![]() ![]() ![]() A short time later they added American singer Sandra “Puma” Jones, a social worker who had migrated to Jamaica to sing and to get in touch with her African heritage. Originally formed in the 1970s by Derrick “Duckie” Simpson, the band began to take off in a serious way with the addition of singer and lyricist Michael Rose around 1977. The proof of this is the reissue of two of the most influential Black Uhuru albums, Sinsemilla and Red, as well as The Dub Factor, a true dub rendering of some of the group’s best-known music. and U.K.), the incorporation of a more fluid rhythmic base and other elements borrowed from dub gave them an unique and sophisticated sound that went well beyond what most other reggae artists of the day were doing. Even though Black Uhuru was making conventional records aimed at breaking them through in major pop music markets (chiefly the U.S. Since dub seeks not merely to replicate the live sound of an artist playing, but instead incorporates studio trickery and effects as an integral part of the music, it is a precursor to today’s turntablists and digital remixers. What I didn’t realize at the time is that Uhuru, along with Sly and Robbie, were adding new dimensionality to the sound of reggae by incorporating some of the textures and techniques of dub music. It’s true that the room was awash in a cloud of ganja smoke and that I myself had been imbibing prior to the group taking the stage, but that is not where this impression of the music as a living organism came from. It was all like the scene in Tom Wolfe’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test that describes the Merry Prankster’s trip to the Cow Palace in San Francisco to see the Beatles. ![]() As I listened to and watched the group play, the rhythms began to undulate and take on a life of their own, until the interplay of rhythm and vocal harmony became like some giant breathing organism that took its lifeblood from the bass and drums Sly and Robbie were laying down. Uhuru was working with Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, the rhythm section responsible for laying down tracks on some of Peter Tosh’s best-known albums, including Equal Rights, Legalize It and Bush Doctor. I was interested in reggae largely because of the influence of punk bands of the day, such as the Clash and the Members, who were incorporating reggae into their own sounds. Back in my college days, I attended a Black Uhuru concert in St. ![]()
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