Bob Marley
Freelance Reporter, Kandre McDonald recently joined several tourists for Caribe Vacations and Glamour Tour's new attraction,
The Where the 'Reggae' Hits Are Made tour is geared towards highlighting and exploring Jamaican music from its
reggae roots.
Jamaica's music is quite influential, and as Bob Marley puts it, 'one good thing about music when it hits you, you feel no pain'.
One is left to wonder where the songs that have rocked the world were created. What sort of work and arrangements are put in place to come up with the final product? How did Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, Peter Tosh, Alton Ellis, and a host of others began their musical careers?
Caribe Vacations and Glamour Tour have set out to answer questions of this nature with the launching of the Where the 'Reggae' Hits Are Made tour. The tour was launched at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, Knutsford Boulevard, last Thursday and is geared towards highlighting and exploring Jamaican music from its reggae roots to its modern day dancehall rhythms.
According to tour director Andrew Sharpe, Director of Caribe Vacations, the tour is aimed at highlighting the Kingston Metropolitan Region and its importance to the development of reggae music.
Journalists from across the island were to witness, firsthand the tour's inception at Studio One at about 12:25 p.m. There to meet the team was Mr. Lou Gooden, author of the book 'Reggae Heritage' and close compatriot of the late Sir Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd, O.D. Present also was Mrs. Dodd and a few of Jamaica's musical background artistes, with the likes of King 'The Ugly One' Stitt.
SECTIONS
We were then lead through a passage where the scent seemed weird and hard to describe. Mr. Gooden was at this time making the tourists familiar with the various sections of the building and their purpose. He interacted with the team quite well, while revealing the history behind the music Bob, Tosh, The Skatalites and others produced at the studio. He, along with Vincent Morgan, an engineer who has worked on lots of Jamaica's seminal hits, described how the music is made and mixed at the studio.
The team of tourists was allowed to touch an old Fender precision bass guitar that was used to create lots of the ska, rock steady, rhythm & blues, jazz and Be-bop beats that were quite popular in Jamaica in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. The guitar is still being used, today according to Mr. Morgan.
After viewing a few other artefacts we were taken to historical corners and locations were Bob Marley, Delroy Wilson and others habitually hung out.
Next it was to the Bob Marley statue at Independence Park. Lots of persons were pondering its importance as a part of the package, especially as the midday sun was blazing hot and the slight wind blowing was not sufficient to dispell the heat in any way.
After leaving the statue, it was time for lunch.
We then made a stop at Anchor Recording Studio, the largest recording facility in Jamaica. There awaiting the team was Mr. Augustus 'Gussie' Clarke, the studio's director. Mr. Clarke dealt with the more technical aspect of the music business, in terms of the instruments used. He took the team on a tour of the three studios, plus the offices. We were also given a chance to see some upcoming artistes recording.
We were informed that Harry Js Studio that was supposed to be a part of the tour would be omitted on this occasion; the reason for this was not revealed.
Soon we were in the Meadowbrook area where the Gumption Studios, home of the Tuff Rhythm Label and the Gumption Band, is located. Mr. Paul Thompson gave us a first- hand tour of the venue, talked about the music business and showed us the musical instruments, thereby filling the gap between the information received at Studio One and Anchor Recording Studio.
The tour then ended and the bus made its way back to the Jamaica Pegasus, the persons well- informed about the genesis of some of the biggest hits coming out of Jamaica.
