Music

Abracadia Records

Roots breaking through from underground

Spinning the groove at 1RPH

One revolution per heartbeat

Music is a powerful form of cultural action. It can certainly affect moods, heal pains and even erase fear. And it can bring people together to share one unified heartbeat, one sweet love.

Jazz, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Dub, Soul, RnB, Dancehall: these are all forms of urban folk music: people music by and for the peoples of today. They are not just music, they are a whole way of life: A soundscape of cultural exploration towards unifying the fractured mosaic of diversity in our world.

Abracadia Studios 

Where rhythm and soul collide

Located at Brightonish, England, Abraca-D-By-Sea is the studio where the musical magic manifests and the heavenly hipness happily happens.

Everything that comes out of Abracadia studios is part of a mission, something we all take seriously.

We prepare for all recordings with conscious reasonings and meditations on the purpose of playing, so the music is packed with intent, as you will feel.

We describe that mission and that intent as cultural action for Ubuntu.

With an emphasis on collaboration moving forward, it’s all about the nexus that connects us.

The journey has been mythic, at times faith-testing, through poverty and wealth, sickness and health.

Abracadia Music goes with the flow. It does not cut against the grain. Like the those lilies of that valley, it lives without strife. When you follow your bliss the universe unfolds thus, as it should.

Tree Songs

Music with a story

With his music hat on, the author David Remilekun becomes the musician Remi D. Treesongs is his debut album.

‘Treesongs’ reflects the experience of a lifetime of intuitive improvisation, not just in music but as a way of life in order to survive.

The album started when Remi envisioned adding a new dimension to the experience of reading a novel. Music is so central to ‘The Songtree’ that he wanted to find a way to include actual music in it beyond just the musicality of words.

Some of these tunes were composed deep in the hills of Uganda right by the source of the River Nile at the Great Lake there. (The location pictured top of page.) Some say that’s where we all sprang from originally. Those tunes capture the experience: deep, ancestral and life-giving.

Drawn from the waters of Africa, England and Jamaica, the music on the ‘Tree Songs’ album is deep and reflective, but sparkling and active, flowing forward ever fresh.

Recording a sonic odyssey:

Quest for the third ear

All musicians are the sum of their musical influences. Their third ear makes a mashup of them all to derive their own distinctive voice.

Remi’s ‘TreeSongs’ album is a truly unique mix of Reggae, Bebop and West African Groove. Cooking with these diverse but closely related musical ingredients is the result of a lifetime’s immersion. Dizzy Gillespie to Ginger Johnson to Bob Marley, it’s all part of Remi’s story.

All songs were composed by enabling the instrument to speak. After 60 years listening and 50 years playing, Remi jokes that he does not play the music any more, it plays him.

The music has a spontaneous feel to it, reflecting how the initial ideas sprung up out of the infinite stream of the blue. “There’s a river somewhere that runs through the heart of everyone,” sings Roberta Flack; anytime we dip our hand in it’s twinkling liquid sound we’re scooping up. And it’s always brand new, just like Heraclitus said.

Improvisation is the essence of being in the moment, and it is how we reach down there by the riverside. Improvisation is at the core of the ‘TreeSongs’ album, from composition to recording. All recordings capture authentic live improvisation by all musicians, bringing freestyle all the way home.

Remi really has grown up among the best, so he’s well aware of his limitations as a musician. But still he’s got the feel and plenty to say on drums, vibes and melodica: simple but honest and meaningful musical statements all the way. Music cannot lie.

Jazz is all about telling the truth, true statements and stories made of notes. Not since players like Mittoo, Ranglin and Lennie Hibbert has Reggae shown that deep Jazz heritage. It went towards dub instead, played by sound engineers who ran the studios and who seldom understood Jazz.

Remi’s economical approach came from Count Basie, who never used 10 notes where 2 would do: More jewelled stepping stones to wisdom than pave paradise with a steamroller, more thoughtful architecture than cement car park.

Remi D never chose music, it chose him. He never worked at it or studied like you’re supposed to. Like Art Blakey, he just found himself in the role by accident, but unlike Art he’s spent most of his life trying to avoid it - partly due to Art’s warnings. Remi’s playing is more by intuition than by technical know-how. He knows how to get out of the way and let the music and the instrument play.

A Family Affair

The musical family is rooted in Remi’s heritage of griots and minstrels and his upbringing in care of the jazz world. It also includes Remi’s old music life colleagues like Alex Michaelson, Byron Wallen, Mad Professor and too many others to mention. And it includes the youth of today, the stars of tomorrow, from Max Ayinde to Anya Camara.

At the heart of Abracadia’s musical family is Remi D. A multi instrumentalist recording artist with forty plus years experience in studios, his main role as vibes-cooker in chief is to compose, arrange and play on the tunes.

When others rehearse and record their parts Remi is in the room vibesing and driving the intention of the work, a bit like a conductor. After recording, Remi is also part of the production and sound engineering process, helping to define the sound that will finally be released to the public.

Max Ayinde is the main man in the studio. Not only is he a super-talented multi-instrumentalist and composer, he is also an ace sound engineer and recording studio technician with a fine ear for the elements and facets of sound, who really understands the sound that we’re aiming for and can deliver it.

And Day Lavale makes three. An elder, like Remi, Day brings more than just a first rate voice and guitar. He has played a major part in building the Abracadia studio up from scratch as well as playing and singing. Like Remi, Day has deep musical understanding as an experienced composer and arranger, and like Max Ayinde he is up on sound tech as well, making him an essential part of all we do in the studios.

‘Treesongs’ is just the first album from Abracadia. It is mostly composed by Remi D because the album forms part of his novel ‘The Songtree: A Windrush Tale’. Our second album will be a stand-alone (not attached to a novel), equally showcasing compositions by all three artists.

Meet the Team


  • sticks and wind


  • bassie, buttons and keys


  • stringman