Mungo’s Hi Fi: Dancehall Explained

I experienced my first Mungo’s night in January of last year. I flew back to a still student-free St Andrews, only to depart for Glasgow the next day. My companions were two weathered dub-soldiers, prepared to skank the night away in a dark, sweaty, crowded club.

We arrived at an abandoned warehouse on the side of the motorway around 10pm. Outside, the place was teeming with people that all seemed to already know each other. They smoked cigarettes and embraced before getting their hands stamped in exchange for a ticket. We went up and checked our coats; the air already felt moist and heavy from the people dancing in the low-ceilinged room. The music playing was already quite loud, but clearly only using a fraction of the power that their sound system was capable of. The speakers were dormant but ominous.

The entire crowd materialized on the dance floor quite suddenly once the set began. We danced to a range of music from classic dancehall to jungle to dub to contemporary Mungo’s Hi Fi collaborations. The MCs, Solo Banton and Murray Man, were playful with one another while passing the mic back and forth. The only thing marking the time passing was the increasing bass that at its crescendo rendered me practically unable to move – it felt like it was driving my heart beat right out of my chest.

They closed with some crowd-pleasing Marley and called it a night around 3. You couldn’t help but grin and hug the people around you; it almost felt like I had just completed some sort of reggae marathon. Needless to say, once we made it home I passed out and slept well into the afternoon of the next day.

A Jamaican sound system in the traditional sense is a group made up of selectors, audio engineers, and MCs all working together to deliver flawless reggae to fans of dancehall and its culture. Mungo’s Hi Fi, under this category, have built up a large fan base and excellent reputation throughout Europe not only for their modern style, incorporating reggae, dub, and dancehall sounds, but also for their imposing sound system, renowned in the underground dance music scene. Other leading dance acts have utilized their, frankly, ludicrous speakers in a variety of venues, including one of Outlook Festival’s main arenas which is named after them.

Come Saturday night, Union-goers will be able to experience a vastly different musical night to your typical Bop or Sinners, as the champion sound rolls into town. Before you depart on what may be your first Mungo’s excursion, remember not to worry: everyone looks like a tit when skanking.

Mungo’s Hi Fi will be visiting St Andrews on Saturday 22nd February, in collaboration with The Stand, Music is Love and STAR. You can find more info here and ticket sales here.