Three Jamaican musicians who helped fashion the rocksteady sound of the 1960s, will be honoured at the May 1 Guyana International Artistic Music Awards.
Guitarist Lynford ‘Hux’ Brown, bass player Brian Atkinson and drummer Joe Isaacs, are among five Jamaicans to be honoured at the event, scheduled for the National Cultural Centre in Georgetown, the Guyana capital.
Singers Ken Boothe and Marcia Griffiths, who emerged during the 1966-68 rocksteady era, are also honourees.
Guyanese-born singer/songwriter/producer Eddy Grant is recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Calypsonian Lord Canary, reggae singer Natural Black, and Lord Nelson — a Trinidadian calypsonian — will also be honoured.
It is a rare award for Atkinson, who has lived in Ontario, Canada, for over 40 years.
“It’s hard to believe. I’m a bit perplexed, owing to the fact that it is coming from another country and not Jamaica,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
Atkinson played on some of rocksteady’s biggest hits including Boothe’s Puppet On A String and Train Is Coming; Dancing Mood by Delroy Wilson; 007 (Shantytown) by Desmond Dekker and Bob Andy’s I’ve Got To Go Back Home.
Isaacs made his name at producer Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd’s Studio One, starting as a 15-year-old in 1966.
Like Atkinson, he migrated to Canada in the early 1970s. He is also pleased with the overdue recognition.
“This means everything to me. All my time in Jamaica I’ve never got anything and these guys from Guyana are aware that we made this great music,” he said.
The Train Is Coming, Johnny Nash’s Hold Me Tight, Feel Like Jumping by Griffiths and Toots and The Maytals’ 54-46 are among the many classic songs Isaacs played.
Brown was a top session musician during the mid and late 1960s. He played on a number of Toots and The Maytals hit songs including Pressure Drop, 54-46 and Funky Kingston.
The Guyana International Artistic Music Awards follows the Guyana Music Fest which is down for the National Stadium in Georgetown, on April 30. The latter features a number of top Guyanese artistes celebrating their country’s 50th year of independence from Great Britain.