Zenzile Meets Jamika

In 1998, Zenzile financed the production of their first 4-track CD "Dub Promozione" themselves and went on to hone their live sound at 55 concert dates. Their songs also appeared on two leading French compilations: "Créatures des Abysses" and "Nova Future Dub." Between July and December of that year the band worked intensively in the studio, recording their debut album, "Sachem In Salem", released in March 1999. Their sound caused an instant stir on the French music scene because no other group before them had managed to get as close, in terms of sound and playing style, to the traditional dub exemplified by the likes of Jamaican legends Dub Syndicate.

Inevitably, Zenzile soon began to make a name for themselves abroad. In July 1999, the French fivesome were invited to perform two concerts in the UK. At one of these concerts, organised at The Fridge, in Brixton, London, the band improvised live on stage with Jamika Ajalon (an American female dub poet based in the UK). Zenzile had originally been rather reticent about the project but their on-stage collaboration proved to be such a success that Zenzile invited Jamika into the studio with them the following month. A 6-track CD, entitled "Zenzile Meets Jamika" (the first instalment of their "5 + 1" series) hit record stores in the spring of 2000. Zenzile and their special guest collaborator went on to perform a mini-tour together which included an appearance at the Printemps de Bourges festival that spring.