Breithorn 4164 meter

It is not easy to climb a 4000’er mountain with a slight fear of heights. With my lack of alpine climbing experience I had joined a local mountain guide and small group. From the Klein Matterhorn cable car station (3883 meters) it is a few hours' climb to the top. So you actually climb a vertical difference of 281 meters. The summit itself turned out to be a small plateau of a few square meters with a cliff of about a thousand meters on the other side. Because of the extreme storm that day, I was not very comfortable on the top. I had the feeling that I could blow into the abyss any moment. After a few minutes, the guide summoned us to prepare for the descent in the lee, a few meters below the top. He hadn’t often experienced such a strong wind, he told us.

The Swiss Alps, undated.

Marokko road trip: Casablanca - Merzouga

Via Marrakesh (مراكش), Ouarzazate (ورزازات) en Zagora (زاڭورة). Januari 2009.

Erg Chebbi zandduingebied van 8 bij 25 kilometer met toppen tot 150 meter hoog.

Tagine slow food in Merzouga.

Tagine met groente.

Satellite image of Erg Chebbi. USGS, Public Domain. - United States Geological Survey

Dancehall reggae

From the first hard hitting digital beats of Shabba’s "Gal Yuh' Good" I was hooked. It was 1991. Ninjaman was a rising star and a year later, in 1992, Buju Banton would release the album ‘Mr. Mention’ produced by Donovan Germain.

By the early 1990s reggae music had evolved into dancehall with influenzal producers like Bobby Digital and King Jammy. Years before in 1984 King Jammy and Wayne Smith developed the first computerized sound based on a pattern found on the Casio MT-40 home keyboard. The Sleng Teng riddim was an instant hit in the dancehall.

By the early 1990s riddims were often digital, performances more aggressive and extravagant. The lyrics explicite, Yellowman experimented with slackness, Ninjaman adopted gun talk lyrics, not perse glorifying violence, but as a metaphorical language. Dancehall reggae is machismo in overdrive.

My favourite, but controversial, artist is Ninjaman, born as Desmond John Ballentine in 1966. Ninjaman recorded his first hit single in 1987. Between 1989 and 1992 Desmond cemented his career through an unique style of performing lyrics. In the early 1990s he ruled dancehall and sound clash. In 2017 Desmond was convicted to a life sentence for the 2009 murder of Ricardo Johnson.

Spots Road Show

In Amsterdam a Dutchman from Suriname (artist name: Daddy Dan) set up a Jamaican style sound system called Spots Road Show. He held regular shows at Cafe De Kroeg (Lijnbaansgracht). The Spots Road Show has now faded from memory, even Google doesn’t hold any record of it. I was a regular at the shows, while it lasted. It was a narrow place with a tiny dance floor. The speakers were stacked from floor to ceiling. The heavy bass literally shook the floor as the needle hit the groove.

During the nineties, as I was deciphering the Jamaican patois, I grew angry over the often homophobic lyrics of Jamaican artists. At one point I stopped visiting live concerts because of this. Shabba Ranks was dropped by Epic records in 1996 due to his homophobic views which basically ended his career.

I still love dancehall reggae though. The music is ingrained into my being.

Buju Banton’s first album: Stamina Daddy.

Shabba Ranks. First international album “As Raw as Ever” produced by Bobby Digital

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Discography

Buju Banton - Song: Quick. Album: Stamina Daddy. Year: 1992. Stalag riddim.
Buju Banton - Song: Murderer. Year: 1993. Far East riddim. Producer: Donovan Germain.
Shabba Ranks - Song: Dem Bow. Album: Just Reality. Year: 1990. Poco Man Jam riddim. Producer: Bobby Digital.
Ninjaman - Song: My Weapon. Year: 1990. General (1) Riddim (1967). Producer: Mr. Doo.
Ninjaman - Song: Permit to Bury. Year: 1991. Soap riddim. Bobby Digital · Digital-B.
Sizzla - Song: Solid as a Rock. Year: 2002. Cuss Cuss riddum. Producer: Robert ‘Bobby Digital’ Dixon.
Capleton - Song: Cold Blooded Murder. Year: 1993. Far East riddim. Producer: M. Johnson.
Capleton - Song: Slew Dem. Year: 2003. Bellyas Riddim.

To be expanded..

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The producers

Robert Dixon, a.k.a. Bobby Digital (1985)

Donovan Germain (middle) in Penthouse studio (1990s)

Donovan Germain and Buju Banton in the early 1990s.

Prince Jammy or King Jammy

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Onwards

By the middle of the 1990s, Buju Banton embraced the Rastafarian faith. Obviously there was more to life than slackness and gun talk. In 1993 deejay Pan Head was shot in the head, which led Buju to write the song “Murderer”. Capleton recorded "Cold Blooded Murderer” in the same year. Pan Head’s murder shocked the music community of Kingston.

With Buju Banton’s philosophical album 'Til Shiloh' a new brand of dancehall emerged. Now artists like Capleton, and Buju were moving away from their early work and were soon growing dreads.

Capleton. Born Clifton George Bailey III in 1967.

Buju Banton

Mauerfall

Not exactly the 9th of November 1989, but a few months later. I was staying for a couple of weeks in East-Berlin in an apartment owned by an East German acquaintance. I remember the street name but not the name of my long lost friend: Grünberger Straße. Things were cheap in the DDR and I bought several books on movie director F. W. Murnau (1888 - 1931) who directed innovative German Expressionist movies like: Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922), Der letzte Mann (1924), Faust (1926) and Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931). The rest of my time in Berlin I spent wandering about the dark streets of the Eastern part of town and eating raw Beefsteak Tatar mit Eigelb und Zwiebeln.

Another artist friend from Berlin gave me a little drawing he made. It depicts an old tram in the dim city lights and the text: "Fest Halten!" But nothings stays the same. Every wall will fall, eventually.

This moment was a turning point for Europe. I was happy for all the East Germans I met on my travels in Eastern Europe in the years leading up to this moment. The frustration they felt before November 1989 had been clear to me. Suddenly their world became much larger - literally. In 1990 with the German unification the former DDR became a member of the European Economic Community (EEC), and from 1993 onwards a member of the European Union. In 2004 most Eastern European countries became members to be followed by Bulgaria and Romania in 2007.

Grenztruppen der DDR

The strange world of F. W. Murnau

Gerlachovský štít

During a journey to Czechoslovakia in 1988 with my friend Roger Overall we ended up in the High Tatras. After a few days of hiking in this compact mountain range we thought it was a good idea to hire a mountain guide and climb the highest peak: Gerlachovský štít (2,655 metres).

For two 19 year old guys with no mountaineering experience whatsoever, this was a rather challenging climb. The first confirmed ascent was only made in 1834. I remember it was a real scramble to reach the peak. The worst part was the descent. When we almost reached a village there was a steep cliff, several dozens of meters deep, with just an iron chain to hold on to. There was no turning back.

YouTube screenshot

Photo Kristian Slimak published under CC BY-SA 2.5.

It is impossible to recreate the route we took. I’m sure it was the easiest route, probably with ascent from Velická Valley and descent into Batizovská Valley.

19 year old me in the High Tatras.

View of a mountain pass we had to climb, unsecured and without any prior mountain experience. This mountains pass was a defining moment in my life. Despite having a slight fear of height, ever since I have been dreaming of mountains.