The Gorgon Speaks: An Interview with Cornell Campbell

By Michael Turner

The drum and the bass, the language, and the outlandish studio effects were what pulled me into reggae. But I became hooked by the vocals, becoming a full-blown addict as I began to appreciate and recognize Jamaica's great singers. Especially the soprano singers. There have been many wonderful high-voiced artists: Slim Smith, Ken Parker, Pat Kelly, Tabby Diamond, Leroy Sibbles, Delano Stewart, Junior Mervin, Roy Johnson and Cedric Myton (Congos), Derrick Lara, Junior "Tamlins" Moore, Junior Menns (Techniques), Eric Donaldson, the Manning Brothers (Abyssinians, Carlton and the Shoes), Bunny Wailer and tons more; not to mention the youth singers like Roman Stewart, Errol Dunkley, Freddy McGregor, Delroy Wilson, and Dennis Brown. At the front of this very long line I'd put Cornell Campbell.

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The Maranhão Version

By Michael Turner and Otávio Rodrigues

To get a flavour of the atmosphere of the city (São Luís) there’s no substitute for staying in the historic centre, but you should be aware that there are sometimes extremely loud reggae nights which might keep you awake. -from 'The Rough Guide To Brazil'

"Yes. We must go there," agreed my friend Nelson Meirelles#. I was visiting Rio de Janeiro and we had been walking around the Feira de São Cristóvão# where we chanced upon a small dancehall, not a hall really, just a dark space between the back of a restaurant and a retaining wall where a bunch of boozed up rustics from the North were aggressively skanking to some of the strangest reggae music I've ever heard.

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