Umoja Runnings

Umoja Hi-Fi Sound System was established in 1992, and we're still going strong! Members reside in LA, Dallas, San Francisco and Bali among other locations. Core members and DJs include Daz, Tomas, Culture D, Jun, King Cokni O Dire, Stevie G and Destroyer with affiliated members B-Love, Chris Vargas and Monalisa.

We operate like a family house party and spin everything from reggae, hip-hop, funk, jazz and soul to house, dubstep and drum & bass. Jamaican music is our root sound -- rocksteady, ska, reggae, dub -- but the crew has always represented musical diversity, so it's not uncommon to hear a classic track by Marvin Gaye or James Brown mixed into Gang Starr then over to Alton Ellis, Sugar Minott, Queen Ifrica and Mavado.

Pictured to the left is DJ Jun who hosts and spins weekly Fridays at Resonance, 8:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. at Amoeba Music Hollywood. It's always an amazing blend of new and classic dance music from across the spectrum.

Across the Pacific Ocean in Bali, Indonesia, Umoja member Stevie G has been bringing fresh beats to his island home for a decade. His latest event is Disko Afrika, which, as you can imagine, is brimming with music from the Motherland. The G Man started a bi-weekly reggae beach jammy in Bali called Yagga! and has been nicing it up at one-off gigs in Jakarta and Manila, Philippines.

Props as always have to be given to King Cokni, whose remained ever-steady with his two weekly Ustream live webcast mix programs (see and hear him live!). Decent Something airs Sundays 3-5 p.m. (Pacific Standard Time) -- see what you're missing -- while Live on Arrival airs Mondays 12 noon (PST). The latter show Cokni describes as "Good music and good vibes to kill de Monday blues and mek U dance off ya shoes!" And if you don't believe this man has skills, well, just check his Wikipedia entry for the 411!

DJ Daz just did his thing recently at Reggae Inna Tavern 'longside Holloway, Destroyer and Mario Caldato, Jr. Daz DJ gigs are a little bit more rare these days but always special.

Plus he's always dropping fresh gems on his podcast. If you haven't subscribed yet, then go here and do it! DJ Daz is constantly cited as an influence on today's hip-hop and jazz DJs and was an intregral part of the BRASS and B-Side club nights in LA. Bow down!

Meanwhile, up in SF, DJ Tomas (pictured right) has been holding down the monthly first Thursdays reggae night Culture Corner, co-hosting and spinning with the Friday Night Session radio crew (weekly show Fridays 10 p.m. - 12 a.m. on KUSF-In-Exile plus monthly happy hour first Fridays 6-10 p.m. at SOM Bar), as well as  spinning inna punky-reggae vibe (The Clash, U-Roy, Derrick Harriot, The Adverts, The Specials, Big Youth etc.) at his latest monthly event, Soul Rebel, fourth Fridays at Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary Street in SF.

If you like advance planning, catch his upcoming reggae set Sunday July 17 10 p.m. at Dub Mission, with DJ Shockman.

For more check the DJ Tomas SF Facebook fanpage y'all.

The man like Destroyer has been active as hell with weekly soul nights like Strictly Social, FastFWD and Nu-Thursdays at Little Temple in LA and a brand new re-issue of his Teflon Dons house music productions on Lars B's respected Deeper Shades label. Wanna hear it? Check the previews here.

Here's what Destroyer had to say about this release:

"I released about 8 vinyl releases on the LA based deep house label Worldship Music from 1995 to about 2000. About a year ago Lars B. from Deeper Shades recordings reached out to me interested in the releases I put out on my imprint. This new digital single represents some of those tracks."

Check his podomatic mixes here.

Special shout out to our friends and supporters and loyal tweet army Chris Vargas, Monalisa and the original invisible, DJ B-Love!