School of Rock
Random article All articles A–Z
2 languages

Augustus Pablo

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Augustus Pablo, really Horace Michael Swaby, was a Jamaican composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist in roots reggae and dub. He was born in 1953 in St. Andrew and learned to play the organ at Kingston College School, where a girl lent him a melodica. That instrument became his trademark. He met Herman Chin Loy, for whose label Aquarius he recorded tracks between 1971 and 1973 such as Higgi Higgi, East of the River Nile and The Red Sea. With Clive Chin he made Java in 1972. Later he founded the labels Hot Stuff, Message and Rockers, named after his brother's sound system.

Music and breakthrough

His album This Is Augustus Pablo appeared in 1974. With Jacob Miller he recorded Baby I Love You So that same year. The dub version, mixed by King Tubby, was released as King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown and appears in Rolling Stone's list of the best tracks of all time. In the 1970s Pablo also produced Fred Locks's Black Star Liner and worked with Dillinger, I-Roy, the Heptones, Bob Marley, Horace Andy and many others. In 1997 he played melodica on the track Star by Primal Scream. He died in 1999 of a collapsed lung, after being ill for a long time.

Influence

Pablo was a Rasta and his music has a serious, almost prayerful tone. The melodica sounds hollow and a little sad in his work, above heavy bass lines and spacious dub effects. He showed that the melodica can be a serious solo instrument in reggae. His son Addis Pablo and his daughter Isis Swaby also became musicians.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown. Notice the melodica above the heavy bass and how King Tubby makes sounds surface and disappear in the dub mix.

Discography

Studio albums

See also

Categories: Artists