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Held every August Bank Holiday weekend since 1966, the carnival names sound systems among its five disciplines, the tradition that gave jungle its sound.
Every summer, the streets of Notting Hill in west London fill with costume, steelpan, calypso and speaker stacks. The carnival takes place over the August Bank Holiday weekend, and it is one of the most important events in British Caribbean culture. It is also part of the story of how drum and bass sounds the way it does.
Wikipedia describes the Notting Hill Carnival as an annual Caribbean carnival that has taken place in London since 1966, on the streets of the Notting Hill area of Kensington. It is led by members of the British Caribbean community and attracts around two million people a year, making it one of the world's largest street festivals and the largest in Europe. In 2006 the UK public voted it onto a list of icons of England.
The entry notes that the carnival represents the five disciplines of carnival: masquerade, calypso, soca, steelpan and sound systems. The Saturday traditionally begins with Panorama, a competition between steelpan bands. Sunday is family and children's day, with a shorter route for young people. The main adult parade takes place on Monday.
Sound systems are part of the carnival's identity, which makes it a living link to the culture that gave jungle its attitude. The huge speaker stacks, the selector and the MC are all part of the Caribbean tradition, and they are the same ingredients that British dance music later adopted.
Jamaican sound system culture reached Britain with Caribbean migration, and British born musicians and DJs grew up with it. When rave culture arrived in the late 1980s, many of the people who would build jungle already knew how to use a system, how to handle a dubplate and how to hype a crowd. Wikipedia's account of jungle describes the genre as developing out of the UK rave scene and Jamaican sound system culture.
It is not a straight line, but the connection is real. The carnival's sound systems are a place where you can still hear the bass pressure and the call and response that drum and bass inherited.
If you go, go with respect. The carnival is a community event first, and its organisers ask visitors to follow the guidance and look after one another. Plan your route, check transport, keep valuables safe and be ready for crowds.
For a drum and bass fan, the best approach is to listen as well as dance. Find the sound systems, notice the way the bass moves through the crowd and think about how many nights you have been to that owe something to the street.