Saturday, July 23, 2016

Day 266 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Junior Delgado - Fort Augustus

Let's wrap up this week with one more Taxi production!  This one is "Fort Augustus" by Junior Delgado.  The late Junior Delgado got started in music in the early 70s as part of the group Time Unlimited who recorded for Lee Perry and Duke Reid.  By the middle of the decade Delgado had begun recording solo material for Rupie Edwards and even continued on with the band before eventually deciding to step away permanently to pursue his solo efforts. Dennis Brown's DEB label was where Delgado found success and after a string of hits he recorded "Fort Augustus" for Sly & Robbie in 1980.  Of course it was originally released as a single on the Taxi label in Jamaica as well as a multitude of foreign imprints and on a handful of compilation albums including the excellent various artists compilation called Sly & Robbie Present Taxi released on Island Records in 1981 and where I first heard the tune many years ago.  Of note; It's blatantly obvious when you listen to the lyrics that Delgado is making reference to the living hell of being confined to a prison but I am assuming the prison he is making reference to is the Fort Augusta Prison in St. Catherine Jamaica which is notorious for sub-human, desperate, miserable conditions because the only other Fort Augustus I am seeing is a settlement in Scotland and that wouldn't make much sense! 

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