The Norman conquest

By STEPHEN JEWELL

Surely there could be no better occasion for Norman Jay's Good Times Sound System to visit Aotearoa than Waitangi Day which, as this country's reggae and dub lovers are fond of noting, is also Bob Marley's birthday.

However, while Jay made a name for himself at the Notting Hill Carnival during the 1980s, at a time when reggae and dub were still the dominant sounds to be heard at the London street festival, it was actually Jay's older, Rasta brother Joey who was the roots man. The younger Jay was a soul boy, who grew up on the Small Faces and the Beatles during the swinging 60s before discovering American soul and funk artists such as James Brown.

"I was born into it," says Jay. "Music's been a big part of my family since my childhood. I wasn't any good at playing musical instruments so the next best thing was to play records ... I developed a healthy keen interest in music from a very young age. I was an almost fanatical collector of black music through the 70s, 80s and 90s. But I never chose to DJ, I just started DJing by default."

The two Jay brothers formed the Good Times Sound System in 1980 and originally stuck to traditional reggae fare. Norman then began to wonder what his favoured soul and disco would sound like played through the powerful sound system speakers.

"I didn't want to do the same as what everybody else was doing," says Jay, whose mixing of Western and West Indian influences mirrored pioneer 70s New York turntablist Kool Herc's earlier combination of Jamaican reggae toasting with American funky beats.

"It was just a case of doing it yourself and drawing on your own cultural roots to be able to play the music we wanted to play. No one was going to give me the opportunity to play in their clubs so basically, with necessity being the mother of invention, meant that we did it ourselves by creating and building our own sound system. And the only outlet that we had to play out at then was at the Notting Hill Carnival for two days a year so that's what I did.

"At first, it was difficult. I just had a small band of close friends and family who were supporting what I was doing and it evolved over a 15-20-year period."

But while his name has now become synonymous with the carnival, Jay originally refused to attend the festival and would instead journey to the seaside every August bank holiday weekend to get away from the chaos surrounding his Notting Hill home.

"You probably relate to this from when you were a kid, but the music you hear when you're young, even if you don't like it, is your formative music," says Jay. "The fact that you are later able to make your own mind up about whether you like it or not means that you are more relaxed about it when you're older and you don't have to go. The great thing about carnival, and it's probably the same in Auckland as well, is that there's a lot of diversity."

Jay will be playing at Groove in the Park in the Auckland Domain with former Talkin Loud boss Gilles Peterson, whom Jay first worked with in 1985 when the pair were DJs on London's first dance radio station, the then pirate Kiss FM.

"Gilles and I haven't DJed alongside each other internationally for at least 10 years," says Jay, who played a low-key but memorable gig in Auckland last Waitangi. "I had an unbelievable time in that club. The crowd were so knowledgeable and up for it."

Jay promises to play a similarly diverse selection of music at Groove in the Park. "Quality right across the board from reggae to rap, house and everything in between. Just a mix of what I'm about which is good times. My first thought is always to play to the audience in front of me with whatever music they seem to take to. Primarily in the UK, I'm known as a house DJ which is what I play 95 per cent of the time.

"The UK scene is a much bigger scene which is far more developed and fragmented with loads of different genres. But I've always had a healthy interest in other genres as well."

While Jay has won many DJ of the year accolades from various dance music publications, he received the ultimate honour last November when he was awarded an MBE for services to deejaying and music. "That's the pinnacle of my career," says Jay, almost blushing down the phone. "I'm still lost for words when I think about it, 'How come me?' But I'm over that now. I'm just glad to accept it on behalf of all my peers, contemporaries in the field. I may be the first but I won't be the last."

* Norman Jay plays a four-hour set at Groove in the Park, Lovers Lane, Auckland Domain, Thursday.