Reggae hr: Osebujni ste likovi pa nam ispričajte kako ste se okupili? Je li dub kriv za to ili?
Sandokan Hi Fi: Well, in the very beginning it was just me (Alex) and Maui. The two of us used to play Reggae in a crew called Liberation Sound, which existed from around 2002.-2005. After Liberation Sound fell apart, Maui and me wanted to continue to play soundsystem style, but with a more Roots & Culture approach. Thats why we founded the Sandokan Hifi. We then needed an MC – or so to say Deejay, because thats the original term for the mic man in a sound system - and at that time Rawlph Dread was playing quite a lot of shows with his vocal group Brimstone & Fire. I was very impressed by his voice and vocal skills and so I asked him, if he wants to join us. So he did and became our resident Deejay. A bit less than a year later, we took in Hanno as the fourth member, after he left his former crew. All of us knew each other from before, like from high school, Antifa activities or alternative scene in Hannover.

HR: U početku smo Maui i ja svirali reggae u kolektivu Liberation Sound koji je postojao od 2002. do 2005. Kad se kolektiv razišao, nas dvojica smo htjeli nastaviti svirati kao sound system, no više s roots reggae pristupom. Zatim smo osnovali Sandokan Hifi, bacili se u potragu za MC-jem i "namjerili" se na Rawlph Dreada koji ima impresivne vokalne sposobnosti. Rawlph je u to vrijeme puno nastupao sa svojom grupom Brimstone & Fire, no postao je naš rezident DJ, a ubrzo nam se pridružio i Hanno. Svi smo se mi znali otprije, ili iz srednje škole ili Antifa udruga na alternativnoj sceni Hannovera.

Reggae hr: Kako ste uopće došli dub glazbe? Što ste slušali kao klinci?
Sandokan Hi Fi: First, we play more Reggae than Dub – at least in the way most Croatian people understand Dub. We play Roots and Rub-A-Dub songs and Dub versions of those tracks. So, all of us had a thing for Reggae. Maui and me liked 80s Dancehall and Roots a lot, Hanno was a real Sizzla fan and Silan (Rawlph Dread) loved Rocksteady and vocal harmony Reggae. But of course, all of us loved and still love different kinds of music. Maui and me for example grew up in Punk scene and so we love this kind of hard guitarish trashy and ass kicking music. Silan came more from Hiphop and Rap. But generally all of us enjoy a huge variety of music styles. It is just essential, that the music we enjoy is free from discrimination, like homophobia, sexism, racism and all that other shit.

HR: Prvo, mi sviramo više reggae nego dub, barem onoliko koliko većina u Hrvatskoj poznaje dub. To su rub-a-dub i dub trake, no Hanno koji je veliki fan SIzzle i ja smo uvijek preferirali roots i dancehall, a Rawlph rocksteady i vokalnu harmoniju reggaea. Naravno, svi smo ranije slušali svašta: od punka i "trash" gitara pa sve do hip hopa i rapa iako uživamo u različitim žanrovima. Zato i volimo glazbu koja ne promovira nasilje, seksizam, diskriminaciju i ostala sranja.

Reggae hr: Kako se razvijao vaš glazbeni izričaj u ovih 10 godina? I sretan vam rođendan! 
Sandokan Hi Fi: Thanks for the birthday wishes, it's strange that 10 years already passed.... Hmm so how did we develop musically... As far as I remember, we always used to play 70s Roots Reggae. But in the early days of the Sandokan Hifi, we also played Modern Roots (mostly what came out in the 2000s) and a good amount of 80s Dancehall with artists like Super Cat, Nicodemus, Burro Banton and so on. At that time no UK style Dub. I think this was mainly my iniative, as I started liking this style of Reggae a lot. And by 2009-10 a Sandokan show would include Roots, Dub and Steppas, but no more Modern Roots and no Dancehall. Nowadays we are playing again more Rub-A-Dub and 80s styles, as they just kick ass! But we always stay true to 70s Roots music, as this is the original militant shit. Fuck that Digital steppas & Dub, that music is for pussies.

HR: Hvala na lijepim željama. Čudno je kako je deset godina već proletjelo i kako smo se mi glazbeno razvijali. Koliko se sjećam, uvijek smo vrtili reggae iz 70-ih, ali početkom osnivanja Sandokan Hifija krenuli smo i s modernijim rootsom iz 2000-ih, ali i dobrom "porcijom" dancehalla iz 80-ih (Super Cat, Nicodemus, Burro Banton itd.) U to vrijeme nije bilo nikakvog UK duba pa sam predložio da se okrenemo najviše reggaeu uvodeći steppas dub na naš repertoar i odmaknuli se od modernog rootsa i dancehalla. Ali ipak smo ostali vjerni rootsu iz 70-ih i rub-a-dubu iz 80-ih jer jednostavno razvaljuje i jer je prava militantna poslastica! "J**eš digital steppas i dub, to je za pi**ice!

