Below : Relaxing @ Morialta Falls, South Australia.
April 2002.
Milton gave an interview to Nadine who bought Jah Trinity's
soundsystem in July 1999, with her partner Matteo and re-named it "King
David Warriors". Their soundsystem plays Roots Reggae and dubwise steppers,
in Italy and all over Europe. KDW is a force to be reckoned with. Champion sound
all around town!!
KDW SPOKE WITH RANKING NAPHTALI
GREETINGS RANKING NAPHTALI
Greetings KDW, Greetings to each and everyone. Peace and love and unity.
WELL, WE A START WITH THE FIRST QUESTION: HOW WAS THE
SCENE AT THE BEGINNING
OF THE '80 IN A LITTLE TOWN LIKE GLOUCESTER( WEST SIDE OF UK)?
Well the scene in Gloucester was vibrant, with Reggae Music being played by
various soundsystems in Gloucester, itself and also from out a town. It was
a very serious time, but also funny and highly competitve amongst each other.
WHICH WERE YOUR FIRST SOURCE OF INSPIRATION AND... ANY PARTICULAR INFLUENCE?
The main influences were from elder Rastaman who set the positive examples for
I&I to follow as youth man. The years leading from 1975-1980, were influential
in the Roots Reggae and Dub scene.Many soundsystems came to play in Gloucester
such as: Quaker City from Birmingham; Jah Tubbys, Jah Shaka,Yootman Promotion
from Manchester to name just a few. Numerous sounds from Gloucester itself,
especially: Jah Challenger,Jah Emfera; Imperial International; Jah Iwah , Rootsman,Nijahman
and Sir Skinny. One sound that greatly inspired the way that Jah Trinity looked
was called ENFORCER from Derby.This sound looked and sounded wicked! with their
brown quad boxes and Ethiopian stripe and red, gold green amplifier case.
WHEN DID YOU REALLY START BUILDING THE SOUND AND WHO
WAS INVOLVED ?
On January 1st 1980,me and Terry my brother, cousin Trevor and friend Danny,decided
to save money together and build a sound. Terry Gad named it "LORD DEMONSTRATOR
HI POWER". This sounded good to all of us and was chosen specifically to
"Demonstrate" to the Gloucester people that we could build a soundsystem.
Many people took us as a joke & didn't take us seriously or believe that
we would ever come out. One said, " the sound with all the mouth hasn't
come out!" There were some bust ups along the way & we changed crew,
eventually testing out the full sound on 10th October 1981 at the Ebony Youth
Centre.The whole of Gloucester were very shocked when they saw one of the largest
sounds to be built in the city, appear overnight! The jokes and riddicule ceased
immediately.Lord Demonstrator the Mighty Earthshaker, was a force to be reckoned
with: Gadee Crucial ah de Dubselecta; Milton Naphtali ah de operator; man call
Raff pon de micro. We started playing top sounds straight away around the UK
and got "battle hardened "quickly.
YOU SAID "BATTLE HARDENED"!!!???...HOW WAS THE VIBES BETWEEN SOUND
SYSTEMS?
In those early days soundsytems had to be very tough to survive due to the intense
competitiveness, which went on in dances, if you were weak you would be "signed
off" by the other sound or mentally beaten with dubplate selection or a
very high quality bassline which vibrated your head, your body and worst of
all your amplifier case!!This was not good and a sure sign that a sound was
being severely battered in the dance and it could be heard several kilometres
away up the road!! Police would often crash the dance and save the unfortunate
sound from any further beating and humiliation!! They also checked if there
was any casualties, like fallen midrange and tops boxes or herbs on sale so
that they too could buy a draw and rock to Jah Music!!
TOWARD MID-EIGHTIES,MORE THAN ONE SOUNDS TOOK A STRONG DANCEHALL DIRECTION,HOW
DID YOU TURN OUT???
In 1985,we decided that we would play strictly Roots Reggae and Dub, but no
dancehall music. This was for 2 reasons: 1)Nearly all the sounds around at that
time were swiftly leaving the Roots scene and switching to Dancehall style,
or packing up completely. 2)We wanted to emphasise the spiritual content of
Roots and Culture music and to keep it playing fe REAL!This was survival.Many
people condemned us for not switching from that "buff buff music"
to Dancehall, but we resisted and said that "I&I ah stand firm, weak
heart scatter, batter and shatter,I&I come to serve JAH.SO
LET JAH MUZIK PLAY NO MATTER WHAT BABYLON MAY SAY"!!
...AND YOU CHANGED SOUND'S NAME AS WELL,ISN'IT???
After long deliberation about the way forward, we decided to change the sound
name. Terry Gad once again finding Divine inspiration to think of JAH TRINITY,
I added on "Outernational", due to the fact that we played out-nationally
in the UK.So we were all happy with JAH TRINITY OUTANATIONAL and the name has
stuck to this day. There were also 3 of us at that time, a fourth member of
the sound: Clive left earlier on so the Trinity was for the 3 of us:MILTON,
TERRY, RAFF. Jah Trinity played many sounds on numerous occassions, including:
Jah Tubbys 5x: Jah Shaka 7x:Iration Steppers nuff and Aba Shanti nuff.Plenty
of other sounds were also played over the 19 years of sessions!!
...JULY '99 YOU SOLD OUT THE SOUND,THEN YOU LEFT UK FOR AUSTRALIA...
Since selling the complete sound to you, King David warriors in Italy, many
positive things has happened. Presently I have decided to rebuild Jah Trinity
Outernational here in Adelaide Australia. Today I purchased all the wood and
MDF and screws ready to build the first new bass box scoopbin. The plan is to
take Reggae Music all over Australia, just the same way as in the UK. I have
the same sound effects,echo and sirens and records and regularly play out in
Adelaide. I also have bookings planned in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. So as
you can see, Jah Almighty moves in mysterious ways and He has inpired me everyday
along the way.Glory be to the Most High Jah for His Mercy endureth forever.
GIVE THANKS , YOU KNOW, SEE YOU SOON INNA ITALY OR AUSTRALIA
Jah Guide and bless each and everyone who reads these words. Onelove
Milton Naphtali, Jah Trinity Outernational.
Below is an interview with The Professor from Sydney radio
2RRR 88.5 fm feb 2001.
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