The Congos

Last updated

The Congos
The Congos in Chartres 1.JPG
The Congos in concert in Chartres, France on 2006
Background information
OriginJamaica
Genres Roots reggae
Members Roydel Johnson
Cedric Myton
Watty Burnett
Kenroy Ffyffe
Past membersLindburgh Lewis
Devon Russell

The Congos are a reggae vocal group from Jamaica which formed as the duo "Ashanti" Roy Johnson (tenor) (b. Roydel Johnson, 1947, Hanover, Jamaica) and Cedric Myton (falsetto) (b. 1947, Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica), later becoming a trio with the addition of Watty Burnett (baritone) (b. early 1950s, Port Antonio, Jamaica), [1] [2] and have been active on and off from the mid-1970s until the present day. They are best known for their Heart of the Congos album, recorded with Lee "Scratch" Perry.

Contents

History

Myton had previously been a member of The Tartans in the late 1960s (along with Prince Lincoln Thompson, Devon Russell and Lindburgh Lewis), and Ras Michael's group, and had recorded with Thompson's Royal Rasses in the mid-1970s. [3] [4] He formed the Congos, initially as a duo with Johnson, recording the single "At the Feast" for Lee "Scratch" Perry. [1] Perry expanded the group to a trio with the addition of Burnett, this line-up recording the classic roots reggae album Heart of the Congos in 1977 at Perry's Black Ark studio. [1] The album featured illustrious backing singers such as Gregory Isaacs, The Meditations, and Barry LLewellyn and Earl Morgan of The Heptones. [4] The album has been described as "the most consistently brilliant album of Scratch's entire career". [5]

Perry's previous productions by Max Romeo and Junior Murvin had been huge commercial successes thanks to a deal with Island Records, but Perry was in dispute with Island at the time the Congos' album was finished, so it was released on his own Black Ark label, limiting its success overseas, and causing a rift with the group. [1] The Congos went their own way, organising a limited pressing of the album themselves. United Kingdom label Go Feet eventually reissued the album in 1980, and although the group had recorded new material since leaving Perry, Heart of the Congos proved a hard act to follow and their other releases suffered as a consequence. Albums such as Congo Ashanti were sparser and sounded ordinary compared to Perry's kitchen-sink-and-all massive productions.

Burnett quit the group, soon followed by Johnson, who embarked on a solo career. Myton continued to record as The Congos with various other musicians until the mid-1980s.

In the mid-1990s, The Congos reformed, with Myton and Burnett joined by Lindburgh Lewis, several albums following in subsequent years. [1] In 2005 Myton recorded Give Them the Rights with a host of backup singers and star session players such as Sly and Robbie and Earl "Chinna" Smith, very much in the spiritual 70s roots vein. In 2006, the UK reggae revival label Blood and Fire released the album Fisherman Style featuring a remixed version of the classic cut "Fisherman" from Heart of the Congos plus such legends as Horace Andy, Big Youth, Dillinger, Prince Jazzbo, Luciano, Freddie McGregor, Gregory Isaacs, Max Romeo, Mykal Rose, Dean Fraser, Sugar Minott, and U-Roy doing their own new versions over the original rhythm. [6] [7]

In 2002, they appeared on the album The Slackers and Friends by the ska/reggae band The Slackers.

In 2008, The Congos appeared in the independent feature film, Wah Do Dem which captures them performing "Fisherman," and "Congoman Chant," under a full moon at Helshire Beach outside Kingston.

In 2009, Myton, Burnett, and Johnson reunited with Perry to record the album Back in the Black Ark, which, despite its title, was recorded at Myton's studio in Portmore and at Mixing Lab, Kingston. [8]

Discography

Albums
Contributing artist

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee "Scratch" Perry</span> Jamaican reggae producer (1936–2021)

Lee "Scratch" Perry was a Jamaican record producer, composer and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development of dub music with his early adoption of remixing and studio effects to create new instrumental or vocal versions of existing reggae tracks. He worked with and produced for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Marley and the Wailers, Junior Murvin, The Congos, Max Romeo, Adrian Sherwood, Beastie Boys, Ari Up, The Clash, The Orb, and many others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernest Ranglin</span> Jamaican guitarist and composer (born 1932)

Ernest Ranglin is a Jamaican guitarist and composer who established his career while working as a session guitarist and music director for various Jamaican record labels, including Studio One and Island Records. Ranglin played guitar on many early ska recordings and helped create the rhythmic guitar style that defined the form. He has worked with Theophilus Beckford, Jimmy Cliff, Monty Alexander, Prince Buster, the Skatalites, Bob Marley and the Eric Deans Orchestra. Ranglin is noted for a chordal and rhythmic approach that blends jazz, mento and reggae with percussive guitar solos incorporating rhythm 'n' blues and jazz inflections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israel Vibration</span> Band

Israel Vibration are a reggae harmony group, originating from Kingston, Jamaica. Lascelle "Wiss" Bulgin, Albert "Apple Gabriel" Craig, and Cecil "Skelly" Spence all contracted childhood polio, and went on to be a Jamaican roots reggae group in the 1970s. The trio initially met as children at a rehabilitation center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cedric Myton</span> Musical artist

Cedric Constantine Myton is a Jamaican Rastafari reggae musician who was a founding member of the roots reggae band The Congos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bunny Lee</span> Jamaican record producer (1941–2020)

Edward O'Sullivan Lee OD, better known as Bunny "Striker" Lee, was a Jamaican record producer. He was known as a pioneer of the United Kingdom reggae market, licensing his productions to Trojan Records in the early 1970s, and later working with Lee "Scratch" Perry and King Tubby.

