ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Available for 9 days

Soul singer Noah Johnson delves into the incredible diversity of Black-originated music featuring Welsh talent from the 1980's through to the millennium. Episode 2 comes alive with: The Black soul, reggae and funk band Denym, who faced their toughest audience at an English club packed with leather-jacketed bikers! How Benji Webbe, the Welsh Afro-Caribbean frontman, began on the mic with the Conqueror sound system, with rare early recordings uncovered by Ashish Joshi. Benji went on to front the reggae band Bismillah, record a lover’s rock track with Mad Professor, and then create the ragga-metal sound of Dub War, leading eventually to success with Skindred, based in his home town of Newport. Celena Duncan broke through while still at school, with her single aired on Radio 1. But in the ’70s and ’80s, Black female artists struggled for recognition. In 1989 MC Eric, rising from Cardiff’s overlooked hip-hop scene, joined Technotronic, who's 'Pump Up the Jam', revolutionised global dance music. The home of Black music in Wales was the Casablanca Club and the Butetown Carnival, where Noah’s father persuaded the legendary Bo Diddley to play. Laverne Brown, Wales’s answer to Otis Redding, led soul bands and even played with Jools Holland’s orchestra - becoming a key voice in the ’80s R&B revival. White artists began covering Black music, including Paul Young, with Cardiff bassist Pino Palladino, who played a crucial role in reinventing a Marvin Gaye classic. What Pino learned in Cardiff gigging with multi-cultural artists including Tony Etoria, led to him recording with B.B. King and, D’Angelo contributing to 'Voodoo' — the Grammy-winning album that redefined 21st-century Black music. A Gritty Production for ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio Wales