SOUNDSYSTEM CULTURE

There’s lots and lots of hidden treasures in Jamaican music, singers who made the occasional single and appearance on the odd album, but never seemed to make it big despite showing a great amount of talent, having a prosperous future ahead and the critics behind them, such as the subject of this article, Kiddus I.

Inna de Yard’s The Soul of Jamaica album was the result of a long and complicated process. The acclaimed album has recently seen an expanded edition surface with four additional bonus tracks, and next month, there will be a new Ken Boothe album issued in the Inna de Yard series. Here, many of The Soul of Jamaica’s album’s key participants discuss the genesis and evolution of the project and their particular roles in helping it reach fruition. "Inna de Yard is a very special project. Even before this moment in time" - Cedric Myton

Winston Jarrett (born 14 September 1940)[1] is a Jamaican conscious foundation roots reggae singer who was part of Alton Ellis's group The Flames in the 1960s before recording with The Righteous Flames and as a solo artist.

Mikey Dread (born Michael Campbell in 1954, Port Antonio, Jamaica, died March 15, 2008 in Stamford, Connecticut, US) came to prominence in the ’70s with his weekly radio show on JBC (Jamaican Broadcasting Company) where he had a four hour show called Dread At The Controls.

There are few hornsmen in Jamaican music who get such respect as trombone player extrordinarie, Rico Rodriguez. Essentially a jazz musician like many from his generation of 1950’s players, he took those influences, particularly from his teacher and first inspiration, the late great Don Drummond, and added his vibe to what was soon to be called ska as one of many session-men on the Kingston scene, thus contributing to the future development of the music.

Few artists have embodied reggae music’s fundamentals like singer and producer Linval Thompson. His mellow, mellifluous, almost mocking voice, set to heavy drum-and-bass, created a vibe that stands out among many of his more traditional song-crafting peers. His productions, usually recorded at Channel One studio using the Roots Radics band, are quite simply the finest examples of late 70s/early 80s roots reggae and proto-dancehall ever assembled.

Not many people can claim to be the scion of reggae royalty quite like Aston Barrett, Jr. Aston’s father, bassist Aston “Family Man” Barrett, and his uncle, drummer Carlton “Carly” Barrett, played with Bob Marley on so many of reggae’s greatest tunes — as the backbone of The Wailers. Furthermore, Aston’s grandfather Joe Higgs is known as the “Father of Reggae” for his mentorship of the original Wailers and many other Jamaican vocal groups, in addition to his own standout career...

There has long been a fascination with singers at a child stage in worldwide popular music, Jamaica is no different. Delroy Wilson springs to mind first and foremost, no doubt the biggest child star the island has ever seen. Errol Dunkley was another teen sensation back in the mid-sixties. Dunkley was to become one of the most prolific hit-machines on the island with recordings for the late Joe Gibbs and Bunny Lee, before teaming up with Gregory Isaacs to form the African Museum label. Later he was to score a huge pop hit with a cover of John Holt’s ‘OK Fred’ in 1979.

No one embodied the 1970s reggae scene in its pomp quite like Big Youth. The dreadlocked deejay's music and persona contained the decade’s gritty DIY street toughness, its Rastafari social conscience and its flamboyant ghetto fabulousness all at once. As the microphone speaker who popularised Rasta lyrics on Jamaican sound system, whose rough-edged mystical chants made him a favourite of Britain’s punk rockers, Big Youth's place in history is secure. But when you talk to Manley Augustus Buchanan, he still sounds like a man with something to prove.

Addis Pablo, scion of the beloved Augustus Pablo, is a man in the mold of what is known about his mystical, legendary father: He’s extremely humble, creative, reflective, intelligent, and, passionately focused on using the melodica to make some of the most spiritual, special music in the world.

Franklyn “Ben Up” Irving and Stanley “Barnabas” Bryan are two of the last surviving team members of the legendary Channel One studio and entertainment empire. Owned by the Hookim brothers and based at 29 Maxfield Avenue, Channel One’s productions dominated Kingston's reggae scene from the mid-to-late 70s. Driven by a crystalline studio sound and the radical drumming of Sly Dunbar, Channel One became as in demand as Studio 1 the decade before.

It was during my recent trip to Jamaica that I had the unique opportunity to sit down with Barrington Levy and talk with him about his life, career, and his new Grammy-nominated album Acousticalevy.

Red Lion (King Shiloh) “The album I played the most is ‘King Selassie I Calling’. One of the last Augustus Pablo albums that came out actually. ‘King Selassie I Calling’ is an impressive album”.