The Abyssinians are a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

roots reggae 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 ...

group, famous for their close

harmonies In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

and promotion of the

Rastafari movement Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control o ...

in their

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

History

The vocal trio was originally formed in 1968 by Bernard Collins and Donald Manning. Their first song was "

Satta Massagana ''Satta Massagana'' is a roots reggae album released by The Abyssinians officially in 1976. It is widely considered The Abyssinians' crowning achievement and a classic roots reggae album. The title track "Satta Massagana" was a huge hit and h ...

", which was strongly influenced by Carlton Manning's "Happy Land". "Satta Massagana" is a Rastafarian hymn sung partly in the

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

Amharic Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...

language. They recruited a third vocalist, who was still at school and often unable to attend rehearsals; he was soon replaced by Donald's brother Lynford Manning, who had previously been a member of their brother Carlton Manning's group

Carlton and The Shoes Carlton and the Shoes (sometimes credited as Carlton & His Shoes) are a Jamaican vocal group who had their greatest success in the late 1960s, as rocksteady gradually became reggae and are still active in 2008, most notably in Japan and Jamaica ...

. "Satta Massagana" was first recorded for producer

Clement "Coxsone" Dodd Clement Seymour "Coxsone" Dodd (26 January 1932 – 4 May 2004) was a Jamaican record producer who was influential in the development of ska and reggae in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond. He was nicknamed "Coxsone" at school due to his talent a ...

in March 1969, but he decided against releasing it, seeing no commercial potential for what he saw as a song constituting cultural subversion. In 1971, the group purchased the master tapes from Dodd for £90 and released it on their own Clinch label, the single becoming a massive success, prompting Dodd to release his own instrumental and

deejay A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

versions. The group released further takes on the song on Clinch by

Tommy McCook Tommy McCook (3 March 1927 – 5 May 1998) was a Jamaican saxophonist. A founding member of The Skatalites, he also directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel One ...

, Big Youth, and

Dillinger John Herbert Dillinger (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American gangster during the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depression. He led the Dillinger Gang, which was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations. Dill ...

, as well as their own "Mabrak", featuring the group reciting passages from the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

. It has since been recorded by dozens of artists. The group's second release, "Declaration of Rights", featured

Leroy Sibbles Leroy Sibbles (born Leroy Sibblies, 29 January 1949) is a Jamaican reggae musician and producer. He was the lead singer for The Heptones in the 1960s and 1970s. In addition to his work with The Heptones, Sibbles was a session bassist and arra ...

on backing vocals, and like their first was a huge hit in Jamaica, (and subsequently in the international market) and has been covered several times since. Their 1973 single "Y Mas Gan" was similar to "Satta" in its use of Amharic. The group continued to record throughout the 1970s for producers including

Lloyd Daley Lloyd Daley also known as Lloyd's the Matador (born 12 July 1939, Kingston, Jamaica, died 18 March 2018, Florida, USA Allmusic.com/ref>) was a Jamaican electronic technician, sound system pioneer, studio engineer and reggae producer. Career D ...

Tommy Cowan Tommy Cowan CD (born Thomas Lincoln Cowan, 6 April 1946, Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica) is a producer and singer, initially working in reggae but later concentrating on gospel, who has been involved in the music business since the 1960s.Brooks, Sade ...

, and

Geoffrey Chung Geoffrey Aloysius Chung (1950 – 13 October 1995) was a Jamaican musician, recording engineer, and record producer. Biography Chung was born in 1950 in Kingston, Jamaica.Moskowitz, David V. (2006) ''Caribbean Popular Music: an Encyclopedia of ...

, and their debut album, ''Forward on to Zion'' was produced by

Clive Hunt Clive Hunt (born 31 May 1952) is a Jamaican reggae multi-instrumentist, arranger, composer and producer. Biography Hunt was born in Linstead, St. Catherine, Jamaica. He learned the trumpet while at Stony Hill Approved school, and joined the ...

and released in 1976. The follow-up, ''Arise'' (1978), was recorded under stressful conditions with internal rivalries threatening to break up the group, and after the album's release, Collins left the band, to be eventually replaced by Carlton Manning. This line-up performed at the 1979 ''

Reggae Sunsplash Reggae Sunsplash is a reggae music festival first staged in 1978 in the northern part of Jamaica. In 1985 it expanded with the addition of an international touring festival. The festival ran annually until 1996, with a final event in 1998, befo ...

'' festival, but split up the following year. Donald Manning had a brief solo career in the early 1980s, in which he recorded as Donald Abyssinian. Bernard Collins launched his own version of the group in the late 1980s, with two versions of the group existing for a time. The original line-up reunited in 1998 and went on to record new material, including the singles "African Princess" and "Swing Low" and the album ''Reunion'', although Collins was not involved in songwriting at this time. Collins left again in 1999 and released material as Bernard Collins & the Abyssinians, releasing an album the same year. The Abyssinians are credited on "Slave Song", from

Sade Sade may refer to: People * Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), French aristocrat, writer, and libertine * Sade (singer) (born 1959, Helen Folasade Adu), British Nigerian musician and lead singer of the eponymous band * Sade Baderinwa (born 1969), WAB ...

's 2002 album, ''

Lovers Live ''Lovers Live'' is the first live album and third video album by English band Sade, released on 5 February 2002 by Epic Records. It was recorded at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California, on 20 September 2001 and at the Great Western Forum ...

'', which starts with a sample from the Abyssinians' song "African Race".

Discography

File:The Congos and the Abyssinians IMG 4376.jpg, Bernard Collins File:The Congos and the Abyssinians IMG 4380.jpg, David Morrison

Studio albums

* 1976 : ''

'' - Jam Sounds (reissued 1988 on Clinch, 1993, 2007 on Heartbeat, also released as ''Satta'' and ''Forward on to Zion'') * 1978 : ''Arise'' -

Tuff Gong Tuff Gong is the brand name associated with a number of businesses started by Bob Marley and Rita Marley#Children, the Marley family. 'Tuff Gong' comes from Marley's nickname, which was in turn an echo of that given to founder of the Rastafari ...

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

/Clinch * 1998 : ''Reunion'' - Artists Only

Compilation albums

* 1982 : ''

Forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

'' -

Alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...

* 1994 : ''Best of the Abyssinians'' - Musidisc * 1996 : ''19.95 + TAX'' * 1998 : ''Satta Dub'' - Tabou 1 * 1998 : ''Declaration of Dub'' - Heartbeat * 1999 : ''Last Days'' - Clinch (credited to Bernard Collins) * 2003 : Abyssinians & Friends ''Tree of Satta vol. 1'' - Blood & Fire

Live albums

* 2002 : ''Live in San Francisco'' - 2b1 II

References

External links

Official website
by Carter Van Pelt, 1998.
The Abyssinians
at Roots Archives.
Discography
at Discogs {{DEFAULTSORT:Abyssinians, The Jamaican reggae musical groups Performers of Rastafarian music Jamaican Rastafarians Roots Reggae Library