The artists also present their new material: a dub album, a tribute album and a collaborative album.
Benicàssim, 21 ago – The penultimate night before the 27th edition of the annual seven day long Reggae festival came to an end with the closing show delivered by Burning Spear -who had come out of retirement in order to tour and perform one more time for his fans and followers and blessing them with his art to convey the messages and teachings of Marcus Garvey-, the Main Stage turned into a vibrant platform for the extraordinary talented musicians’ performance by Sly Dunbar & The Revolutionaries.
Their unique date in Europe on Sunday night benefited from the extra added value of being preceded on stage at 8.15 pm by none the less but the mythical Roots Reggae duo Abyssinians -who showed that they possessed the power of aligning the Roots Reggae hearts of any growing festival crowd-, and Sly Dunbar & the Revolutionaries touched the stage exactly at 9.15 pm.
Their exclusive show on the Main Stage
With Earl „Chinna“ Smith on guitar, Dean Fraser on saxophone, Lloyd Parks on bass, Sly Dunbar -on drums- featured these musicians as the Revolutionaries for their unique show in Europe in memory of the drummer’s other half Robbie Shakespeare of the famous Robbie & Sly duo further to Donald “Tabby Diamond” Shaw and Fitzroy “Bunny Diamond” Simpson from the legendary Mighty Diamonds; who all three passed recently: Robbie in December 2021 and Tabby & Bunny in April 2022.
Amongst the Sly & Robbie classics such as „Swing Easy“ and „Unmetered Taxi“ and the Mighty Diamond anthem „Pass the Kutchie“, the Revolutionaries played Sly’s former Channel One studio band’s signature tracks „Kunta Kinte“, „MPLA“ or „Death in the Arena“.
During the show each musician also took its turn to showcase one or two pieces of their well-known solo work. The Revolutionaries‘ original member Lloyd Parks performed his 1975 hit song „Mafia“ in the spotlight followed by his 1974 song „Officially“, where he performed his partner’s Ray-I part of the song too. Jamaica’s top go-to guitarist Earl „Chinna“ Smith, “in his own right, a songwriter, a veteran musician, a kingsize producer”, as introduced by Parks, performed the song „Fade Away“ -which he has written in 1974 for Junior Byles, and which can also be found on the 1978 Rockers movie soundtrack-. During his performance, wordsmith Smith called on Dean Fraser for a solo on his sax. The love and passion (and joy!) for this song expressed by „Chinna“ using his voice and guitar and Dean Fraser using his saxophone was, overwhelming. Nearly needless to say but deserving huge respect, all parts played by Dean Fraser throughout the show on saxophone were spotless. To cover the Mighty Diamonds songs „I Need A Roof“, „Right Time“ and „Have Mercy“, the acclaimed saxophonist even took over the microphone.
Their special guest appearance at the Rototom Reggae University
“The show was too short”, Sly Dunbar observes on the next day after the presentation of Forbes Copeland’s new book Reggae My Life Is at the Reggae University, where the ensemble guest-starred. “We need two hours to prepare the thing the way we wanted, we had to cut it short, 90 minutes”, he elaborates emphasising that for this unique concert in Europe that Sly Dunbar & The Revolutionaries delivered in Spain “some of the strongest artist of Jamaica” were picked.
One such strong artist is bass player and singer Lloyd Parks. The former band leader of Skin, Flesh & Bones -where Sly Dunbar drummed before teaming up with bass guitarist Robbie Shakespeare for his Robbie & Sly times- underlines “we are glad to be back”. Currently working solo on a song called „Glad to be Back“, Lloyd Parks further announces “my next album is gonna be a dub album, Strictly Dub, you know? […] with all the baselines that I have played over the years”. With reference to getting the Revolutionaries project featuring all these Jamaican star musicians together, he explains “we are just brothers, here to support each other, you know? Sly need assistance from me to turn the bass up, I am always ready, „Chinna“ need for the same thing”.
No doubt one of Jamaica’s most influential and hyper-talented artist, Earl „Chinna“ Smith also gives his statement of account during this Reggae University session. He elaborates from his spotlight performance of „Fade Away“ the night before. “Junior Byles is an artist whom I love”, he begins and reminds the audience that he had written this “record” for Byles “in 1974” putting emphasis on the fact that 48 “years” have passed since. Today “the breddrin [Junior Byles] need[s] some help, some support”, he reports on the current situation and simultaneously reveals his action plan to help Byles by “get[ting] out the album, getting back to the album”. “Not the album I already finished”, he differentiates but a completely new one. Talking to inews24.co.uk, Earl „Chinna“ Smith refers to the project as a “tribute to Junior Byles” with “cover songs by various artists”. At the session he already announced publicly: “I talk to Inner Circle and Inner Circle give me a song with Freddie McGregor and Mykal Rose”. This song, as we later find, is going to be „Beat Down Babylon“. In his role as producer of this tribute project, Earl „Chinna“ Smith closes his intervention at the Rototom Reggae University showing his gratitude and saying “bless the artists that sing „Beat Down Babylon“, „Curly Locks“, „Hit Up“, “and” he adds in his cool way addressing the audience, “you’re supposed to know the rest of them [songs]“.
New material that already has been released is Dean Fraser’s project. The great saxophonist explained that he used “Covid time” as “down time to record an album”. Humbly and content he shares that he “got the opportunity to record with Ernie Ranglin” and smiles “we just finished that album called Two Colours”. The saxophonist proudly admits that “this is like heaven to me right now to play alongside a great legend like that and having a record along himself and this is my new project”.
Text: Ilona “ilo” Kepic
