Dub and Eastern music - Jah wobble weaves an intricate and exhilarating mix for Liverpool

Jun 20 2008 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

JAH WOBBLE has collaborated with everyone from Sex Pistols to Brian Eno, Primal Scream and Bjork. And now . . . Liverpool Culture Company and a Chinese youth orchestra?

Expecting the unexpected comes as standard with Wobble, or John Wardle, to give him his real name.

A musical pioneer, the founder of Public Image Limited, a rock wildman who famously burnt out and packed it all in to work on the London Underground, he can now be found living just outside Stockport.

And with Liverpool-based in-laws, it has put him in a prime position to get involved with Capital of Culture year.

He has developed his passion for Eastern sounds to create his Chinese Dub show, which receives its world premiere at the Liverpool Academy on Saturday, July 5.

“I’ve been interested in Eastern stuff for years,” he says.

“I’ve worked with musicians from all over the world and the Chinese is what I’ve found most challenging, because a lot of the music, even folk stuff, is very sophisticated.

“I’ve found it a little more demanding, but it’s something I’ve kept in mind for 15 years.

“Some are adapted from old melodies, really ancient Chinese songs which I have rearranged and reworked into a dub context.

“And from a small acorn, it’s just grown. I genuinely never thought I’d get the opportunity to do this.”

Combining Wobble’s trademark dub with Chinese melodies and instrumentation, the 22-piece outfit features singers from Tibet and Yunnan Province, dancers from Hangzhou, Sichuan Opera Mask Changers, and an Anglo-Chinese dub band made up of bass, drums, guzheng, yangchin, bamboo flute, and gourd pipe.

The music is accompanied by displays of two ancient Chinese performing arts: Tang Dynasty Dance, and Mask Change, a speciality of Sichuan Opera.

The Liverpool-based Pagoda Chinese Youth Orchestra, the oldest and largest Chinese youth orchestra in Europe (now in its 25th year), will also make a special appearance.

Wobble’s wife, sons and father-in-law are all involved in the PCYO.

“It’s a bit of a family thing,” he says. “For a while now, I’d be hearing my sons play in practice and I just kept thinking those tunes would make a really good dub record.

“This idea was kicking about for a few years to do a recorded project with a show, and it turned into ‘let’s bring a few extra musicians in to make it an event for 2008’.”

He went to China to find the extra performers for the show.

But, just because he’s a famous name didn’t mean he was exempt from red tape, and the Chinese Dub idea had to go through several short-lists for funding, just like the most humble of community projects.

The Carling Academy may seem like an unusual venue but this is deliberate: “I wanted it there because people know it as a music venue and I want people to feel free to dance,” he says.

“Sometimes more arty places, with people sat down, can be po-faced, and I’m happy for people to jump about, because it is really danceable.

“It’s going to be a bit of an adventure for me but when you’re working with great people and the experience of getting this thing moving, everyone involved is very, very talented and it’s an amazing show.

“I only do stuff I like, that I can get my teeth into, that I enjoy. I’ve got a reputation for turning stuff down over the years and I’ve never found that hard to do.

“I’ve got a track record with this stuff, I’m not a bullsh----r. I’ve made a lot of different shows and records and know how to make this a big deal.”

* JAH WOBBLE plays Liverpool Academy on Saturday, July 5. His Chinese Dub EP is available free as an MP3 stream via his own 30hertzrecords.com, and features seven tracks, with a full album due for release in late 2008.

The EP was specially recorded for Liverpool 2008 European Capital of Culture, and includes contributions from the Pagoda Chinese Youth Orchestra.