It was on December 17th 1994 when Buju Banton's "Murderer" on the Far East Riddim blared out of the speakers to mark the dawning of a new era here in Leipzig… and the original Far East Soundsystem is gearing up again for an exclusive 10 Year Anniversary Bashment on Dec. 24th 2004 at Leipzig's Distillery!
Nadine talked with General Ralf, founder and Selector of Far East about the beginnings and his expectations for this unique show…

Germaican Observer: The Far East Soundsystem was the first in East Germany, where did you get the idea from?
Far East: In spring 1993 I watched David Rodigan play a show in Wuppertal and when he went on stage I was amazed because suddenly everybody got wild, I heard whistles and I saw people putting up their lighters... there was a song he played "She seh she waan di Penis" and I was struck by what kind of lyrics the people were singing and I thought I was in another world, it was just great!
In 1994 I was at the Popkomm (music fair...) in Cologne and Dreadbeat (Veteran Sound from Cologne...) played. Gerd Gummersbach the Sound owner and Gentleman as the MC were on stage and they played the same riddim over and over again and I was standing with my back to the stage so I didn't see anybody and didn't know it was a Soundsystem playing, I was just listening to the same riddim over and over again. The next day I went to Gerd Gummersbach' record store "Music Works" (by the way I would like to big up Gerd Gummersbach for having the store at the time) and bought two 12" on the Sleng Teng riddim and when I arrived home and played them I knew that I wanted to have my own Soundsystem...

G.O.: How did you come up with the name Far East?
F.E.: That was easy, because the riddim Far East was popular at the time, Buju Banton had a hit called "Murderer" and there was Coco Tea's Tune In, they were some of the few records that I had, because I didn't have many records at the time. It was shortly before Christmas 1994 that I went to Music Works again and he had the original Far East on the Studio One label and they were rare at the time and on my way home I thought well we live in former East Germany and the name Far East Soundsystem had some power.

G.O.: When you played, did you play by plan and did you actually plan to achieve something by having a Soundsystem?
F.E.: For my first 3 shows as a DJ I played every record that I had, I couldn't think about what I was going to play because I only had records that would last me 11/2 or maybe 2 hours and I needed to play some other stuff in between to fill, but I definitely wanted to go for Dancehall at that time and my plan was to do a full Dancehall night in the future.

G.O.: Pionear (back then under the pseudonym Lanity...) and you were the Far East Soundsystem tell me about that collaboration.
F.E.: Pionear was the main man for Reggae in Leipzig at the time already and the first time I played with the soundsystem he came up to me and I didn't know him at the time and I felt kind of blessed because he was in a popular band and I was a small DJ that nobody knew so I was honoured that he was interested in what I was doing and he was interested in playing with me. I realised that his heart was with the music that I loved and... one of my most memorable shows was when we palyed in Halle (S.) in 1995 and I played Merciless's "Mavis" and he took the volume of the song down and screamed "Romantic" in the microphone just like Merciless would and I knew that we were up to the same thing musically...
The most important thing with playing with Pionear though was the friendship that developed between us.

G.O.: What was it like for you the first time you were in Jamaica, seeing how the Djs there on the Soundsystems perform?
F.E.: Wow, it was like being finally home... before I had lived in Manchester in 1995 for about 7 months and on friday nights I would visit the West Indian Sports and Social Club where a lot of Soundsystems played and I was freaking out there. I liked the humour that the soundsystem scene had... The first Sound that I saw in Jamaica was Stone Love and as I said already it was like coming home...

G.O.: The Far East Soundsystem played with Gentleman at his first show in Leipzig back in the 90's, what was he like and do you see much difference to the Gentleman today?
F.E.: He came in 1995 to do a show with Silly Walks (Veteran Sound from Hamburg...) and he did MC with us also even though he was booked with Silly Walks... We did have the energy you know... The show he did in 1997 was together with Messer Banzani and his first one with the band (founded by Pionear as a sequel to the Far East Sound and today kind of popular under the name Far East Band...) It was also stunning, it was full of energy, vibrant and full of love and I think he hasn't changed.

G.O.: Do you think that there is much difference between the music then and now?
F.E.: I wouldn't say so much difference when I started, in Jamaica they began using old Studio One samples, that was the major difference to the music that was played in the late 80's early 90's... I think of course the riddims have gotten rougher over the years but that always happens so I wouldn't say that is a big difference.

G.O.: Dancehall scene then and now, what differences?
F.E.: When we started there was a different crowd of people that was attracted, when we started our parties there were people coming from all over the place... there was people who listened to Rock music, Punk music even Techno DJs would come because they knew there was a good vibration, back then we did actually crossover-events. There was a lot of fun.
If I see the dances now, I see people who come especially for the music and who are very into the music, they know the music which people back then didn't, so maybe now they appreciate the music more... in the past it was just fun and being caught by what was happening there... that's why Pionear's role was so important back then because he is unique in being able to motivate, no other MC I have met outside of Jamaica has the ability to make people who have never heard of the culture before push up their lighters, I saw everybody in the crowd doing the things he said, he was able to command the crowd, he could move them, he could touch them.

G.O.: Was there anybody who inspired you, a role model...
F.E.: I rember Pionear once gave me a Metromedia Soundsystem tape and I thought "wow, what kinda energy they have and they were screaming like mad" and I was just amazed by how they played, so what I did then was play like Metromedia did and Pionear would scream like Sky Juice.

G.O.: Which soundsystem is your favourite these days
F.E.: For the energy it's Soundquake, for the love for the music it's Supersonic.

G.O.: You will be playing on Christmas day in Leipzig and not having played for four years how do you feel?
F.E.: I am really looking forward to it, look forward to be screaming alongside Pionear, to do the gun salute with my hand inna di air and going mad on stage and selecting very fast (sometimes used to play a riddim and change the 45s after 20 seconds), hearing the people shout. What I look forward to the most is playing with Pionear, that's why I come there for Christmas.

G.O.: Being from the West and having lived in Leipzig for so many years, what do you think of the city?
F.E.: Those will remain the best years of my life and I look forward to living in the (Far) East some time again!

Germaican Observer: Thank you very much for the Interview and see you December 24th at the next Far East Party!
Far East: Thank you and see you Christmas!

Text: Nadine Reid/ G.O. Leipzig/SN.
Photos & Flyer: Maja Franke

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