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The Abyssinians – Satta Massagana (1976, Jamaica)
Our next spotlight is on number 442 on The List, submitted by weirdofhermiston.
The Abyssinians were a vocal trio of Bernard Collins and brothers Donald and Lynford Manning. The title track of this, their debut album,[1] was originally recorded in 1969 for Jamaica’s renowned label Studio One but, after the producer/label owner (Clement “Coxsone” Dodd) held it back, the trio bought the master tapes and self-released it. The song – which has some lyrics in the Ethiopian Amharic language – became a hymn sung in Rastafarian services, and the album as a whole is considered a classic in the roots reggae genre.
Accompanying the trio on this album are a few familiar names and overall cornerstones of Jamaica’s reggae scene, including:
- the prolific and late Robbie Shakespeare on bass and Sly Dunbar on drums, who are in at least a couple other albums on The List including Sinéad O’Connor’s Throw Down Your Arms (which has a cover of this album’s “Y Mas Gan”) and to-be-spotlit Grace Jones’ Nightclubbing;
- Tyrone Downie on keyboards, who the year previous appeared on Burning Spear’s Marcus Garvey and then also in 1976 would make his recording debut as part of Bob Marley & The Wailers on Rastaman Vibration (we’ll hear from Downie again when we get to our spotlights on the live Babylon By Bus, as well as Grace Jones’ Nightclubbing;
- Earl “Chinna” Smith on guitars, who was also on Marcus Garvey and Rastaman Vibration, as well as on the to-be-spotlit Lee Perry’s The Upsetters Super Ape and Augustus Pablo’s King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown;
- plus Mikey “Boo” Richards and Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace (drums), Val Douglas (bass), Mikey Chung (guitars), Geoffrey Chung (keyboards), Jerome Francique and Llewellyn Chang (horns), and Clive Hunt (keyboards, horns, flute) (some or all of whom probably are also hiding elsewhere on The List, for all I know).
If you’re into dub versions as I am, make sure you also check out Satta Dub (1998) and its Deluxe Expanded Edition (2017).
- Originally unofficially released in limited quantities in 1975, 1976 is considered the official release date. The album has also been released under the titles Forward On To Zion and Satta. ↩︎