Pharaoh House Crash is a musician and songwriter from Belfast, N. Ireland, now based in Brighton, U.K.
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In Jamaica, in 1968, Leonard Dillon and his band The Ethiopians recorded a song called Everything Crash. It was a year of protests, demonstrations and violence. In France, Ireland, the USA, South America, Pakistan and many other places, people took to the streets to voice their frustration at governments that were ineffectual, unrepresentative or simply corrupt. In Jamaica, in 1969, the influential songwriter and producer Prince Buster recorded a version of Everything Crash. He called it Pharaoh House Crash.
Fast forward more than fifty years and again there are protests, demonstrations and violence. All over the world, people are protesting about the climate crisis, austerity, corporate tax avoidance, political corruption and police brutality. They are marching for women's rights, ethnic minority rights, LGBTQ+ rights and the right to protest itself. The two protest songs that were recorded in late 1960s Jamaica still resonate and their message; that the old corrupt order is going to come crashing down, is even more relevant today.
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