Sunday 23 November 2008

The Aztek ,The Knights of The Jaguar and strange experiences in the Valley of the Dawn





Back in the early Nineties while while studying Psychology at East London University, I spent the weekends submerging myself in the London underground Techno subulture. Particularly memorable were the Zero Gravity and Nuclear free zone parties where I heard DJ Aztek play a number of times. Some years later I had a dream where I was back in zero gravity and again the Aztek was on the wheels of steel, but this time as he mixed his mesmerizing tunes he assembled a silver telescopic contraption with spinning metallic windmill like blades that caught the lights in a magical and enchanting way. The music in the dream was as haunting as the lights were entrancing. So imagine my suprise when I heard that same music a few weeks later coming from my radio one friday night on Pete Tongs "essential selection" during the slot dedicated to his "essential new tune" The shock was compounded as he named the tune and the artist "Knights of the Jaguar" by DJ Rolando The Aztek Mystic . The story was to take a further twist as it emergered the record had been given a full international release by Sony which subsequently led to the a well document a legal dispute between Sony Corporation,and the artists record label "Underground Resistance" which have a proud and fiercely independent history and had apparently refused permission for the record to be lisenced to Sony. I had to wonder could this mixup really have anything to do with the activities of a beautiful but rather choatic young lady I had met recently at a friends club "Afrodisia". The relationship wa brief affair full of passion, laughter and tears. We had spent one particularly memorable night out in Dalston at  Simon "Abrantee" Boteng's birthday bash where was DJ'ing  with his 90% Crew. She explained she just got back from Japan where she had been on a intercultural exchange. We shared a love of Detroit techno and dancing and she proundly told me how recently she had been asked by a japanese friend of hers who worked for Sony to do some translation work for a meeting with none other than Mad Mike head honcho of Underground Resistance!
Later that year I too was on an intercultural exchange in Brazil and following my 5 month work placement i decided to do some travelling. Not far from the Capital of Brazil and closer still to the Geodesic centre of Brazil lies a small town known as the Valley of the Dawn.This community was started by a former truck driver "Tia Neiva" who having suffered from a period of Mental ill health from which she could find no help from conventional counsellors/psychiatrists decided to take the experiences at face value and entertain the notion that she was being contacted from extra terrestrial/other dimensional forces.The entities that were contacting her labelled themselves as "The Jaguars" and claimed to be Highly evolved spirits who had experienced multiple reincarnations. They had, in at least one of their lifetimes fought in incredibly violent battles and committed horrifically violent acts however they had eventually been united under their leader "Pai Seta Branca"who himself was an earlier incarnation of the St Francis of Assisi and had become united behind the teaching of the Christ and the Prophets.The Valley of the Dawn in its physical dimension attracts all sorts of visitors having become something of a tourist attraction .Indeed the day I visited it was also visited by some Tibetan lamas who had recognised it as an authentic spiritual tradition .Over the years it had maintained it original objectives started by "Tia Neiva"of providing support to the homeless , poor and trouble stricken. and holds elaborate ceremonies during which its adept enter trance and channel messages to those present.Like all the tourist I took my place to watch one of these ceremonies. and took a step back as they asked for volunteers and just at that moment who should I bump into but the Brazillian girlfriend of one of my Capoeira group from back in London "Steve" she called out drawing everyones attention to me "what are you doing here" "are you going to Volunteer" "no no" I said and anyway the medium probably dont speak english, not a problem she said the mediums don't speak english but the jaguars can speak any number of languages, so forward I went to receive my message from the Jaguars .The message was clear, I apparently had very serious karma ,due to very violent deeds commited in a previous life. Upon my return to the uk I was warned to be very careful ;where I live ,with whom I live and to make a similiary considered decision in regards to what religion I practise. As I left the valley I bought a post card with an artist impession of one of the most formidable Jaguars "Mestre Lazarus".
Next on my trip across Brazil was a visit to Bahia and the city of Salvador the capoeira academy of my capoeira teacher's master in Brazil so a smile crosssed my face when I saw on the paper and name and address Mestre Lazarao - Rua de Jaguaracy! 
I trained with Mestre Lazarus and his  "Guerreiros dos Palmares" for a couple of weeks, staying in a nearby a guest house and one day I returned to my room to find I had been robbed.The main items stolen were a "Bad Boy Capoeira" t-shirt and the last of my Wagamama t-shirts ( these were the unoffical t -shirts of my kung fu school at the time ) we had no official t-shirts but gifted of a box of wagamma t-sirts ) sadly the t-shirts stolen from me in Brazil were intended as presents for my Mestres Lazarao. The circumstances surrounding the discovery of the robbery were quite interesting, My friend and I had been sitting meditating in our hotel room when my rucksack mysteriously fell over , I found this strange so checked it to find I had been robbed of above items. We notified the hotel that we were leaving and the reasons why ( we suspected an inside job) . By the time we had reached the end of the road we were arrested and accused of leaving without paying,
We were taken to the police headquaters and questioned and at one point left to sweat while the authorities went away to check our stories.While alone in the police commisioners office, I noticed the huge Bible on display with its ornate writing and images and found to my amazement it had been left open at the Story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead and an amazing image of Lazarus. The police commisioner soon returned. Only the intervention of lawyers from AFS Brazil and the real life from Mestre Lazarao avoided a night in the cells.
The final twist to this tale came when after return to my host family we took a trip to Rio and visited the corcovada the famous statue of "Christ the Redeemer" it was a rainy day so there were not many people about but a group of young local boys seemed to get excited when they saw me and they approached me. My host parents tried to encourage them to go away, thinking we might be robbed ,but the boys were insistent. It seems they had spotted my Underground Resistance "Knights of the Jaguar" T shirt and had associated it with the Rio "Funk" scene they wanted to freestyle some raps as they seemed almost certain I was some kind of A&R from Sony and might be able to sign them up for the rich and famous lifestyle of an international rap star.

1 comment:

JSteveKane said...

I have just read a post about a new UR phenomenom Urban Ritual an open month Capoeira roda in London. Capoeira "The warriors dance" "is a classic underground resistance movement. I feel a new UR post comming on.