Johnathan Cilia reviews a live performance by General Levy, godfather of jungle and the voice behind the iconic Ali G Indahouse intro credits track.
This summer really showed the breadth of live events available at this time of the year. Always a jam-packed season in general, this year had something for most event-interested people. My own destination was Places in Paceville, a venue I’ve only been to a couple of times, to bear witness to the great General Levy.
Remember the Incredible (aka Wicked Wicked/Junglist Massive) track from the intro credits scene from Ali G Indahouse? The track with the Jamaican voice and those unmistakable, pitched ad-libs spitting high-speed slang over a drum and bass beat? General Levy is that guy.
He had recently come to my attention through a single he released early this year called Pull Up, a very contemporary track which allowed his classic vocals to mix with newer elements of drum and bass, dubstep, grime and trap. It’s a great, high-energy single, much like most of his music, showing the General, who’s been in the business since 1988, is still armed and ready to bounce.
So imagine my surprise when I found out he would be playing in Malta. Hosted by the online reggae collective Rootz Island (www.rootzisland.com) and featuring a line-up including local DMC turntablist Twitch and Australian Reggae/Dancehall DJ Mista Savona, I swiftly made plans to procure a ticket and attend the event.
Strictly speaking, I am not a big reggae fan. I like drum and bass and jungle and even dabble in some dancehall, but I hoped the acts would focus more on turning up than burning up. Luckily, when we arrived Mista Savona was mixing some dancehall with some meatier tracks, providing deep-flowing reggae-influenced basslines, an interesting take of dancehall in 2015.
In front of the DJ stand was a raised platform which I assumed was for General Levy, but was at that moment providing the space for five ladies to do all the dutty whining they wanted. The multiculturalism aspect to the event was great – black and white people, rastafaris, dubstep kids, hip hop dudes and rock chicks; I even saw an old professor of mine from the University of Malta in the second row by the stage (if you are reading this, massive big-ups sir).
Mista Savona’s dancehall-inspired set kept the energy up, even after the security removed the unofficial cheerleaders from the raised platform in front of him. A friend of mine remarked he “had never heard reggaestep before tonight, but I like it”, a sentiment I agreed with.
After a rather lengthy introduction to an underwhelming final track, Mista Savona made way for DJ LittleDread, General Levy’s tour DJ. After Mista Savona’s fine mixing of interesting modern tracks, DJ LittleDread opted to play classic reggae tracks, allowing the crowd to sing along and vibe out for a second. While I appreciate the idea, after a hype-building performance by Mista Savona, and this being the preamble to General Levy’s imminent appearance, a bit of a rowdier selection would not have gone amiss.
His energy was infectious, causing mini mosh pits
With tracks like Welcome to Jamrock by Damian Marley – a song I recognised only because it comes with iTunes – and other popular reggae songs playing, the crowd awaited General Levy’s appearance. And then he appeared, among us, and took the stage. He is tall and, while not a dominating presence in the classic sense, his easy-going nature gives him an instant aura. Considering how many older musicians pass through Malta, getting to brush shoulders with one and be a mere metre away as he was on stage lent to a rare, intimate performance.
General Levy kept with the reggae vibe for the first half of his set, with his unique delivery style and pronunciation showing his voice’s deepness and fluidity. But the latter part of the set was definitely where he hit his stride. Suddenly dropping into a quick jungle track, he quickly picked up the pace till the end of his set. His energy was infectious, causing mini mosh pits and an epidemic of skanking I hadn’t seen since the days of Festaħwid. General Levy’s mixture of words and sounds, of all pitches, and his random noises or iconic phrases (booyaka booyaka) delivered with precision at high speeds, all while jumping, provided the perfect marching orders to allow both guys and girls to express themselves freely on the dance floor.
The DJ’s approach of back-spinning every track instead of mixing, however, was a slight dampener on the progression of General Levy’s set. Anyone who has been to drum and bass parties knows what I mean – a DJ will play a track, build it up, let it drop, and then quickly backspin the record and start it over, as the crowd claps/shouts/boos. This is, theoretically, supposed to build hype, especially if it is a track people are waiting for. However, I find that it ruins the surprise, since you already just heard the build-up and drop and are just forced to wait another minute to get back to where you were. And this technique was used on pretty much every song.
Incredible, the aforementioned single that was featured in Ali G Indahouse and helped General Levy cement his place in jungle history, was played four times in total - three times (featuring two backspins) midway through the show, and once again at the end. That song has a great introduction, sure, but I feel four times is at least twice too many.
After a rowdy and loud rendition of Pull Up, which the crowd happily knew the lyrics to, andthe final run of Incredible, General Levy left to sweaty applause, allowing the mellower reggae to begin again. After over a quarter of a century making animated music and delivering his lyrics in such an unorthodox style, the General still delivers his lines incredibly.