Mighty Diamonds: Graced Fiddlers with a lovely, uplifting set of soulful roots reggae sounds (Picture: Iwan Griffith Blake)
The Mighty Diamonds
Fiddlers 29.10.10
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By Elfyn Griffith
One of the sweetest vocal harmony groups from reggae’s past, The Mighty Diamonds evoke memories of a Motown soul sensibility mixed in with their homegrown Jamaican rootsiness.
When they emerged in the seventies from Trenchtown they were one of the more accessible roots bands to reach an international audience precisely because of their gorgeous vocal harmonies and soulfulness which blended the political and spiritual with sweet romantic material.
Tonight, older but as potently blissful as they ever were, the original trio Donald ‘Tabby’ Shaw, Fitzroy ‘Bunny’ Simpson and Lloyd ‘Judge’ Ferguson grace Fiddlers with a lovely, uplifting set of soulful roots reggae sounds.
There’s nostalgia in the air when hits from the 70s like ‘Country Living’ and the Diamonds’ biggest hit ‘Right Time’ get played along with the beautifully emotive roots stormer ’4,000 years’. The backing band are tight and punchy and the three wise mens’ singing a joy, especially lead man Tabby Shaw’s, whose skanking simply blows the years away.
Their Rastafarian conscious lyrics mix in with those of love and politics, and one of the highlights of the night is a long spiritual gospel number which they deliver superbly and with the gut feeling and raw emotion they put into all of their material.
A long, spun-out rendition of ‘Pass the Kouchie’, their song made famous by Musical Youth’s ’Pass the Dutchie’ version in the early 80s, and an apt tribute to Cool Ruler Gregory Isaacs who died last week sit alongside their own canon of roots reggae – numbers like ‘Africa’, ‘Natural Natty’, ‘I Need A Roof’, ‘Go Seek Your Rights’, ‘Weeping and Wailing’ sweeping the club with their sensuousness.
This was seeing, enjoying and experiencing a very important piece of reggae’s history, albeit that vocally informed and inspired by black American soul infused with strong Jamaican roots rhythms, still having the clout 40 years on. Powerful, graceful and uplifting.
Fiddlers do us proud again later this month when those other reggae/ska legends The Skatalites play at the club.
As a Bristol exile, it's good to know the city still attracts the best from the past…shame I wasn't there but Elfyn Griffith brought it all back to me from years ago…skank on!