THE 1970s is considered by many musicologists to be the Golden Age of the sound system. Among its leading players was Michael Gordon and Emperor Faith.

Known as Mikey Faith, the loping six-footer manned the turntables for the first time in 30 years on August 6, when he played at veteran session guitarist Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith’s birthday party.

This evening, Gordon plays at Smith’s St Andrew home to mark National Hero and Pan Africanist leader Marcus Garvey’s birthday.

The bespectacled Gordon, 68, does not take kindly to talk of a ‘comeback’. He admits a reason for testing the waters again, is the global demand for the classic sound system set-up.

“Yuh have a lot of people calling an’ asking if I still have mi music ’cause foreigners especially Europeans and Japanese want my kinda music, so I started thinking about it,” Gordon told the Jamaica Observer.

On the flip side, naysayers contend that sound systems have moved on from the dub plates and vinyl records fashionable in Emperor Faith’s heyday.

“They say people don’t like that kinda thing again. And if yuh play that, I going to be the only one in the dance,” he said.

Jamaica’s sound system culture was born in downtown Kingston during the late 1940s. ‘Sounds’ from around the world play the largest European reggae festivals annually, including Geel in Belgium and Rototom in Spain.

Gordon, who worked in real estate during his break from music, has been to dances where the new wave of sound systems play.

“Every generation have their own music, and some have nice beats. But a lot of those beats are old rhythms they do in their fashion, so I can relate to some of it,” he said.

Michael Gordon did not have the urban upbringing of the average sound system owner. Raised in middle-class Vineyard Town, he attended Wolmer’s Boys’ School for which he played Sunlight Cup cricket.

He later earned a degree in business from American University in Washington DC. Returning to Jamaica in 1965, he got involved in music through regular visits to Mortimo Planno’s Rasta ‘lectures’ in Trench Town, a hub for the period’s top artistes.

In 1968, he purchased Sir Faith, a small Rockfort ‘sound’ he transformed into the champion Emperor Faith which featured in many a clash with rivals like Taurus, Tippa Tone, Studio 54 and King Tubby’s.

Sound system clashes are a thing of the past and many of his contemporaries have either died or migrated. Michael ‘Mikey Faith’ Gordon is winding up for another run with Emperor Faith.

“It’s what I love most, it’s in mi blood.”