Producer Alkebu-lan (left) with singer Nkosi.

Ansel Collins' Double Barrel is one of those roots reggae staples that musicians and roots music lovers have no problem returning to again and again. Still in the biz, Collins is looking to put out a new album, composed of soul-stirring organ work and haunting vocal-free arrangements like Emperor Dessalines and Nzinga.

Relative newcomer Nkosi has a similar Afro-centrism in his lyrical attack, but with more open arrangements.

Little wonder that both are working with the same producer. A classic multi-disciplinary figure, Alkebu-lan has at various times worked as sound system selector, operator, journalist and musician, but in our recent conversation, he says he's firmly focused on producing. In addition to the aforementioned two, Alkebu-lan was also responsible for the sensational techno-driven remix of Fanton Mojah's Fire Child (he conceived the original too), he's also working with percussionist-vocalist and local pioneer Scully, and for good measure Third World strings maestro Stephen 'Cat' Coore.

And he's fashioned an interesting modus for exposing them: two distinct labels. Alkebu-lan Sounds from the Continent (yes, a mouthful) handles Nkosi and Scully's releases (as well as some of Collins') while Mswati Sauti pushes out the Fire Child and other 'one-off' efforts.

Explaining these dualities, he says, "As a producer, I don't want to do anything disposable. I'm in this for the long haul. But in order for that to work and to be feasible for me and for the artistes, I have to look at the broad international market and find ways to put the kinds of product that different sectors of that market will respond to."

Hence a techno Fanton, which has attracted interest from such disparate territories as Italy and Australia, and the Nkosi single Different World, which has caught the ear of A&R men out of the US and UK.

The young producer is not overly fazed, though, by the attention. "What you find with reggae in the international market is that you have peak-and-valley cycles. Things hit a high and artistes get attention and do well for a time and then it peters out. It's peaking again now, but I really want to be involved with sustaining it this time, because for all reggae has achieved, it had not before now really been a mass market music in terms of unit sales. So we're taking our time, getting our product right and then getting into as many of the right hands as possible."

In fact, while he recognises the vagaries of the business, Alke laments the 'riddim-dependency' that still grips contemporary Jamaican music. "The riddim thing don't allow you any room to create - if you check it now, new guys in the business don't even come to you with a song - they just want a riddim."

Similarly, he says, some engineers have difficulties mixing his productions, given the multiple instrumentation.
Still, the love of the music, and the recognition that a structured yet dynamic approach can pay off, keeps him in the struggle. "It's a balance between the commercial and the artistic, but we know, as Africans, where we lean to more."

... Female Artistes

Top 10 videos of 2008

Top 10 Artistes Off the Radar for 2008