Local Legend: David ‘Ram Jam’ Rodigan

The Tab interviews Oxford’s great and good

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David Rodigan is a senior citizen, MBE, and British reggae and roots DJ legendHe looks like your hip uncle, he’s loved by Prince Charles and he grew up only a few miles away…

© BBC

The 61-year-old reggae evangelist and self-described ‘gentleman rudeboy’ moved from Oxford to London in the 70s and has dominated the reggae/roots scene ever since, winning multiple Radio Academy Awards, three Music Broadcaster of the Year accolades, and the highly contested title of Oxfordshire’s most famous reggae DJ.

He produced the soundtrack for Grand Theft Auto and was awarded an MBE last year, not a combination of achievements shared by many of the area’s alumni.

‘I love your music’ – Prince Charles (true story)

Far from Oxford’s reputation as a city of dreaming spires and fusty academia, in the 60s and 70s the area had a vibrant reggae scene. There has been a large Jamaican community in Cowley since the early 50s and it was here Rodigan found ‘the communion of like-minded souls’ that would help him discover his love of music, living as a child in Kidlington, just north of Summertown.

 ‘I’m used to being virtually the only white face in a black location… I’m not part of an indigenous community, I’m a visitor. And I’m aware I look like someone’s dad!

Acott Records

Oxford was once home to the legendary Russell Acott record shop on the High Street, tragically now converted to an All Bar One. Rodigan would pop in during lunch breaks to buy cut price albums from the department store across the road where he worked.

‘That was where I first heard ‘Monkey Man’ – I remember standing in Russell Acott thinking ‘this is the most amazing record!’

The teenage Rodigan was also no stranger to Oxford’s bars and clubs. However, the experience couldn’t have been further from Park End cheese floor.

‘The real super cool people went to White’s Bar on Oxford High Street. If you weren’t quite old enough and you went in there you felt like the new boy in school.

There was a place down in New Clarendon Street, that sort of trendy area… the Crypt, down in a basement. They used to have sound systems like Black Harmony playing down there…

© Red Bull

Although Rodigan left Kiss FM last year he announced his return to the airwaves this January, with a prime time radio show slot on BBC Radio 1Xtra and the comeback doesn’t stop there – Rodigan returns to his spiritual and musical homeland with a massive set at the Bullingdon on 5th May.

And despite his international celebrity, Rodigan still remains true to his roots.

 ‘All my time in London [during the 70s] I was hankering after Oxford… I had a sort of double life, I went up to Oxford to see my parents on the weekend and I sold records at a Sunday market.’

Reggae in Oxford has surged in popularity over the past year, with Channel One Sound System hitting Cellar on February 6th. Rodigan couldn’t be more excited by reggae’s new, diverse crowd:

Young people, not from a West Indian background, are discovering this music and saying wow, it’s got great depth. To find myself at the age of 61 playing to an entirely new audience – crazy.

It is a bit of an Aladdin’s cave, once you push the door open there are some truly wonderful pieces of music.’

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