this project.
For the moment, Chinatown Ska remain focused on finishing fine-tuning the details of their new album and, in parallel, working on Reggae Challenge, an initiative that they launched in mid-October on their Instagram account without much pretentiousness and, according to Pablo Jara, has taken shape and has had a good reception in general, both from his followers and from the participants.
Under a riddim composed by Jara, different artists and musicians have participated with their video version, those that already add eight to date.
“At first we thought of musicians and mcs linked to the reggae and Jamaican music scene., but we made an open invitation and very nice things have come out like Celeste (afro dancer) and his two sons; several mcs and so on, now people from Berlin have arrived and have written and we have invited people from Peru, Brazil and Argentina ", detailed Pablo Jara.
The Reggae Challenge continues and is open to all who want to join by contributing with their style and talent on this riddim. Do you want to participate? Cheer up! You should only record yourself in a video of maximum duration of 1 minute, singing, dancing, or playing a musical instrument in horizontal format, and send the material to the band's email chinatownska@gmail.com.
The arrival of November heralds the imminent end of the year, a 2020 that hit the world in every way and that has forced the Reggae scene to stay current at all costs, hand in hand with technology and social media. Waiting for the release of the first studio album by this Chilean Ska band, since Reggae Chalice We invite you to listen to them and paint this pandemic with the colors and rhythms of Chinatown Ska.
"The invitation is to enjoy music, let the sound transport you to a better place, indulge in the dance, let the feeling of rhythm consume you, live life in motion and with good music ", Pablo Jara ended in a press release.
Check here the Reggae challenge on the band's Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/p/CGSIOf2pfDR/
