Jahtari

In case you haven’t heard of us so far (which is more than likely at the moment) just some words of explanation about JAHTARI.

We are a small record label based in Leipzig/Germany and we produce a kind of music here which we call – for the lack of a better term – DIGITAL LAPTOP REGGAE (DLR). This means nothing else but that we produce first and above all REGGAE music (or DUB) in it’s classical sense, which in itself is nothing new, but since we’re having a background of mostly electronic music we’re doing this with the only tool that is obvious to use for that purpose - a COMPUTER, and a computer only.

When you are using a computer via a specific interface (the software) for making music the sound and feel of it is by definition DIGITAL. You can always hear the math and the algorhythms that are the foundation of sound design and arrangment. So the interesting thing with DLR is and was (first of all for us - since DLR started out as an experiment) that it is nevertheless possible to generate something like Reggae or Dub, basically the manifestation of a non- math, 100%-soulful approach on music, with a machine made for calculation of numbers and computation of programs.

Or in short: the basic principles behind REGGAE and COMPUTER generated music are by definition principles that completely exclude each other. To our surprise experiments with this paradoxon turned out a kind of music that functioned and that is even ‘NEW’, whatever meaning this term can have today.

So, above all we are a REGGAE label. You won’t find any straight bassdrums or Dub-Techno here, you’ll find classic DUB done with a computer.

But one could philosophize on this topic with no end so if you would like to read more about it check out our THEORY section or our highly recommended REGGAE HISTORY, where I will explain the ideas and concepts behind JAHTARI and DLR more detailed and with lots of (sound) examples.