The Artists on the Frequency — the station's own singers, bands and sound systems. One act at a time; pick a name to hear who they are.
Southall Green
One-drop and dhol on the same street — Southall, West London.
Southall in 1981 was the most Punjabi town in Britain and home to a Caribbean community that had been there almost as long. On a July night that year a gig at the Hambrough Tavern on the Broadway ended with the pub on fire, and by the morning the young people of Southall — Asian and Caribbean, side by side on the pavement — had made it clear whose street it was. Aubrey Kitson, a Jamaican-born singer who had lived on the same road as the Sohal family since he was eleven, and Harj Sohal, who played dhol at weddings every Saturday, decided that week to start a band that sounded like the street they both lived on.
Southall Green rehearsed in the community centre where both their families went to the youth club. Anita Kalsi brought an organ and her grandmother's harmonium; her parents found out she was in a reggae band from the local paper. Norman Gayle played bass when he wasn't driving the 207, Clifton Dyer played the one-drop light, and Glen Arthurs, a trainee teacher from Hanwell, added melodica for the sunny ones. What you hear is a one-drop with a dhol inside it: a heartbeat with two accents.
Sunshine on the Green is the record everyone knows. Two Families, One Street is the song about Aubrey's road. After the Tavern is the quiet one, and it doesn't shout.
Key tracksSunshine on the Green · Two Families, One Street · After the Tavern
- Roots
- The Green / King Street / South Road, Southall, West London
- Lineup
- Aubrey Kitson, lead vocal and rhythm guitar · Harjinder Sohal, dhol and tabla · Anita Kalsi, organ, harmonium and harmony vocals · Norman Gayle, bass · Clifton Dyer, drums · Glen Arthurs, lead guitar and melodica
- In the lineage of
- West London roots reggae, the Southall community bands, bhangra wedding drums