Bio
Music journalist, sound system DJ & promoter with +30 years experience.
Founder of one of the very first Polish reggae DJ collectives - Joint Venture Sound System. He played thousands of events throughout the country. Joint Venture also appeared on stage in Russia, Germany, France , Great Britain, Slovakia, Czech, Austria... In the second half of the 80s he released underground punk / art fanzines on his own and contributed to major independent mags like "Reggae Front", "Qqryq" or "Antena Krzyku". His articles on dub and reggae were published in main music magazines "Plastik" and "Brum", Polish reggae magazine "Free Colours" and the main Polish portal onet.pl. Since 2008 he works for the Polish National Radio Czwórka in Warsaw, hosting a weekly show "Strefa Dread", promoting reggae, dub, dancehall, ska, world music etc. He also hosted a series of music shows for the Polish National TV. As a booking agent he invited many outstanding international artists to Poland, including many crucial reggae headliners. He was the first to bring digital dub artists to Poland. He worked with British Council, French Cultural Institute or The Goethe Institute. He travelled to Jamaica many times, working there as a music guide in alternative tourism. For many years he is a part of the promoters team for the leading Polish Ostróda Reggae Festival. He was the executive producer of the first Polish album sessions in Jamaica - Rastasize "Day by Day" and Kamil Bednarek. He was a manager for Warsaw Village Band, Village Kollektiv and Warsaw Afrobeat Orchestra. Maken works also for Dreadsquad. He was a co-producer of pioneer compilation series "Dub out of Poland" and Warsaw Village Band's remixes collection "Wymixowanie".
Maken was voted 3 times "A Man of the Year in the Polish Reggae Scene" by the readers of "Free Colours" magazine.
In 2014 he was awarded with Distinguished for Polish Culture Award by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage for his work for Ostróda Reggae Festival.
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