Q: It was pressed in France? A: Yeah. At that time I had a girlfriend in France, and she came down to Jamaica and seh, "Hey, you have to go to France". So me seh, "What happen?" She say, "Hey, I see your music on certain label, and I know that guy that give those companies the music," because she used to deal with (inaudible) so she was into the music scene. She was a (inaudible), but she wasn't singin' or anyt'ing like that. So I go to France and I meet José Jourdain. Q: What time is this now, around '81 or so? A: No, this is '82. Between '82 and '83, and then I go down an' meet the guy, y'know wha' I mean. The guy did the same t'ing too - he get money from AZ already. So anyhow, me go and meet him and me mek him know what is going on an' t'ing, an' t'ing. So me aks him how long him there from Bert? So him say, "Hey, from I meet Bert and I give him five thousand US dollars advance on 'Rastaman In Exile' for France, and I am trying to get - I want you to come up here an' I set up all shows here for promotion for the album" and I try get in contact with Bert and I can't get in contact with Bert. Then I start to deal with José Jourdain, beca' he have a management company he call Jah Live, and he have a lickle small label name Jah Live too. So he got a deal with AZ , and AZ put out 'Rastaman In Exile'. Q: So a reissue of the album came out in France too. A: Yeah, because he release it first in Canada and then United States. Q: Who did you employ for the production on 'Rastaman In Exile'? A: I work with Ranchie McLean on bass, Horsemouth on drums, lead guitar was R. Sowell, rhythm (guitar)was Bingy Bunny, piano was Gladstone Anderson, organ was Winston Wright, keyboard was Earl 'Wya' Lindo and Franklyn 'Bubbler' Waul, solo guitar Sowell Radic, horns Dean Fraser, Ronald 'Nambo' Robinson and Junior Chin, percussion was Sticky, Bongo Herman and Skully Simms, Jimmy Becker, background vocal Marcia Griffiths and Anita Banks.

Q: Top of the line musicians. A: Yeah (laughs)! Q: What studio did you use, not Harry's again, did you? A: I still recorded at Harry J studio. Q: So that's why the title track came out on 7" on Harry J's Roosevelt label? A: Yes, he stole the song from it. Q: (Laughs) A: I'm tellin' you! After we laid the riddim and do the voicin' and mixing, Harry J stole 'Rastaman In Exile' as a single! And when I went to England one day and going to a record store, a man is showing me, seh, "Midas, you have a new single, yunno". Me seh, "Which single dat?" Him say, "We just have a new single 'pon Harry J Roosevelt Records, Harry J, man". I say, "Wha' it named?" He say, "It named 'Rastaman In Exile'". Me seh, "No, him couldn't do dat!" For, when I went back to Jamaica I confront him about it, unil that day I don't see Harry J face to face again. Beca' him heard that I was coming down the studio an' he took off. Because Morris tell me, seh, "Bwoy, me do a mixin' an' me jus' leave the tape deh, an' when the man come in in the miggle of de night an' tek it an' gone with it". And from that day I don't see Harry J face to face (laughs)! Everytime him know seh I was in Jamaica he make sure that I don't see him... Q: Oh. A: (Laughs) And then after that nobody neva want to record for him and nobody didn't want to go to his studio. So him have to change the studio into a distribution business. Beca' what I did, I go round and tell all the musicians dem, and some other musician do it too, yunno. Other singers like Carl Dawkins, the Heptones and the Cables and all those people go round and inform all the other musicians them, seh 'Hey!' Because, in the music business when you don't deal straight after a while reaction going to come on you, and you fade away. But he have thousand upon thousands of tracks of music that some of them don't even release yet. He's like Coxson. Q: Record for safety. A: He just record and record and record and record. Because, probably those producers did have insight that the artists never had. They see that, OK, probably in the next twenty, thirty years, this music will come big. And people will want to know the original artists. So what Coxson and Duke Reid and GG and Harry J do, anytime they see that a new release come out from an artist that they used to deal with, then they go down into their libraries (vaults) an' flick out somet'ing originally from the seventies or early eighties, and put out too. That is part of the works that they are doing, y'know. Q: Wouldn't it be a bit easier for artists to reclaim these recordings now? A: Yeah, to put it this way: That is only a few artists have the access of that, probably like I or probably like Bunny Wailer or certain people that is educated about the business, or experienced. Most of the artists in Jamaica they don't have any experience of what is going on. Because what has happened is that some of them sell out their rights already, by them just record for hire, you understan' me? Probably an artist going in an' record for Harry J, and Harry J give him three thousand dollars, or five thousand dollars, for everyt'ing. And him don't realise seh the music is his own. Then people who have a lickle insight and who dem feel like dem like a lickle - they treat you a lickle bit different (laughs).

