Jah Shaka (born Neville Powell – 12 April 2023), also known as the Zulu Warrior, was a Jamaican reggae/dub sound system operator who operated a South East London-based, roots reggae Jamaican sound system from 1970. His name is an amalgamation of the Rastafarian term for God and that of the Zulu king Shaka Zulu.
He arrived in England in 1956 and attended Samuel Pepys school in Brockley, South London. on the Freddie Cloudburst Sound System as an operator, before setting up his own sound system. By the late 1970s Shaka's system had rapidly gained a large and loyal following due to the combination of spiritual content, high energy rhythms, massive sonority and his dynamic personal style. That following notably included many of the pioneers of post-punk such as Public Image Ltd and The Slits.
In 1980 Shaka played himself in the film Babylon (directed by Franco Rosso, although he directed the scene he appeared in
In addition to Rastafari, Shaka cited Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, George Jackson and Angela Davis as influences. tending towards slack dancehall music. In 1989, Shaka visited Jamaica and worked with many musicians there, including King Tubby.
On 23 September 2000, he suffered numerous injuries during a house fire. In 2002, Jah Shaka appeared before a large crowd in New York City's Central Park. Live footage of Shaka is featured in the documentary All Tomorrow's Parties based on the musical festival, which was released in 2009.
Label
200px|thumb|right
From 1980, Shaka released music on his own Jah Shaka Music label from Jamaican artists such as Max Romeo, Earl Cunningham, Johnny Clarke, Bim Sherman and Prince Alla as well as UK groups such as Aswad, vocalist Ras Imru Asha and digital roots innovators, Dread & Fred. He released a number of dub albums, often under the Commandments of Dub banner. and new emerging artists like Rockaway and Principle - who have sung over riddims produced by his son Malachi, known as Young Warrior.
Non-musical work
In the early 1980s, he ran a three-storey community hub in New Cross, known as the Culture Shop, which acted as a focal point for local black youth and housed a record store, a Caribbean food outlet and a Rastafari-oriented hair salon. It has also managed to distribute medical supplies, wheelchairs, library books, carpentry tools, drawing materials and records to clinics, schools and radio stations in the Accra area establishing important links with the local communities. His official Nine Night was held on 21 April at the Great Hall, Goldsmiths University, followed by an official memorial event at the E1 venue on 22 October 2025.