Celebrating the sound system heritage of Brent

From the 1960s, when reggae and lovers rock first landed in the UK, the heart of the scene was in Brent, with Kilburn, Harlesden and Willesden home to record shops, record labels, recording studios and parties.But you couldn’t experience the music without a sound system.

For our first artist residency at Punchdrunk Enrichment Stores, we celebrated Brent’s sound system culture and its part in music history. Led by artist and DJ Linett Kamala from LIN KAM ART, we invited a group of young people aged 18 - 30 years for a week of sound system exploration, to dive into the culture and heritage.

The group worked alongside Linett as part of a creative team who responded to her question “How can we create a sound system wellness experience inspired by dub music rooted in Jamaican ceremonial sound?” 

Through a combination of surprise guest speakers, hands on carpentry and electronic skills, storytelling and sonic experiments, the group reimagined the traditional Rhumba box, pushed the boundaries of our perspective of an amp rack and how we experience music as part of a unique immersive sound system event.

Date of residency 30.09.2024 - 04.10.2024

Linett Kamala is a DJ, Artist, Academic, Creative Producer and Founding Director of LIN KAM ART.  She works across various disciplines including installation, paintings, public art, gatherings, sound system and performance.  Her current project BASS TONE REGENERATION is a touring innovative sound and light installation which reimagines our relationship to the environment and each other. Her hand built custom sound system LIN KAM ART is at the forefront of experimentation in the culture.

Linett is known as the Notting Hill Carnival ‘Sound System Queen’, being credited as one of the first female DJs to perform on a sound system in the mid 1980s at the event and now one of the organisers, serving as its Board Director.  Today she continues to champion inclusion and innovation within sound system culture, pushing the boundaries with perceptions of how the art form is experienced, advocating for underrepresented groups, including her two initiatives; LIN KAM ART Sound System Futures Programme developing the next generation and Original Sounds Collective; amplifying the presence of women in sound system and moving the culture forward. 

She is also Artistic Director of the South Kilburn CarniVale, President of the University of the Arts London Alumni of Colour Association, Associate Lecturer in MA Performance: Design and Practice at the University of the Arts London and in BA (Hons) Live Event and Festival Management at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance. Linett has worked with numerous cultural organisations including the British Museum, The British Library, V&A, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Royal Albert Hall.

@linett_kamala          @lin_kam_art     @basstoneregeneration