MixTate Dennis Bovell on Horace Ové

In 1974, when I started going to Carnival, the event was still a toddler. By 1976, it had blossomed. Carnival is a coming together of Caribbean people from east to west to claim the streets. It’s about emancipation, and all the islands of the Caribbean have reason to celebrate that.

Horace Ové’s photograph Generations, Notting Hill Carnival c.1969 captures that feeling. The couple are really dressed up for the occasion; they’re having a great time. When the music is happy, people let their hair down and let their hips flow, rock to the beat. For me, that’s the whole spirit of Carnival: to feast your ears and your body on joyful music, whether it’s calypso, samba, afrobeats, reggae, dub.

My sound system, Sufferer Hi-Fi, played music that was made in London. I noticed we didn’t have an Aretha Franklin, a Diana Ross or a Gladys Knight of our own. We made songs with Louisa Mark, and later with Marie Pierre, Janet Kay and Carroll Thompson, and it was the beginning of a kind of music that would be called lovers rock.

In this mix, I’m aiming to create a great feeling – of music being the food of love. A lot of the songs are produced by me; some are collaborations with other people. I’m trying to express the fact that during this time there was a healthy music community that came together to bring about a special sound. With the aid of sound systems, we saturated the listeners with what we were doing, and hoped they’d support us. These songs reflect the unity and the drive involved in that act of creating.

^{Generations, Notting Hill Carnival was purchased with funds provided by Tate International Council in 2024.}

^{Dennis Bovell MBE is a reggae guitarist, bass player and record producer based in London.}