Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2012 - Track Seven - Obeah Book

The Ethiopians, founded by Leonard Dillon, have been a part of Jamaican music from the start.  Dillon recorded some mento tunes in the late 50s until forming the vocal group we all know and love shortly after.  They got their start in 1966 recording for Coxsone Dodd's Studio One and later moving on to the W.I.R.L label where they had their first success with "Train To Skaville" and followed it up in 1968 with the timely hit "Everything Crash."  The rest is history, so they say.

The next tune in the Spooktacular is taken from the Ethiopians 1977 LP Slave Call and it is called "Obeah Book."  For those who are uninformed, obeah is folk magic, sorcery and religious practices with West African roots, similar to Voodoo, Santeria and Hoodoo.  In the song, Leonard Dillon, accompanied by some damn fine Max Edwards nyabingi drumming, sets out to let it be known that Rastafari is in no-way connected with the works of Obeah.  Not particularly spooky subject matter but thematically a part of what we've got goin' on here!

TRACK SEVEN