Q: (Laughs) You're just laughing! I don't think too many feel sorry for these people though, to be honest. A: No man. Is the same thing that Joe Gibbs used to do too, you know, and Joe Gibbs studio mash up too, so is the same t'ing. All of them do the same t'ing. GG, you see GG do the same t'ing too. It mus' be ongle one artist GG ever treat right and because those people come from a bad environment in Jamaica weh dem know seh him woulda dead an' t'ing like that, him don't treat Gregory Isaac that way. But all the Maytones an' all those people, they pluck out their eyes, yunno. Q: Hmmm. A: Yeah (laughs)! And then 'Rastaman In Exile' came out in Europe on AZ label. It was a rock company, but they have a few reggae, I and Eddy Grant was on that label, and Cedric Myton - that's the Congos. Yeah. And Rita Marley one time, and that company sold out to Europea. But 'Rastaman In Exile' is my biggest selling album, and that is the album that I made the most money from. The album was talking about all of the African people that was living in the western world, in the Caribbean. The situation that African people was living under in the western world, it's just that you are living in a world which is not your world. But although you are aware of yourself that is not your world, you feel like you're in exile. Yeah. So it was just a revolutionary album expressing the situation that African people living in the western world under colonialism and imperialism. And the situation that we're in is not such a nice situation, and the struggle that you have to go through to be able to survive. So you know that you was in (inaudible) land that wasn't your land, because this was the land that your slavemaster brought you to. So you don't really feel connected to the land. You feel like a exiled living in the land. Yeah. Q: It's pretty big there now and is perhaps the strongest market for reggae in Europe, but what was the scene like twenty years ago when you went to France for the first time? A: Twenty years ago the music was just rising. But the way I do music - people that don't deal with reggae could always relate to my music, so I didn't have any problem there because my music's distributed in the mainstream ther, yunno. So I never have problem with certain kinda distribution, always have mainstream distribution. And people that don't into reggae just deal with my music, for the music. They didn't care if it's reggae or if it isn't reggae, people was really into what I was dealing with and the way I compose my music. Beca' sometime what I did I fused reggae with jazz, reggae with R&B and pop, but I always keep my solid foundation basically reggae. Because even 'Rastaman In Exile' album is an album fused with jazz, and plenty people don't know that (chuckles). But people who knows music and listen keenly good would hear the feels of jazz and the feels of reggae in the music. So I get to relate to more than one market. Q: So what became of your dealings with the Jah Live label, he was behind the release of the 'Stand Up Wise Up' album in '84. A: Yeah, yeah. Because first when I did 'Stand Up Wise Up', I did 'Stand Up Wise Up' for AZ. But when the album finish, Europea Records was buying up AZ. And I and Eddy Grant didn't agree to go with Europea because they did want us to change our music to pure pop, or pure rock. I mean, Eddy was into some rock but he didn't want to go so deep in the rock music, and I didn't understand too much about the rock world so I didn't want to get into it either. Because I did have to change my lyrics and change musician an' t'ing to go into that kind of world, and I know seh it wouldn't work for me. And so there was a label in France called Celluloid, I don't know if you've ever heard about that label? Q: Yes, I know about them. They mainly issued African music at that time. A: Yes, they mostly deal with African music at that time. I believe that company fall out too (chuckles). Q: They had a branch of that label in New York too, I think Bill Laswell was behind that. A: No, you see the branch in New York? That guy stole a lot of money from the mother company and run away to New York. Yeah (laughs)! So the label that you see of Celluloid in New York, that is not even the right Celluloid label. Q: I think they had stuff out - apart from Errol Dunkley long before that - by Sly & Robbie, Yellowman, even the Heptones too. Nothing memorable though as far as I can recall. A: You know, they carry down all those people too, beca' they didn't have enough money to deal with it in the right way. So is just a lickle joke label there right now, yunno. But the mother company, the original Celluloid, sold out to Ariola. Yeah. And so I had 'Stand Up Wise Up', Celluloid-France pick it up, and that album did very well too, it did very well in France and Italy an' Austria, and Africa. It sell about 45 000 copy in Nigeria, and it sell about 15 000 copy in South Africa at the time, it sold about 5000 copy in Kenya. Q: But this was still through Jah Live, even though Celluloid distributed and printed the record? A: Yeah, because Jah Live was still my manager, ca' his company was a management company at first. And then after that I was supposed to get some money and then he took off and I don't know where him is right now, I've been looking for him fe years too (chuckles). Q: Jah Live had put out albums like 'Heart Of The Congos', had a compilation of Niney productions, and several others I think. Some nice, classic stuff on that label. A: Yes, ca' he used to manage the Congos, but I dunno what else he did.

