This year marks the 10th anniversary of “Smile Jamaica.” Chronixx’s feel-good anthem of 2013 dominated airways and infiltrated Jamaican advertisement campaigns for years. The iconic song was produced by an unlikely pair, at least these two men are not the pictures of “Reggae Producer” that come to mind. But Oliver Schrader and Joscha Hoffman — two halves of the Silly Walks Soundsystem — are veterans in the space.
Establishing Silly Walks
Both men found their way to Reggae through other avenues. In the 70s and 80s UK Ska had spread throughout Europe — an infectious sound combining the music of Jamaican immigrants to the UK with punk aesthetics. “Reggae came [to Germany] in like ‘86,” explained Schrader, the older of the two men, “I met a friend who was only listening to Reggae. I found it peculiar at the time but he kind of infected me and I really fell in love with the music and discovered more and more various styles and uhm yeah it didn’t take too long and then reggae music was my main musical love. I was addicted, a real nerd.” Schrader has never been one to keep a passion to himself, so the next step was obvious — DJ-ing.
Hoffman also found his way to Reggae through punk-rock and UK Ska. “I was into everything that had off-beats at that time and got into ska and then I realized that the original ska is not coming from the Uk but is from Jamaica and I listened to the Skatalites and all those bands and then I realized that’s the music from decades ago. What are they doing now?” he wondered. This prompted a teenage Hoffman to explore the dancehall and reggae scene in Germany in the late 80s and early 90s. “A couple of years later I founded my own project and Oliver called me and asked if he wanted to join — that’s 20 years ago now. For the last 20 years we’ve been playing sound systems together.”
The two men played parties all over Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. There was a real appetite for the Jamaican sound which was made popular by touring artists and the rise of commercial dancehall in the 90s with Sean Paul, Beanie Man, and co. Neither man was content spinning records, both wanted to get into the production business. “That was when we first went to Jamaica,” explained Schrader, “We did songs with Jah Mason, Luton Fire, Tonya Stephens, Ginger, Natural Black, and a couple of others.”
Despite working with luminaries in the Reggae field, the doors didn’t open for Silly Walks until their partnership with Chronixx. “Smile Jamaica is like a business card. Before then it was like a German producer, what’s their name, silly who? but now it’s oh you are the guys who did smile Jamaica, okay you’re welcome,” laughed Schrader. “It helped a lot.”
The decline of Reggae in Europe
When Schrader and Hoffman talk about the state of Reggae in Europe, they have the grave earnestness of a scientist presenting at a climate change summit. Both men have lived through the peaks and valleys of the genre’s popularity on the continent and are quick to stress that they’re not concerned about the health of the medium. “A lot of people interpret it as Reggae is dead or there’s no good music but that’s wrong, there’s a lot of good music coming out of Jamaica,” Hoffman explained.
If anything the music coming out of Jamaica might be too diverse. Hoffman theorizes that the proliferation of niche artists has harmed the European scene. As contemporary artists navigate into narrow lanes, crowds have followed suit. If you are a Vybz Kartel fan in Austria, you’ll have your pick of dancehall to choose from but you might find Reggae too slow or grating. “It used to be that the sound system parties would cover the whole variety of [Jamaican] music from roots reggae to dancehall,” Hoffman explained, painting a picture of the evolving scene in Germany. “[Now] the crowd would rather hear reggae or dancehall but not both.” This led to smaller, less frequent, and more niche events.
Reggae is still king in Europe. Bob Marley and co. were excellent ambassadors for the genre which took root in ways that dancehall, soca, etc. cannot replicate. “Once you get the feeling that the contemporary sound from Jamaica is no longer representing Reggae it’s hard to maintain a scene outside of Jamaica,” Schrader summarizes.
“We are nerds. We’re into all of it,” Hoffman added quickly. “We check out every new artist. It’s easy for us to follow and get the vibe of it.”
In February Silly Walks returned to Jamaica for the first time in 4 years. Hoffman still has traces of a picked-up accent. Both he and Schrader attended the Lost in Time Festival and used the opportunity to reconnect with old collaborators and pave the groundwork for new relationships.
With “Smile Jamaica” in their back pocket, they’ve gone on to work with contemporary powerhouses including Demarco, Agent Sasco, and their most recent collaboration with the ever-rising Khalia. The dogged persistence in producing Reggae that harkens back to the golden era of the 80s and 90s has earned them not only respect across the Caribbean island among producers and artists alike. Back home in Germany, they’re one of the last bastions of the genre. Crafting songs, spinning records, and keeping Reggae alive.
