Trash has never been as trendy as it was at last year’s Notting Hill Carnival. The Red Stripe beer company teamed up with artist Yuri Suzuki for its ‘Make Something from Nothing’ project. Nearly 5,000 Red Stripe beer cans were collected from London’s Notting Hill Carnival. The recycled beer cans were joined together to create a sound system measuring 2.5 meters high and 2.5 meters wide. The result was an impressive projection of Jamaican music.
The idea of recycling cans into a useful structure is part of the Red Stripe’s “Make with a Red Stripe” series of cultural projects featuring cutting edge artists. The finished product can be seen in the new video, “Make Something from Nothing,” the first in the series that celebrates the brand’s Jamaican roots as well as the Do It Yourself culture.
Like the recycled cans in the sculpture, much of the sound that we associate with reggae comes from objects that have found new uses. For example, the steel drums that give reggae its distinctive sound were originally rhythms played on oil drums. These barrels had been abandoned by US troops after the war and they demonstrate the ingenuity in Jamaican music.
This project also recalls the roots of Jamaican music because the Jamaicans were the first to use portable sound systems, starting in the late 1950’s. DJs would load their generators, turntables and enormous speakers into the back of pickup trucks and drive these massive systems to street parties, playing American R&B records. Eventually they began recording and producing music with their own local sounds, which became the ska, reggae and dub music that is so much a part of Jamaican culture.
Yuri Suzuki’s recycling project was used to feature music by reggae artist, singer and songwriter, Gappy Ranks. The sculpture made its debut on November 16, 2011, at the Village Underground, in London, with DJs Ben UFO and MC Chunky giving it a thorough test run. Sustainability is music to our ears!