Abyssinians set to please British fans

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Forty years after the release of their seminal song Sata Amasa Gana, roots-reggae group The Abyssinians are putting a fresh spin on two of their most popular recordings and preparing for a handful of performances in England.

Founding member Bernard Collins told The Gleaner that he worked with drummer Sly Dunbar, bassist Robbie Shakespeare, keyboardist Robbie Lyn and guitarist Dalton Browne on Y Mas Gan and their other major hit, Declaration of Rights.

The Abyssinians - Collins, Donald Manning and David Morrison - are scheduled to open their British shows on March 17 at the Hootananny in London. This will be followed by dates in Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow and Bristol.

It is not the first time The Abyssinians have re-recorded Declaration of Rights and Y Mas Gan which were originally recorded at Studio One in 1969 and for Lloyd Daley in 1971, respectively.

In 1976, Dunbar and Shakespeare were among the musicians who worked on the group's debut album, Forward Onto Zion, which was produced by Geoffrey Chung.

That set is regarded by many as one of the finest reggae albums of the period. It includes songs like Y Mas Gan, The Good Lord and the repatriation anthem, Forward Onto Zion.

Repackaged

Repackaged with liner notes featuring an interview with Abyssinians co-founder Donald Manning, Forward Onto Zion was reissued as Sata Massagana in 1993 by Massachusetts-based Heartbeat Records.

Collins and Manning grew up in Trench Town and were regulars at Ethiopian Orthodox Church services there during the late 1960s. Manning's older brother, Estefanos, was a senior member in the church and encouraged the budding musicians to learn the tenets of Rastafari and Amharic, the Ethiopian language.

The Abyssinians were complete when Donald recruited his younger brother, Lynford, who had been part of the group Carlton and The Shoes, which scored a big hit at Studio One in 1968 with Love Me Forever.

Their ties to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church inspired Collins and Manning to write Sata Amasa Gana, Amharic for Give thanks. Originally released as Far Far Away, the song made little headway but it was a different story two years later when it was redistributed with a name change on the group's Clinch label.

Sata Amasa Gana was a massive hit, inspiring the new wave of reggae acts like Third World which covered the song for their 1976 self-titled debut album. Numerous other artistes have revived Sata Amasa Gana, which is considered reggae's official anthem.

Though they had other notable songs like This Land, The Abyssinians' career never took off during the roots-reggae craze of the 1970s. The Manning brothers emigrated to the United States while Collins remained in Jamaica and recorded solo albums for Clinch.

Collins and Donald Manning figured in several legal disputes in the 1990s.

Both led their versions of The Abyssinians on tours of the US and Europe during the 1990s.