NATHALIE DELON/ISLAND TRADING ARCHIVE
Chris Blackwell with (l-r) Junior Marvin, Bob Marley & Jacob Miller
‘‘ I still miss Bob. I worked with him a lot... wherever you are in the world you’ll hear him”
Above: Chris Blackwell with Junior Marvin, Bob Marley and Jacob Miller www.songlines.co.uk
what they can be. I never went into it for money; I was more like a groupie, I wanted to be close to the music.” Blackwell has travelled extensively across Africa, including Mali, and one artist who left a lasting impression on him is Ali Farka Touré, also on his playlist. He’s visited the country to listen some of the nation’s other great musicians. A duet between Jimmy Buffett and Oumou Sangaré at her hotel in Bamako is a fond memory and just one of the reasons why Mali’s greatest female singer is on his list. He sold his stake in Island in the late 80s and now owns the Island Outpost chain of luxurious hotels in the Caribbean and US. He says he now, “plans to spend the rest of his life promoting his home, Jamaica, so people get to know how amazing it is.” Blackwell’s playlist selection for Songlines is made up entirely of records from West Africa, but I push him to give me some of his favourite artists from Jamaica. “I love Black Uhuru, Third World, Burning
Spear. I love Bob’s music and Wailers and also some Peter Tosh. But Ijahman made one of my favourite albums that we put out called Haile I Hymn; it’s a classic.” But with the release earlier this year of Marley, Kevin Macdonald’s documentary on Bob Marley’s life, I ask him about his relationship with the singer. “I still miss Bob. I worked with him a lot. I mixed all the records for Island apart from Survival. I still hear them everywhere; wherever you are in the world you’ll hear him. Most artists have two or three big hits but you hear so many of Bob’s tracks, his music is everywhere. It’s a joy to hear his music but it’s sad he is not around to see it. But he knew he’d make it big; he said it in his songs: ‘You a go tired fi see mi face. Can’t get me out of the race.’” PODCAST Hear a track from Ijahman’s album Haile I Hymn, another of Chris Blackwell’s Playlist choices , on this issue’s podcast TRAVEL See p27 for information about the brand new Songlines Music Travel trip to Jamaica in January 2013 Songlines 11