Welcome to the homepage of the British Association of Sound Systems (BASS). This site will give you more information about the organisation, its function, and its membership.

The BASS membership is predominantly made up of the Sound Systems that you will find located at the annual London Notting Hill Carnival (Europe's largest street festival) which takes place every year over 2 days, during the August Bank Holiday weekend in London.  Unfortunately, due to the Covid 19 epidemic this year, the Notting Hill Carnival 2020 has been cancelled. Please check individual Sound Systems listings and their websites for details of alternative arrangements for the August Bank Holiday this year as many will be performing their own live streams over the Carnival weekend.

Although Sound Systems were present as an integral part of Black-British cultural expressions in Notting Hill prior to inception of the event in the 1960's, this year (2020) marks the 47th Anniversary of (static) Sound Systems being formally invited to participate at the Carnival officially as the 5th discipline.

Please visit the member's pages for the individual Sound System profiles and information about their music policy, services and club dates etc.

You can also discover what you can look forward to in relation to entertainment at Carnival 2020 and the site also offers useful links and related information on the development of the sound system from inception to current day. Please view our article on - 

The History of Sound systems in the UK

Feel free to visit our contact page for enquiries and/or comments.