[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":274},["ShallowReactive",2],{"post-en-sound-system-is-not-a-concept-interview-with-simba-roots":3},{"_path":4,"_dir":5,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":8,"description":9,"date":10,"tags":11,"image":16,"hideHeroImage":17,"body":18,"_type":268,"_id":269,"_source":270,"_file":271,"_stem":272,"_extension":273},"/blog/en/sound-system-is-not-a-concept-interview-with-simba-roots","en",false,"","Sound System Is Not a Concept: Interview with Simba Roots","Simba Roots is a selector, engineer, and founder of Dub Club Istanbul. He came to Tbilisi in March 2026 to play a session with Irie Roots Sound System. We talked about bass, building cabinets from scratch, and what it takes to run a monthly session in a city where reggae has no infrastructure.","2026-04-12",[12,13,14,15],"interview","dub","reggae","roots","/images/uploads/blog/simba-roots-interview.png",true,{"type":19,"children":20,"toc":264},"root",[21,27,34,39,44,49,54,59,64,68,75,196,213,216,221],{"type":22,"tag":23,"props":24,"children":26},"element","youtube-embed",{"title":8,"video-id":25},"0E7Y3BM6mRk",[],{"type":22,"tag":28,"props":29,"children":30},"p",{},[31],{"type":32,"value":33},"text","Simba Roots started DJing in Istanbul in the late 1990s, in a city where reggae had no infrastructure and no scene to speak of. He found the music through an indirect route: rock, then drum and bass, then jungle. At some point he followed the thread back to its source. What he found there, he didn't let go.",{"type":22,"tag":28,"props":35,"children":36},{},[37],{"type":32,"value":38},"He built his own sound system from scratch. Designed the boxes, selected the drivers, wired the amplifiers. He is an electrical engineer by training, and he is precise about what this involves: it is not a creative decision, it is a technical project that never ends. \"Sound works never done,\" he says. \"You should always progress.\"",{"type":22,"tag":28,"props":40,"children":41},{},[42],{"type":32,"value":43},"Since 2017 he has been running Dub Club Istanbul: monthly sessions in a basement venue, sustained through years of promotion, logistics, and carrying heavy equipment. In summer the sessions stop, because the heat and the city make a basement impossible. In summer they find other spaces. The point is continuity.",{"type":22,"tag":28,"props":45,"children":46},{},[47],{"type":32,"value":48},"In the interview he talks about what a properly tuned sound system does physically. How bass at the right frequency and volume interacts with the body in a way that has nothing to do with listening at home. He talks about the difference between a tune that sounds pleasant on speakers and what that same tune becomes through a real rig. He talks about what it takes to know your system well enough to predict that in advance.",{"type":22,"tag":28,"props":50,"children":51},{},[52],{"type":32,"value":53},"He also talks about Istanbul. The city it was when he arrived as a student from the Anatolian side, affordable and culturally alive, and what it has become since. About playing in a basement where people can be loud because the street above won't complain. About the crowd that either gets sound system or doesn't, and why both outcomes are fine.",{"type":22,"tag":28,"props":55,"children":56},{},[57],{"type":32,"value":58},"And he talks, briefly and without drama, about what he can't do: travel to Europe to play sessions with other sounds, join friends at Fête de la Musique, set up boxes in a city square and play loud in the open air. Turkey is outside the EU. The logistics are expensive and uncertain. He watches the YouTube videos and keeps working.",{"type":22,"tag":28,"props":60,"children":61},{},[62],{"type":32,"value":63},"He came to Tbilisi for the first time last month. Played a session with Irie Roots Sound System under the bridge. Said the crowd was conscious and the energy was right. 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