Sarva

Jungle / Drum n' Bass / Hip Hop

Portland, OR

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About

I was born in Denver in 1978. I was made acutely aware of the miseries of material existence shortly thereafter. Much of my childhood was spent taking solace in music. My first equipment was an old am/fm portable radio that i listened to constantly..

I was still in the single digits when I discovered hip-hop. I began collecting tapes at age. Up til this point my only exposure was commercially released music. Basically top 40 until one day I got a busted up cassette tape from a buddy. I popped it in my deck and was blown away. I had never heard music like this. Big upfront beats, much faster than hip-hop and the entire tape was continuously mixed.

I tracked the source of the tape to a local record shop. Being a poor ,13 year old kid, the only thing I left the store with was a handful of flyers advertising events where I could hear this music, that was so new to me, play out on a real sound system.

After some plotting an scheming a couple buddies and I were able to convince a neighborhood high school girl to pick up us under-agers at midnight to go to the afterhours spot. Upon arrival, I could feel the rumble of the bass in my chest before we were even out of the car. We rushed inside and grooved out until sunrise when we had to leave so we could sneak back into our houses before the parents awoke. Needless to say I was hooked.

My teenage years were spent in anticipation of Saturday. By this time I was living on my own at 15. Denver 1995, shit was cracking. Everything was still so new that there was a greater sense of oneness and community. Massives in downtown warehouses or out in the mountains with 1500+ people were the norm. The sound being pushed at this time was mostly house and trance.

Fast-forward 4 or 5 years. Word has gotten out. Events have become more commercial and promoters intentions have become a little more impure or the scene attracted a more criminal element, I'm not sure which. Drugs had become more rampant. I was beginning to feel a little disheartened.

I came across a flyer for a party called Rewind. It was a simple flyer not a glossy "rave" flyer as had become so popular. The event seemed interesting and somehow different so I decided to go. Saturday night rolled around; I called the number and got the location - a warehouse downtown under the freeway. I showed up to be greeted by the familiar rumble but a different sound. Gone were the pacifiers and glow sticks. No more wide eyed clenched jawed bugged out candy ravers. The familiar party sights were replaced by red-eyed dreadies and a massive ganja cloud. The emcee announced over rolling bass lines the line-up - local Dj Fury and headliners Ned Ryder and Dj Sniper. Whoa!

I was enlivened again. I picked up a couple R.A.W. mixes after seeing him tear a massive apart. I also began collecting vinyl to play on my newly acquired belt drives. A junglist was born! I began playing out at a local club and house parties.

By age 19 my life had taken a different direction. I felt a need to find a deeper connection and sense of being than simply attending parties. I began to study meditation and mantra sound vibration. I sold my possessions, moved out of my apartment and began traveling. I lived in temples all across the US from LA to Chicago to New York to rural communities in Pennsylvania and Utah to Hawaii and a ton of spots between.

At 26 I began to reintegrate into "normal" society. I decided to settle in Portland. Even throughout my spiritual studies I still had an attraction to the sounds of my younger years. I produced a few jungle tracks and put out a couple mixes but Now that I was stationary again I could focus on trying to recapture the intensity of my first exposure to jungle.

Taking my understanding of sound vibration and the effect on consciousness and my love of music it only seemed natural to incorporate the two. Sacred Sound System was born. Our first event - Babylon Fall was held in a military wall tent in the cascade mountains. Oregon April provided rain, snow, hail and finally sunshine by daybreak. The tent kept everyone warm and dry. Kyle-T of the raggabot crew, Monkeytek, Sense, Burnt, Elementry and George of the Jungle, Jimni Cricket and myself kept the beats banging til past sunup.

A rainy Oregon winter gave birth to the Upful Riddims record label to push positive ragga jungle sounds. A mixed cd with original Upful Riddims ragga jungle tracks is out now. Stay tooned for the first vinyl release and more good tings!

After doing two more events in Portland - Dubplate Pressure with Broke-N, Axiom, Burnt & Elementry and Amen! with George of the Jungle, K.E.Y.S., Owns and Mecca, I was contacted by Konkrete Jungle and asked to start up a chapter here in PDX. the first one was exactly 1 year from Babylon Fall. We were blessed with the sounds of Babylon Demolitionist, Selektah Konekta, Spekt1, Mecca & The Bassist and Sonic Emcee. The second installment combined forces with the Bassbot kru to bring the sounds of Aircrash2000, Just John, Slantooth and the return of Sonic. The 3rd is gwan be even bigger and better with Ital Ion blessing up the mic with word sound power, Aircrash2000, Just John, babylon Demolitionist, the Dubwhat of DJ4NORML, and Shy Sensi of Sensi Sounds all the way from Israel!

This thing we call music is always evolving. I feel fortunate to make a humble contribution. Jah bless good work!