Equiknoxx cutting dubplates at Jaro Dub Store, Kingston

Marking 50 years of legendary Jamaican sound system Killamanjaro.

Taking mutant dancehall to new realms, Equiknoxx burst into the wider consciousness in 2016, with the DDS-released album Bird Sound Power, collecting recordings made over the previous seven years. With a second LP Colón Man dropping in 2017, the group have since gone on to work with Manchester label and party Swing Ting as well as on numerous VF projects, soundtracking a new work by performance artist Cecelia Bengolea.

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For this film, Equiknoxx went back to Kingston and roots of dancehall in dubplate culture. And if Kingston is the home of dubplates, then Killamanjaro is sacred ground.

Founded in the summer of 1969, Jaro has spent 50 years in the game and is now one of the few cutting studios that supports live MCs to record their own dubplates.

Owned by Noel Harper aka Papa Jaro, the Jaro Dub Store’s relationship with Equiknoxx has seen members of the crew cut dubplates for various reasons – from testing new releases, to playing all wax/acetate sets at weekly night ‘Vinyl Thursdays’ in Kingston, or Soup Kitchen in Manchester, UK.

Made with Forte Media production (spearheaded by the Jamaican track and field sprinter Julian Forte), this video captures the joyous and communal feel of the session, as Equiknoxx’s Shanique Marie, Time Cow, Bobby Blackbird, Kemikal and Gavsborg joined Papa Jaro in the cutting room. Look out for a surprise visit from reggae veteran Luciano.