Jake Savona has long had a refreshingly cosmopolitan approach to dancehall production. His landmark third album Melbourne Meets Kingston (2007) was notable for forging connections between Melbourne’s lively reggae scene and the music’s spiritual home in Jamaica. In a culturally cringing Australian music scene that tends to get puff-chested about merely having an internationally known producer or guest MC on an album, Melbourne Meets Kingston was a true collaboration.

Recorded in both Melbourne and Kingston, it boasted heavyweight Jamaican guests including Big Youth and Anthony B alongside local dancehall artists, and slipped in local references such as the horn-led instrumental ‘Rucker’s Hill’. In another compliment to Savona, many listeners assumed he was the black dude pictured on the cover, rather than the white guy who plays keyboards in Illzilla.

Now Jake’s new label, Savona Records, has made a splashy debut with the world’s first ever Australian produced riddim to be manufactured and distributed in Jamaica and released internationally: the Fire Dragon Riddim.

While it comes with a little kangaroo on the label, you might be thinking that Fire Dragon isn’t an especially Aussie name. Well, it comes from the riddim’s Asian feel. It’s basically a more hip-hop-styled version of the 1967 Drum Song riddim composed by organist Jackie Mittoo and producer Coxsone Dodd, overlaid with shimmering strings, gongs and oboes, and samples from Chinese and Japanese martial arts films. The riddim also features percussion from Jamaican legend Bongo Herman, plus effects-laden guitar from Baz Turnbull of the Mista Savona Band and clarinet from Chris Tanner of alt-trad-jazz outfit the Hoodangers.

The original Drum Song has often been used for ‘conscious’ reggae tracks, and the Fire Dragon forms the backing for ‘Why Does The World Cry’ by Jamaican star Sizzla Kalonji, which celebrates love and spiritualism: “Why does the world cry?/When will the war end?/Praise the Most High/Who will look out for the little children?”

Other artists you can hear on the Fire Dragon Megamix (whatever happened to megamixes? We need to bring those back in general. Paging Jive Bunny…) include Jamaican vocalists Burro Banton, Junie Platinum and Massyka, plus Australians Vida Sunshyne and Raz Bin Sam.

“I must confess, I’m not mad about the riddim itself,” blogs Oliver Palmer, “but nevertheless, this really is a fantastic step for the nascent Australian dancehall scene.”

Palmer compares it to hip-hop’s orientalist moment of several years back (think ‘Oochie Wally’, ‘Get Ur Freak On’, ‘Beware of the Boys’, and the various Diwali, Egyptian and Coolie Dance crossover tracks of ‘02-’04).

Personally, I really like the Fire Dragon’s laid-back, hip-hop feel. It’s not instantly pigeonholed as a ‘reggae’ track, and while it’s already burning up dance floors in Melbourne’s reggae scene, it deserves to get a wider audience. The Fire Dragon Riddim is currently available on seven-inch vinyl, with a CD and 12-inch slated for release this year.