November 10th Earthstrong wishes to Bernard Collins of The Abyssinians. Collins is creator of several of reggae’s greatest anthems, including “Satta Massagana,” and “Declaration Of Rights,” between them accounting for hundreds of popular derivative versions over a 30 year period, each an original dancehall anthem. As leader of The Abyssinians with brothers Donald and Linford Manning, he recorded some of the most enduring reggae of the classic era, culminating in albums Satta Massagana (1976), Arise (1978), and Forward (1982).
As Collins recalled about “Satta” in a 1998 interview with the author, later published in The Beat magazine: “We record that song [‘Satta’] in March 1969, and it wasn’t til about 1970 that [producer] Joe Gibbs actually [remade] a recording of it. He was the first one who did a rerecording version, [which] he called ‘A So,’ an instrumental with the Destroyers . . . instrumental versions just bring back the record right back to the people, because when it [was] released first, it used to just play in the dancehall. Because ‘Satta’ is really a dancehall tune in those days. Home buyers never have it. It was just sound system people, but it wasn’t until Joe Gibbs bring out this version that everybody start going at this song.”
The original “Satta” recording was ‘versioned’ (remixed and/or re-voiced) more than a dozen times, including the Abyssinians’ own remake “Mabrak,” a direct response to Joe Gibbs’ “A So.” Since its debut in 1969, nearly every producer in reggae has remade “Satta,” and literally hundreds of remakes of the song exist. Sizzla’s “One Away” for Bobby Digital (found on Black Woman & Child) was the last to have a major impact, and the producer also released a full album of Satta versions in 1997.
Collins says that “Satta” is at the root of modern dancehall and dub. “[‘Satta’] was like the first dancehall song. And the first dub, ‘Satta Massagana.’ . . . if you listen to the flip side of ‘Mabrak,’ same ‘Satta’ version . . . is drum and bass. Because we record that tune on two-track [two-channel tape recorder]. When I was at the studio one day, cutting a pure stamper, one of my bredren just put it on single track [one channel], and we just get the drum and bass. And him say, ‘but wait, this sound good mon!’ And we just release the flipside of ‘Mabrak,’ which is ‘Issat’ — pure drum and bass. And that used to play in the dancehall, regular. Cause we used to sell a lot of dub plates, like a special to sound systems — Sir George, Tubby’s, and all them ready sound, and from there on you find the dub and version start springing up. From 1970 come down . . . Version business!”
The Abyssinians were featured performing “Satta” in a cappella style in the film Roots, Rock, Reggae in 1976 and again in Rockers in 1978.
Listen to the original cut of “Satta Massagana”:
Read the full Bernard Collins interview here: