Ahead of the full Faber Alt. & BBC Introducing Stage line up reveal, we’re excited to announce the first two special guests for the Lavish Lounge’s 20th anniversary programme: Dennis Bovell’s Instant Dubscorechestra, followed by Don Letts, two titans of UK dub, reggae and sound system culture.
At Latitude, Dennis Bovell MBE will lead the Instant Dubscorechestra onstage — live dubbing on the fly, in the sound system tradition he helped pioneer — backed by his formidable Dub band: Ashanti Selah on keys (Vivian Jones, Twinkle Brothers), Kenrick Rowe on drums (The Specials, PJ Harvey), Jo Cocco on guitar (Max Romeo, The Abyssinians) and Spy Austin on bass (Desmond Dekker, The Style Council).
Bovell is Britain’s reggae maestro: multi-instrumentalist, producer and dub pioneer. He shaped the sound of Lovers Rock, led Matumbi, and has collaborated with Linton Kwesi Johnson, The Slits, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Orange Juice, Fela Kuti, Boy George and Sade, among many others — as well as scoring films — across a career now into its sixth decade.
A long-time friend and creative colleague of Don Letts, Bovell appears as an interviewee in Rebel Dread, the documentary about Letts’ life, making this Lavish Lounge double billing something of a reunion.
Letts has cemented his reputation in film and music through decades of influential work from the late 1970’s onwards. As a DJ at London’s Roxy in 1977, he single-handedly introduced punk audiences to reggae and adopted the DIY ethos to make The Punk Rock Movie, the only Super-8 documentary of the UK punk scene featuring the Sex Pistols and the Clash amongst others. He has directed over 300 music videos and documentaries, including films on Bob Marley, Gil Scott-Heron and Paul McCartney. A Grammy winner for Westway to the World (2003), his work has been exhibited internationally. Currently, Don also hosts Culture Clash on BBC Radio 6.
The full line up for the Faber Alt. x BBC Introducing Stage at the Lavish Lounge will be announced soon. Final tickets to Klarna presents Latitude 2026 are on sale at the link below.