Q: But did you ever hear that the 'Stand Up Wise Up' album came out on the FAT Records label in Sweden too? A: No, you was tellin' me the other day an' I was so surprised, I don't know about that (chuckles). Q: It came out in '85, or thereabouts. A: Yeah, beca' how I get to don't deal with that guy again, I have a son in France and I gave him like seven thousand US to give to my babymother and my son, and when I leave France they didn't get no money (laughs)! He took off with the money and everyt'ing, and from that time I don't see him again. Q: I'm not a hundred percent sure but I think they're still in operation. A: I'm trying everyt'ing to corner him, yunno, beca' he have some tapes from me too. Because he still have a mastertape of 'Stand Up Wise Up' from me, and he still have a mastertape of 'Rastaman In Exile' that he get back from AZ. Q: But do you have...? A: Yes, I have masters of those, I have the original master of those. I have the original master of, like, ten albums. Yeah. Because, what happened is that... Q: Even the 'Reflections' album? All the tracks? A: Yeah! Yes, I have all the tracks. Q: Good. And 'Rain & Fire' too? A: Yes, I have 'Rain & Fire'. Q: Well, I certainly hope you can find a good and decent deal for putting these out again, properly. And without any unnecessary overdubs that would spoil the original vibe, I hope. Please! A: Yeah man, those track are still crisp, yunno. Those tracks are still crisp, people don't know about those music.

Ras Midas

Q: And the time is now to reissue these albums. It's a new audience out there for them, even though they came out - or didn't come out which goes for 'Reflections' - twenty-five years ago, they have an enduring appeal. A: Yeah, it's a new market. I have all the original sounds of the seventies and early eighties. The problem is, I cannot find a reputable company to deal with. Because listen how it goes now: Whenever you mature in the business and you get real smart, the thieves them don't want to deal with you anymore because they find out they cannot exploit you anymore. So when I came to the United States and settle down I create my own production company and my own label. Q: JML? A: Yeah, JML Production and JML Records. And I get some distribution with CD-Baby over the internet, and some of those tracks on 'Stand Up Wise Up', I re-record them over with some other new tracks. Because some people didn't want me to re-record it over, beca' they didn't like it, so I didn't. And that album is called 'Confirmation', and then I have 'Loving Vibration' too. And those are music that Europe don't know about, Europe don't know nutten about 'Loving Vibration' or 'Confirmation'. And I just finish a new album called 'Reaching Out'. Yeah. So, it's just gettin' reputable companies that will deal with me in a professional way. But right now I'm not lookin' for labels, beca' my own label now, I'm just lookin' for distribution deals. I have an agent here in America who is trying to get a deal for me with my new album, 'Reaching Out'. 'Reaching Out' is an album now which is reggae mixed with a hip-hop, yunno (chuckles). Because, I want to go into a new direction, y'know, because the reggae market here in the United States and different parts of the world, they are not marketing the music in a professional way, yunno. And artists suffer through that. I mean, if people waan roots music - I mean roots from the seventies and eighties, I have those. But I have to get a reputable company that is going to deal with the music in a professional way. But starting this year, I'm really seriously gettin' into the music again, and I just have a new band and I'm rehearsing. I want to step right out there again, yunno.

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Article: Peter I (Please do not reproduce without permission)