Reggae hr: Kako vidite razvoj svoje glazbe? Naginjete li eksperimentiranju u glazbi i volite li miksati različite žanrove?
Sandokan Hi Fi: I think, in general we have a musical thread (litemotif/recurrent theme) during our sets, which means we dont just put stuff together randomly. Our main approach is the social revolutionary side of Reggae, which means you wont hear so much „religious reggae“ from us. Lyrically, the poor people's struggle is the main thing. And speaking for me personally, when I select, I go very much by intuition. I know my selection very well and it happens usually that one song is playing and another appears suddenly in my head and I know this is gonna be the next one. It happens that I change my mind and play something else. But it also happens that I change my mind back to the initial idea, just in the last second before the running song is finished. I select rather by riddims than by lyrics, which – stylewise - gives a smooth transition throughout our set.

HR: Mi uvijek imamo glazbenu temu koje se držimo u setovima, dakle ne "nabacujemo" stvari iznenada. Naš pristup podrazumijeva socijalnu i revolucionarnu stranu reggaea, što znači da neće čuti religiozni reggae u setovima. Tekstovi su usmjereni prema socijalno osjetljivima, a osobno glazbu biram prema intuiciji jer dok jedna pjesma svira, odmah mi padne napadne slijedeća koju mogu nadovezati. Naravno, dogodi se i da se predomislim pa odsviram nešto drugo sekundu prije završetka prethodne pjesme. Biram tekstove i riddime pametno, sa stilom, pazeći na prijelaze.

Reggae hr: Kako se snalazite na relaciji Njemačka-Hrvatska? UspIjevate li uskladiti obveze i nastupe?
Sandokan Hi Fi: Yeah thats a bit of a challenge. So what happened is that it's mostly me playing DJ-sets under the name of the Sandokan Hifi. And last weekend's 10th anniversary party was actually the first time since quite a while that we were back in full effect, means with our control tower that allows us to make live dubbings of tunes we play, and with Silan on the microphone, which also didnt happen for quite some time. Like this, I would love to play more often in the future. I am sick of playing alone and playing just DJ-sets. I'm not a DJ, I run a sound system. Thats different. So now that Silan was in Zagreb, we were talking how we could manage to reunite more often in the future. Lets hope it works out!

HR: Da, to je popriličan izazov. Uglavnom se dogodi da sviram sam pod imenom Sandokana, no na desetu godišnjicu uspjeli smo se okupiti nakon duljeg perioda s punom opremom: s kontrolnim tornjem koji nam omogućava svirku uživo, Silan (Rawlph) je ponovno bio na mikrofonu, baš je sve bilo kako treba biti i fali mi to. Malo mi sam umoran od solo nastupa jer nisam DJ nego kontroliram cijeli sound system, a to je različito. Evo, baš sad dok je Rawlph otišao iz Zagreba, dogovaramo ponovno okupljanje i duboko se nadam da će to napokon upaliti!

Reggae hr: Budući da je ekipa odvalila na oba vaša nastupa, u subotu u Attacku i u utorak u Mastersu, poručite nam nešto!
Sandokan Hi Fi: First, a massive massive thank you to all people who came to dance and celebrate with us! Your vibes were amazing! For me, it is still an experiment how Roots and live Mcing culture work out in a Dub dominated city like Zagreb. But your response was great and it gave me confidence that not everything is lost here.  What can I tell you.... dont follow the hype, keep digging for the real shit! Take care of yourself and of your fellows, take action if there is injustice happening around you, don't remain silent! Be critical, think for yourself and don't be too shy to open your mouth! I think by now, we could build up a little reputation here in Croatia, and many of you may know that at a Sandokan Hifi session you'll get real authentic music from real authentic people. So everyone who is not totally ignorant is very much invited to keep joining our celebrations of solidarity! Peace out!

HR: Prvo, masivno želim zahvaliti svima vama ljudima koji ste došli plesati i slaviti s nama! Energija vam je bila sjajna! Još uvijek učim i eksperimentiram s rootsom i mikrofonom uživo u gradu u kojem dub dominira. Vaš odaziv bio je odličan i dali ste mi samopouzdanja da nije sve tako sivo! Što da vam kažem; samo tražite pravu stvar i čuvajte sebe i svoje, ne idite za pomodarstvom. Razmišljajte kritički i ne bojte se podignuti glas za sebe! Mogu reći da smo stvorili jednu malu, ali autentičnu reputaciju u Hrvatskoj i većina vas vjerojatno zna da ćete na našim nastupima dobiti autentičnu glazbu pravih i originalnih ljudi. Svatko tko želi proširiti svoje horizonte, pozvan je na naše slavlje solidarnosti! 

Foto: Sammy Carey