“EUROPEAN CLUBS ARE STILL BIG ON DANCEHALL BEATS” SAYS THE UK’S CHRIS GOLDFINGER!

STORIES of poor sales for dancehall music have become the norm in recent times, as the genre struggles to keep up with trendier sounds such as EDM.

But London-based Jamaican disc jockey/selector Chris Goldfinger says the Jamaican beat still has a following in major European cities.

Goldfinger, who hosts a weekly two-hour show on OnTopFM 95.5 in the United Kingdom, uses the vibrant European club scene to reinforce his point.

“Dancehall still attracts huge audiences in places like Germany and Switzerland…it’s big in cities like Dusseldorf and Zurich,” he told the Sunday Observer. “I think it’s because you have a lot of Africans in Europe and they love the music.”

Goldfinger has played the European club scene for over a decade. EDM, which has several big-selling artistes including Major Lazer, is the dominant beat on the continent.While dancehall still commands a sizable following in the UK, Goldfinger says outside of London and other cities with large black populations, like Birmingham, it does not have a significant audience. This he blames on inadequate airplay.

“It’s all politics. Dancehall/reggae is getting a fight from mainstream radio stations and it’s not because of (poor) sales. When I joinedBBC Radio One, the sales weren’t that different from what they are now,” he stated.

Goldfinger worked at BBC Radio One from 1996 to 2010, hosting the weekly Reggae Dancehall Show. Today, he says no mainstream radio station in the UK has an exclusive show for the music.

He believes the ‘politics’ came into play 10 years ago when several dancehall acts were targeted by gay rights groups in the UK for anti-homosexual music.

“That turned off sponsors and stations. They don’t want to be seen as going against the norm.”

Born Christopher Clarke, Goldfinger moved to the UK in 1989. Before working at theBBC, he was a ‘sit-in’ disc jockey for David Rodigan at Kiss FM in London.

Chris Goldfinger is in Jamaica for three dates, the first of which was scheduled for Occasions Nightclub in Morant Bay yesterday. The others are on January 29 in Ziadie Gardens, Kingston, and January 30 at Sebastian’s Nightclub in Golden Spring.