The Roots Reggae Library brings to you Reggae music in unique collections. This edition features José Carlos. The collection is unique because José Carlos is quite unknown to the wider public.
José Carlos recorded one album at Gallo Music Records, the same recording label that had signed Lucky Dube. However, he falls more into the category of unknown South African Reggae musicians like Sipho Johnson, Reggae Muntu, Joe Silo and Joe Gad. He is talented nevertheless, and only recorded a single album in 1990. The band he plays with is called the Positive Vibes.
José Carlos - Abasebenzi
01. Mama
02. Around The World
03. Reggae From Africa
04. Unite People
05. Abasebenzi
06. International Vibe
07. Holy Mount Zion
08. The Rasta Vibe
The name of the album might not sound as a word that they are familiar with for many. We will come to that later when we discuss the title track, which is situated a bit further up the album. We see a beautiful green album cover with the only picture of José Carlos that is in circulation. Carlos tells 'Mama' that "we are the children". "Never let the children cry 'cause every day we got to pay the price". So he plays this music to get a positive vibe across, "free them with music". 'Music Around The World' also made it to the Reggae Strong For Peace which was made in collaboration with Lucky Dube and other South African musicians. He sings about Indians and Chinese and others. "Total distruction seems to be the only solution". This track has a wonderful beat and is just a big pleasure to listen to. People should live together and respect each other according to José. Reggae is currently all over the world but it is 'Reggae From Africa'. The music you hear is typical for Reggae from South Africa. He sings about Reggae in Jamaica, South America and China. He is trying to bring everyone together and that can be heard in 'Unite People' as well. "This ya confusion just cause us another friction". He speaks out against Apartheid and "we're gonna rock against confusion". 'Abasebenzi' was a magazine in South Africa to inform about the importance of worker unity. José Carlos asks for equal rights in this song and he wants to work together to build South Africa. "Here I am" he says and "I am working for Jah Lord". Abasebenzi is a great album name too. In 'International Vibe' he sings about the international vibe of Reggae music like he did in 'Reggae From Africa'. "Rastaman unite the people with music". The sun is shining in Africa, bless Africa, 'Holy Mount Zion'. It has an uptempo beat, different from the other songs. There is an eighth track on this album called 'The Rasta Vibe' which is a dub track. I usually discard dub tracks of songs that are already on the album but this track is original. Further on in the track you hear background vocalists sing "Africa" and Carlos sings "Abasebenzi".
Studio Albums
««««« (1990) Abasebenzi
Original Date Of Publishing: January 2017
Would be nice to know more about Jose's history. He looks like someone I knew in the mid-eighties. Originally from Mozambique. He fronted a band called Splash at the time. They recorded a few songs with Permanent Record in Cape Town. Splash was multi-racial - Spiro Paxinos on bass, H on guitar, Lucky (not Lucky Dube) on drums. A guy called Ras Jonny hanging around waiting for oppertunity...
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