Count Ossie

Count Ossie
Background information
Birth name	Oswald Williams
Born	26 March 1926
Origin	St. Thomas,Jamaica
Died	18 October 1976 (aged 50)
Genres	Reggae
Occupation	Musician
Instrument	Akete
Years active	late 1950s-1976

Count Ossie,bornOswald Williams(26 March 1926– 18 October 1976), was a JamaicanRastafaridrummerandband leader.

Biography

In the early 1950s, he set up a Rasta community in Rockfort nearWareika Hillon the east side ofKingston,where many of Kingston's musicians learned about theRastafari movement.In the late 1950s, he (with other percussionists) formed theCount Ossie Group.

According to reggae historianBruno Blum,the Rasta "nyabinghi"style of hand drumming, which derives from JamaicanKuminatraditions, has its roots inBantutraditions from Eastern Congo.

According to the bookThe First RastabyHélène Lee,because of their Rastafarian beliefs Count Ossie and his team were violently rejected from the then anti-Rasta music establishment and outlawed, as most Rastafarians were. It was not until around 1959, when successful dancerMargarita Mahfood,a Jamaican rumba dancer ofLebanesedescent who enjoyed their new style and liked to dance to it, demanded that Count Ossie and his group be part of her major Ward Theater show.Vere John Jr.also resisted at first but at Mahfood's insistence had no other choice but to have them on hisOpportunity Hourshow at the Carib theater. Both shows were successful and opened new doors to Count Ossie and the Wareikas right away.

Their first sound recordings were made after meetingPrince Buster,who produced a Wareikas-backed song by theFolkes Brothers,"Oh Carolina",done at the Jamaican Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) Studios in 1959. TheB-sidewas "I Met a Man" ).Although both songs were recorded in the then-current style of rhythm and blues widely recorded in the US as well as Jamaica,it does include some early Rasta hand drumming not found on any previous R&B records and is regarded by some music historians as one of the first-everskarecord.

During this period Count Ossie also recorded for producersHarry MudieandCoxsone Dodd.Several singles as Count Ossie and the Wareikas, including "African Shuffle" as well as "Chubby" and "Rock a Man Soul" with vocal group The Mellow Cats, were produced byHarry Mudiecirca 1961 featuring saxophonist Wilton Gaynair and trombonistRico Rodriguez,and were released on the Jamaican label Moodies at the time (some were licensed to Emil Shalit's UK label Blue Beat and released in England in the early 1960s). Count Ossie later formed a group called The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari and recorded a few singles, including a cover ofMiriam Makeba's "Pata Pata" in 1967.

Several Jamaican artists also used Ossie's group as percussionists for their own ska and reggae recordings, such as a couple ofKing Stittsingles, including "Be a Man" (Studio One) circa 1969.

Count Ossie issued two outstanding albums at the end of his lifetime and inspired several later Rastafarian drumming groups, includingRas Michaeland the Sons of Negus, who recorded withBob Marley.Count Ossie's masterpiece is theGrounationthree-LP set (1973), which includes songs such as "So Long", and "Grounation" (the latter title with over 30 minutes running time) and an updated version of "Oh Carolina".Two years laterTales Of Mozambique(Dynamic 1975) was issued, continuing the legacy of the first album.

Count Ossie died in a road accident on 18 October 1976, aged 50.His group, The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, lived on, toured and recorded a few albums into the 1990s.

Discography

• Grounation(Ashanti 1973)
• Tales Of Mozambique(1975)
• Man From Higher Heights(1983)
• Remembering Count Ossie: A Rasta Reggae Legend(Moodies 1996)

External links

• Biographyat niceup
• Count Ossieat Roots Archives