Heres Jah Wobble (born John Wardle) the English bass guitarist, singer, poet and composer. There are several versions of the origin of his stage name: One account places the origin on a drunken, mumbled version of Wardle's name by Sid Vicious; another states it was wordplay based on Wardle's name, and his fascination with the "wobbly" basslines of reggae and related genres, where praise to "Jah" — a near-homonym of "John" — is often offered.(notes taken from Wilkipedia)Here Jah Wobble Reads with great effect in his broad east London (Cockney) accent one of his original "Psychotic Poems" "Remind me to be kind to myself"accompanied by Clive Bell on a Japanese Bamboo wind instrument which looks like a Thai instrument called a Khene or Khaen. The hurdy gurdy like wail of this exotic instrument lends I think a great atmosphere to Jah Wobbles reading and was videoed by me at the British library in 1999.I put this video together as an experiment using split screen shortly after filming it and used two camcorders working independantly to film both performers seperately.Rain had neccesitated the relocation of the event (New Departures) from the small outside ampitheatre at the British library to inside the British library's theatre and to meet fire regulations I had been instructed by staff to film from the back of the theatre so had to do some serious zooming on the performers to attain anything like a reasonable light balance my apologies for some shakey camera work at the beginning and as the sound was recorded using two microphones to audibly pick up the piped sound of the theatre it isnt perhaps the best sound quality I have ever achieved. I was and still am delighted though to have been given the opportunity to make this video albeit in the rather difficult recording conditions that transpired..I think to have captured this inspirational event was very worthwhile and has I hope you may agree ultimately yealded interesting results..Witnessing Jah Wobble's mindblowing performance was a life changing moment for me and gave me my fascination for reading and performing poetry,and I hope many others may share in my experience and enjoyment.RegardsJim ClarkAll rights are reserved on this video sound recording copyright Jim Clark 1999

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