Thursday, August 26, 2010

augustus pablo swaby paints



kingston, 1976, photographer unknown.


Overtaken by a weakness to bludgeon the house senseless with a royal flush of dubs, the bleachers echo with the whisper of melodica.

From 10PM to 5AM, its disinfected concrete steps slump tiredly. A stomach emptied. Hosed down with cobalt blue. 

Tubular rails faintly thrumming. 

A late August cough nudging silver wrappers. A polystyrene cup impaled on a straw.

By 1AM, the sirens falter. Subside to a wheeze. The hammers to the south bed down in a pulse.

Pablo never sleeps. Not really. The quiet he inhabits are those spaces between sinew and joint. The dials twitch. The tape rolls. Spooling behind eyelids, the fluttering of moths. East of the Nile. A mile upstream.

The engineering is not so critical as the end result. Chin to midrift. Thickening to a river.

Tubby.

Augustus Pablo started out as an anonymous outpouring, a splash from a carafe, a water bearer.

As with Miles, the climate is tertiary. Around it. Through it. To it.


Written and produced by Horace Swaby.
Mixed by King Tubby.



 ▼ AUGUSTUS PABLO: CHAPTER 2 from "East Of The River Nile" LP (Message) 1977 (Jamaica)

8 comments:

said...

Augustus Pablo Swaby Paints is the smoothest piece I have ever read, fact.

"Pablo never sleeps. Not really. The quiet he inhabits are those spaces between sinew and joint. The dials twitch. The tape rolls. Spooling behind eyelids, the fluttering of moths. East of the Nile. A mile upstream...

...As with Miles, the climate is tertiary. Around it. Through it. To it."

& then Chapter 2 is strolling along..."as an anonymous outpouring, a splash from a carafe, a water bearer."

Peace be with you, bro.

Anonymous said...

4 AM - arctic night - Light sky outside - dark beneath - like a Magritte painting. Ib's poetic dub observations - a good read while waiting for sleep. Connection so slow - even Yahoo MP won't dechiffer. Barry Brown's steppin up Dubwise and Revolutionaries do Gun Court Dub. And Gregory: So please take me to the border. And I will pay the cost.
The engineering is not so critical as the end result. Straight to the point Ib. Straight to the point. Good to be back. Still Anonymous

Löst Jimmy said...

You've been quiet of late brother, hope all is well with you in the big smoke

Take it easy

Mike"A" in Taipei said...

Yeah, concern is mounting in regard to your prolonged absence - I've been quiet here as you've been on this dub tangent and i can't relate without a spliff, which is not forthcoming in these environs, at least not for me...hope the proximity of the Pope did not cause you to evaporate, in a cloud of smoke, brimstone and bile...

jonder said...

Is our iB buried under mold and rubble, silenced by the Glasgow Housing Authority? Or is this just the calm before the next shitstorm? Here's hoping for the latter.

Capperz said...

HIS BOOK IS A MUST!!! It not only features Lee Scratch Perry but Augustus Pablo and Junior Delgado.

A book of photographs by Pogus Caesar celebrating Britain's iconic black musicians is to be published next month.

The book features evocative, nostalgic and largely unpublished images of musical legends like Stevie Wonder, Grace Jones and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry.

“These images record a unique period in what would come to be called black British life,” remarks author and historian Paul Gilroy.

“Pogus Caesar’s emphatically analog art is rough and full of insight. He conveys the transition between generations, mentalities and economies.”

Legendary reggae artists figures prominently, and appropriately, in the Caesar image canon - Burning Spear, The Wailers, Augustus Pablo, Rita Marley, Mighty Diamonds, Black Uhuru, Sly Dunbar, Steel Pulse etc. The photographer cites reggae itself is a significant influence, reflecting his own St Kitts background in the Eastern Caribbean.

The launch of Muzika Kinda Sweet follows an exhibition of the work at the Oom Gallery in Birmingham earlier this year.


http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/pogus-caesars-muzika-kinda-sweet-2080071.html?action=Gallery&ino=3

ib said...

I don't know why precisely, Capperz, but I missed your announcement first time around.

Must have been the Down Time.

Thank you for spreading the message here, and most of all the link.

Cheers.

ib said...

BOOKMARKED.