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Youtube Reggae Blues Dance Disco Clash

Ras Malai Bait said:
how did that come about?....i'd love to hear the story....
Click to expand...

I went to Jamaica for Winston Riley's funeral (he got shot in the head) and I was introduced to Miss Ruddock by Bunny Lee at the graveyard. She's a handsome, older woman. Riley was buried about 20 yards from Gregory Isaacs grave (still without its permanent marker) and about 30 yards from where Alton Ellis lies. While we were there, we were shown Coxsone Dodd's grave, lying alongside his wife, Miss Dodd. And then Bunny Lee showed me where his own mother and father were buried. I know that sounds like a 'who's dead' name-drop but I had worked with Riley for about 25 years so I had to be there...
 
Sirena said:
I went to Jamaica for Winston Riley's funeral (he got shot in the head) and I was introduced to Miss Ruddock by Bunny Lee at the graveyard. She's a handsome, older woman. Riley was buried about 20 yards from Gregory Isaacs grave (still without its permanent marker) and about 30 yards from where Alton Ellis lies. While we were there, we were shown Coxsone Dodd's grave, lying alongside his wife, Miss Dodd. And then Bunny Lee showed me where his own mother and father were buried. I know that sounds like a 'who's dead' name-drop but I had worked with Riley for about 25 years so I had to be there...
Click to expand...


wow....I'm glad i asked......

you worked with Winston Riley??.....are you a musician / producer?.....

how come Gregory Isaacs grave doesnt have a pernanent marker??.....

reggae music just sometimes seems to be cursed.....so many amazing artists have met horrific ends......and many legendary artists remain broke because of the corrupt nature of the jamaican music industry...it saddens me that most of the artists that do earn a few bob are generally the ones that are chatting slackness....

Alton Ellis is one artist i am gutted i never saw live.....along with DEB and Bob.....
 
I worked with Riley on a paperwork level, collecting his royalties. Gregory's grave was just waiting for the gravestone to be finished, I suppose. Sometimes, in Jamaica, things get done in a slightly more haphazard way. I am sure it will be done eventually. I think now, in Jamaica, most artistes get a little bit of money from their work: a lot of things have been sorted out in the last 10 or 20 years but it is still hard because there is absolutely no State welfare support and, if you don't earn a money, you go without food. And it doesn't matter how old you are. Carlton Manning for example: he has a little house but, apart from that, he has nothing except for dribbles of royalties and he is getting older and needs the odd medicines. George Faith's widow cleans houses but lives in a proper shanty place and she has (?) three children who need school uniforms so they can get a chance to learn. Barry Brown and I-Roy both, effectively, died on the streets.

It's very hard in Jamaica and that is one of the reasons why the music is so good. Sufferers' music has a shining quality because its soul is not obscured by false artifice.
 
I'm surprised at Gregorys gravestone situation......I saw what they did for Sugar Minott and it was pretty serious from what i can remember....

its shocking that the person who made Love Me Forever isnt reaping the rewards properly.......i wish there was something in place to make sure the old artists are looked after.....

i guess like you say, we as listeners benefit from the situation in Jamaica.....but its very sad still.....

and i guess todays artists are probably doing a bit better......but i dont rate a lot of stuff coming out of Jamaica these days.....its the endless amount of musical gold from the back catalogues that makes reggae music so special....

like Love Me Forever should be in every household.....like a Beatles album or something......but unfortunately most people will look at you gone off it you ask them if they own a Carlton & The Shoes album....
 
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