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Augustus Pablo
1,891,171 plays (150,796 listeners)
St. Andrew, Jamaica (June 21, 1954 – May 18, 1999)
Horace Swaby (June 21, 1954 – May 18, 1999), better known as Augustus Pablo, the melodica king, was a Jamaican roots reggae and dub record producer and keyboardist, active from the 1970s onwards. He was perhaps the first person to use the melodica as a viable musical instrument.
He was born in St. Andrew, Jamaica and learned to play the organ in Kingston College School. It was at that point an unnamed girl lent him the melodica. Fascinated by the instrument, Pablo rarely put it down. He also met Herman Chin Loy; the Chin family owned an influential record store in Kingston. Swaby recorded “Iggy Iggy” in Clive’s father’s studio, Aquarius Records. He took the name Augustus Pablo for this recording.
After releasing a few more singles, Pablo came out with “East of the River Nile”, a unique blend of East Asian and Jamaican sounds, and the song became a moderate hit. Augustus Pablo popularized the use of the melodica (an instrument used primarily to teach children music in the Jamaican public schools) in reggae music. He soon joined Now Generation (Mikey Chung’s band) and played the keyboard with them while his friend, Clive, began his own career as a record producer. Pablo and Chin recorded “Java” (1972) together, as soon as Pablo quit Now Generation and Clive was able to get the studio time, the instrumental was a massive hit, and launched Pablo’s solo career. He recorded with Chin and various others, including Leonard Chin, his uncle, and Lee Perry. He scored another smash hit with “My Desire” (John Holt).
He was born in St. Andrew, Jamaica and learned to play the organ in Kingston College School. It was at that point an unnamed girl lent him the melodica. Fascinated by the instrument, Pablo rarely put it down. He also met Herman Chin Loy; the Chin family owned an influential record store in Kingston. Swaby recorded “Iggy Iggy” in Clive’s father’s studio, Aquarius Records. He took the name Augustus Pablo for this recording.
After releasing a few more singles, Pablo came out with “East of the River Nile”, a unique blend of East Asian and Jamaican sounds, and the song became a moderate hit. Augustus Pablo popularized the use of the melodica (an instrument used primarily to teach children music in the Jamaican public schools) in reggae music. He soon joined Now Generation (Mikey Chung’s band) and played the keyboard with them while his friend, Clive, began his own career as a record producer. Pablo and Chin recorded “Java” (1972) together, as soon as Pablo quit Now Generation and Clive was able to get the studio time, the instrumental was a massive hit, and launched Pablo’s solo career. He recorded with Chin and various others, including Leonard Chin, his uncle, and Lee Perry. He scored another smash hit with “My Desire” (John Holt).
Top Albums
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King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown
Augustus Pablo
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East of the River Nile
Augustus Pablo Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $9.49
- 7digital $9.99
- iTunes $11.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon $75.00
- eBay Search
Top Tracks
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King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown
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555 Dub Street
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Young Generation Dub
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Stop Them Jah
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Corner Crew Dub
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Brace's Tower Dub
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Memories of the Ghetto
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Satta Dub
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King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown
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Jah Light
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Skanking Dub
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Shoutbox
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WallyRoots wrote:
best melodica master!
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Hayzi22 wrote:
Augustus Pablo is my favorite.
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paulihoney wrote:
I really enjoy his music <3
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koolsamarkand wrote:
I DIG
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xSamuelOnlinex wrote:
nice dub :P
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el_yucatan wrote:
Pablo at Black Ark is a great album.
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El_Sezamo wrote:
'As any business person will tell you...'? It's not about making money... Excuse my english, but what kind of a prick wrote that?! That ain't right.
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mallemma wrote:
uptown! \SMILE/
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polymorphous71 wrote:
Mexican Skunk?
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g4b36 wrote:
oo god
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menluckystrike wrote:
Master of the salvation of reggae, Dub. Mexican Skunk! Blessed bless
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ebisu wrote:
The Big Three of Dub: Augustus Pablo, King Tubby and Lee Perry.
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Zerotwentythree wrote:
there is no better way to wake up then to Augustus Pablo
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Flowdimow wrote:
melodica rocks!
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pipeboing wrote:
Augustus Pablo é foda !
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Javjlta wrote:
thiis is realy dub king!)))))))))
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spokesmann wrote:
melhor arriador de lombra impossivel!!!!!!!!!
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sucheUokcie wrote:
The best thing in his music is when he play on melodica, it's awesome instrument and he is playing so beatiful on it.
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nick_blosch wrote:
Blessed Love!
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Grayfader wrote:
Come on, Pablo! Come on, man! Burn our hearts with holy fire!
Videos
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Listeners
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zoltan88
Listening now
to Skanking Dub -
nfprado
Listening now
to East Of The River Nile -
asha1349
Listening now
to The Big Rip-Off -
RafaelFirmino
Top Listener
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karlisbergs
Top Listener
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Harim
Top Listener
Recent Activity
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Astral_Entity89, stepsbeyond, s-t-e-v-o and 3 other people added Augustus Pablo to their libraries. yesterday evening
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brose87 tagged Augustus Pablo with ‘reggae’. Saturday morning
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jhnthmpsn, DjShoSho, BSTGWARLORD and 17 other people added Augustus Pablo to their libraries. Saturday morning
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petic wrote about Tenor Saw – Ring The Alarm in My Jamaican compilation. Tuesday morning
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petic wrote about Augustus Pablo in My Jamaican compilation. Tuesday morning
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LarissaMoon, ali-valentine and thwwizzoh added Augustus Pablo to their libraries. Monday evening
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ormbajs tagged Augustus Pablo with ‘dub’. Monday afternoon
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meshamm and kamachos added Augustus Pablo to their libraries. Monday morning
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bondidwhat tagged Augustus Pablo with roots reggae and reggae. 7 days ago
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sucodinois, kevmc2008, GospoJahJulie and 35 other people added Augustus Pablo to their libraries. 7 days ago
Related Journals
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My Jamaican compilation
by petic |
29 Dec 2009 | 2 comments
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by thomas10 |
13 Jul 2009 | 2 comments
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TOP 50 MUSICIANS FROM JAMAICA
by selcukalhan |
19 Mar 2009 | 8 comments
Groups (78)
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U-Roy
29 members
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WACKIES
51 members
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JAH people
134 members
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Rasta Empire
52 members
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The Joy of Dub
229 members
More Information
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