The Black Ark was the recording studio of reggae and dub producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, built in 1973 and located behind his family's home in the Washington Gardens neighborhood of Kingston, Jamaica. Despite the rudimentary set-up and dated equipment, it was nonetheless the breeding ground for some of Jamaica's most innovative sounds and recording techniques in the latter half of the 1970s.

<i>Heart of the Congos</i> 1977 studio album by the Congos

Heart of the Congos is a roots reggae album by the Congos, produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry at his Black Ark studio with a studio band including Boris Gardiner on bass and Ernest Ranglin on guitar. The album was released in 1977. It is noted as being one of Perry's masterpiece productions of the Black Ark era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linval Thompson</span> Jamaican reggae and dub musician (born 1954)

Leval Alphonso Thompson, also known as Linval Thompson, is a Jamaican conscious roots reggae vocalist, dub musician and record producer.

Roy Anthony Johnson, better known simply as Anthony Johnson, is a Jamaican reggae musician who was a member of the group Mystic I and is known for the 1980s hit song "Gunshot".

The Meditations are a spiritual, conscious roots reggae vocal harmony group from Jamaica formed in late 1974, who have released several studio albums and are still performing in the 2000s and today.

Stafford Elliot, better known as Fred Locks, is a roots reggae singer best known for his mid-1970s single "Black Star Liners" and the album of the same name.

Watty Burnett, also known as King Burnett is a reggae artist who had a long association with Lee Perry.

Lacksley Castell, sometimes misspelled Laxley, Lacksly, Lasky or Locksley Castel was a Jamaican reggae singer best known for his work in the early 1980s.

Clinton Anthony Fearon is a Jamaican reggae singer and musician. He has lived in Seattle, Washington since 1987.

<i>Black Roots</i> (album) 1979 studio album by Sugar Minott

Black Roots is a 1979 album by Sugar Minott. It was the first to appear on Minott's Black Roots label, and was described in the book Reggae: 100 Essential CDs – The Rough Guide as a "classic, which catches the singer on the cusp of the roots and dancehall phases, and with total control over his music." The album includes contributions from some of Jamaica's top session musicians including Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, Noel "Scully" Simms, Eric "Bingy Bunny" Lamont, Gladstone Anderson, Larry 'Professor Bassie' Silvera and Ansell Collins, with harmony vocals provided by Don Carlos, Lacksley Castell and Ashanti Waugh. Two of the tracks on the album had previously been issued as singles – "Hard Time Pressure" and "River Jordan". The album was described by Dave Thompson in his book Reggae & Caribbean Music as a "deeply dread collection...time has bestowed a stately uniqueness to it". Alex Henderson, writing for AllMusic, said of the album: "If you combined Stax's raw production style with the type of sweetness that characterized a lot of Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia soul and added a reggae beat, the outcome might sound something like Black Roots."

Devon Russell was a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae singer and record producer who recorded between the 1960s and the 1990s, both as a solo artist and as a member of The Tartans and Cultural Roots.

Roydel Anthony Johnson, better known as Congo Ashanti Roy is a Jamaican reggae singer best known as a member of The Congos but who also recorded solo and as a member of Ras Michael's Sons of Negus.

<i>Reggae Greats: Lee "Scratch" Perry</i> 1984 greatest hits album by Lee "Scratch" Perry & Various Artists

Reggae Greats: Lee "Scratch" Perry is a 1984 Island Records compilation album featuring the work of Lee "Scratch" Perry. It focuses mainly on his work as a producer/composer rather than a singer. Perry only sings on three of the songs. All of the tracks are from the period between 1976 and 1979, and were recorded at Perry's Black Ark studio. The album is generally considered a good introduction to Perry's Black Ark work, and is often chosen as the best single album by Perry, but with tracks drawn from Perry's popular late 1970s albums, it has also been described as "not essential" and containing "no surprises".

<i>Arkology</i> (album) 1997 compilation album by Various artists

Arkology is a compilation album by Lee "Scratch" Perry. Released in 1997, the album collects tracks produced by Perry and recorded at the Black Ark studio.

Leo Graham was a Jamaican singer.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Larkin, Colin (1998). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae. Virgin Books. ISBN   0-7535-0242-9.
  2. ↑ Peter I (January 2003). "Open the Gate and Let I Man Free – An interview with Watty Burnett". reggae-vibes.com. Archived from the original on 19 January 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2008.
  3. ↑ Katz, David (2003). Solid Foundation – An Oral History of Reggae . Bloomsbury. ISBN   0-7475-6847-2.
  4. 1 2 Barrow, Steve; Dalton, Peter (1999). Reggae: 100 Essential CDs – The Rough Guide. Rough Guides. ISBN   1-85828-567-4.
  5. ↑ Barrow, Steve; Dalton, Peter (1997). Reggae: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides. ISBN   1-85828-247-0.
  6. ↑ Jacob Arnold (April 2006). "The Congos: Fisherman Style review". gridface.com. Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2007.
  7. ↑ "Various Artists: Fisherman Style". Roots Archives. Archived from the original on 17 October 2007. Retrieved 31 December 2007.
  8. ↑ Katz, David (2010) "Culture Section", MOJO , March 2010, p. 15
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.