Nyah Man Chant

Last updated
Nyah Man Chant
NyahManChantGS.jpg
Studio album by
Released1997
RecordedStudio 2000, Kingston, Jamaica, 1997
Genre Reggae
Label Greensleeves/VP
Producer Steely & Clevie
Bushman chronology
Nyah Man Chant
(1997)
Total Commitment
(1999)
VP release cover
NyahManChantVP.jpg
Cover from the VP Records release.
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
Reggae Vibes(favourable) [2]

Nyah Man Chant is the debut album from Jamaican roots reggae singer Bushman. It was released in 1997 by Greensleeves Records in the United Kingdom and by VP Records in the United States. [3] Bushman had hitch-hiked seventy miles to Kingston in the hope of furthering his career. [4] After meeting renowned production team Steely & Clevie in the car park of the Arrows dub-cutting studio, where they were playing football, he auditioned on the spot and was invited to their studio. [3] Prior to the album, Bushman recorded a string of singles for the duo, including "Grow Your Natty", "Call the Hearse", "Remember the Days", "Black Star Liner", and "Man a Lion", all of which were included on the album. The whole album was produced by Steely & Clevie, and employed a real horn section in contrast to many reggae albums of the time, and met with a positive critical reaction. [3] The album recreated the sound of 1970s and 1980s reggae, and included musicians such as Earl "Chinna" Smith, Dean Fraser, and Vin Gordon. [5] The album was described in the Rough Guides book Reggae: 100 Essential CDs as "a coherent, excellently crafted set" and "as good an example of modern roots singing as you could hope to find". [3] Allmusic called the album "a classic". [5]

Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of Africans and those in the African Diaspora, including the spiritual side of Rastafari, Black Liberation, revolution and the honoring of God, called Jah by Rastafari. It also is identified with the life of the ghetto sufferer, and the rural poor. Lyrical themes include spirituality and religion, struggles by artists, poverty, black pride, social issues, resistance to fascism, capitalism, corrupt government and racial oppression. Also, a spiritual repatriation to Africa is a common theme in Roots Reggae.

Bushman is a Jamaican reggae singer. He was raised in the Rastafari culture from a young age.

Greensleeves Records record label

Greensleeves Records & Publishing is a record label specialising in dancehall and reggae music. The company was founded by Chris Cracknell and Chris Sedgwick and started as a small record store in West Ealing, London, in November 1975 and is based in Britain.

Track listing

  1. "Nyah Man Chant" (Browne, Duncan, Johnson) - 3:28
  2. "Remember the Day" (Browne, Myaz, Williams) - 4:48
  3. "Cannabis" (Browne, Duncan, Johnson) - 3:56
  4. "Man a Lion" (Browne, Duncan, Johnson) - 3:58
  5. "Grow Your Natty" (Browne, Duncan, Johnson) - 3:29
  6. "She's Gone" (Duncan) - 3:46
  7. "Poor People Power" (Browne, Duncan, Johnson) - 3:44
  8. "Rude Boy Life" (Browne, Duncan, Johnson) - 3:43
  9. "Call the Hearse" (Browne, Duncan, Johnson) - 3:51
  10. "My Day" (Browne, Duncan, Johnson) - 3:53
  11. "Ain't No Sunshine" (Withers) - 3:17
  12. "Anything for Your Love" (Browne, Duncan, Johnson) - 3:31
  13. "Black Starliner" (Duncan ) - 3:38

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References

  1. Allmusic review
  2. Reggae Vibes review
  3. 1 2 3 4 Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (1999) "Reggae: 100 Essential CDs", Rough Guides, ISBN   1-85828-567-4
  4. Larkin, Colin (1998) "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", Virgin Books, ISBN   0-7535-0242-9
  5. 1 2 Anderson, Rick "Nyah Man Chant Review", Allmusic , Macrovision Corporation