Music
Root Source - Roots Sound
Breaking Through From Underground
Spinning The Groove At 1RPH:
One Revolution Per Heartbeat
Historical Mission
Neutralising Nihilism
Since our Ancestors were kidnapped and trafficked Westward, the music has buoyed all our generations’ spirits through the chilling horizons of nihilism. Taking away meaning and purpose is always a mark of oppressors. The punch-drunk surrender to radical materialism has impacted African Heritage culture in Jamaica, England and the world to this day.
The small axe of Bunny, Bob and Tosh cut a big tree down. But they left a little stump behind. Tricky to trump, we got the jump, just you hear and see.
As part of the long and wide resistance against nihilism Abracadia has a sure-fire remedy for that:
Peace to the east and rest to west, reggaematic sound we come with the best, pass any test, loved by the blessed. The time and the hour of musical power, lifting the spirit high. This is a time of great opportunity, open the door Ubuntu community, live one-love is the one little shove, to see the wicked tumble from the rumble of the humble. We never lost!
The Tonic Roots is exactly what comes NEXT.
Take 3. And… Spin it!
The Tonic Roots
Roots Tonic For The Soul.
The Tonic Roots don’t follow that. They know the music is all related and all one song, one love, one heart.
African Heritage music in England too often gets pinned to this niche or that, which can be limiting in many ways.
Their debut album, TreeSongs, uses some of the forms we all grew up on to go places nobody’s been before.
Most of the music is Reggae, with one Monk/Blakey inspired Jazz number and Roots Reggae treatments of Jazz classics ‘My Favourite Things’ and ‘Afro Blue’. One track (‘Blue Maroon’) even runs by the spot where Rock and Roll shoots from the Blues, in a reggae island style of course and with a nod and a wink to Theolonius Monk along the way.
The album has ‘Bluesy’ written through it like ‘Brighton’ through a Jazzy stick of Reggae flavour rock. And with a twist of Funk and hint of Latin, plus deep roots African hand drums, The Tonic Roots are bringing the family together.
Pass It On
The old timers always talked about ‘passing it on’, that torch that lights our way to mental liberation.
Enter a brand new star of the next generation: Max Ayinde is an exciting next-generation pianist with a lot of feel in his playing. Plus he’s a first rate sound engineer too.
When Max Ayinde heard that Remi wanted to record some tunes as a kind of fanfare for his novel he volunteered and the ‘TreeSongs’ album emerged.
It is no surprise that Max and Remi share a musical understanding and communicate so well despite never having played music together seriously before. They are a father and son team.
Turning Tides
As soon as London St Vincent gospelist and guitar supremo Day Levale heard what was happening he wanted in!
A wiz of a stringman with exceptional harmonic understanding and sensitivity, Day brings another huge weight of knowledge and experience to the band.
A seasoned pro, the moment Day Levale swam up out of time’s deep ocean of chance or guidance the whole tide turned and he took the music to the next level. A fit like a fish to water, there was never any question. The Roots Tonics band was founded.
Sound Revelations
Good Vibrations
Picking up where Mittoo, Ranglin and Hibbert left off, the debut album ‘Treesongs: A Windrush Breeze’ brings you the mellow Jazzy side of Reggae with the deepest African roots and a hint of Latin vibe.
Produced in Uganda, Jamaica and London, ‘TreeSongs’ is the real thing: improvised musical conversations between three players with something urgent and meaningful to say, signifying musical statements about the experience of being human today.
The Tonic Roots
Meet
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Sticks and Wind.As a child in London’s 70s jazz scene, Remi was taught drums by whoever was around: Victor Feldman, Michael Silva and Phil Seamen mostly, plus snips and tips from Art Blakey’s lips and more.
Remi’s come far since listening to Tubby Hayes practising cycles of 5ths on vibraphone half the night in the old basement behind Harrods.
20 years later Remi taught himself to play those same cycles from memory, on marimba. That led to recording with the likes of Mad Professor, Johnny Clarke and Barry Isaac and supporting such names as Joseph Hill’s Culture and Freddie McGreggor live through the 80s and 90s.
Windwise, melodica is a new self-taught avenue too. His main wind influences from early childhood: Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. Late teens led to Augustus Pablo.
Now Remi puts it all together with his own unique sound, matured for 50 years like a decent rum.
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Buttons, Bass And Keys.On piano, Max Ayinde carries the swing every time. With the drum-motor running, his bass and keys drive the groove of every song on the album.
As an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, Max Ayinde can jump in on a guitar or hand drum to add that crucial something extra here and there. As an artist he know when to.
Composer, arranger, pianist, bassist and guitarist, as Count Kujo, Max Ayinde led his own successful band on the Brighton music scene for some years before hitting London as a freelancer.
Not only is Max Ayinde a super-talented multi-instrumentalist and composer, he is also a first class sound engineer and recording studio technician with a fine ear for the elements and facets of sound. He really understands the sound that we’re aiming for and can deliver it.
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StringmanAn easy natural as comfortable in a village hall as the Albert Hall, Day is one of London’s leading senior gospelists.
A top flight chorister, Day is also a gold star multi-instrumentalist who brings so much more than just knowledge, experience and competence in guitar, vocals, bass and keys.
Day brings more than just a sympathetic ear and responsive reflexes. His playing is of a kindred spirit and deep in the groove.
Day really makes the trio complete. Whatever Max or Remi start Day will complete, and vice versa, as if they’re all parts of a single continuous instrument.
Ultimately it is the feel in Day’s playing that is so at home on this album. And the rare fluency to play exactly what the music makes him feel in the moment.