Marcia Griffiths,

African Caribbean Centre, Glasgow, 10th June 2011

'Legend’ is a term that is bandied about all too freely these days, but there can be no doubt Marcia Griffiths is the real thing. From the shy young girl who cut timeless classics at Studio One in 1966 to crossover UK pop success with a black pride anthem in 1970. From being an integral part of the Bob Marley & The Wailers sound and live performances all over the world as one of the I-Threes, to smashing the US Billboard charts in the eighties with the biggest selling record by a female reggae artist of all time. From dancehall combinations in the nineties with the likes of Bounty Killer and Cutty Ranks, to consistently rocking the reggae charts right up to today (check out ‘Beer and a Girl’ on Strictly the Best 42). Marcia Griffiths, ageless ambassador for reggae music, awarded the Order of Distinction by the Jamaican Government in 1994 with a recording career of more than 40 years, is the undisputed Empress of reggae. And let’s not forget, she also gave us one of the most beautiful album covers in the history of music.

Glasgow was truly blessed to have Marcia in town and the African Caribbean Centre was the perfect venue for the old school vibe with the sound system strung up in the corner, the stage in touching distance, bare floorboards, peeling paint on the walls and DJ Caroline warming up the crowd nicely. OK, Marcia looked a bit shocked when she first took to the stage, accustomed as she is to more salubrious venues and festival arenas in front of tens of thousands, but she soon brought back the good old days of a downtown Kingston jam session atmosphere. She looked amazing and her voice was sweet as ever and crystal clear as she reeled off hit after hit and paid tribute to reggae artists living and gone, obliging and accommodating to the audience requests. The sound was much better than some larger venues and the four-piece band was tight, managing to recreate the Studio One sound without a horn section, the keyboard player must have had two pairs of hands. They stepped up the pace for a great version of what Marcia called her personal anthem, ‘Stepping Out of Babylon’. She was joined on backing vocals by her son, filling in admirably for Bob Andy on ‘Young, Gifted & Black’. The audience varied from one to three of these; we were all gifted by Marcia’s uplifting infectious spirit.

Marcia showed she is a living embodiment of reggae music , covering the whole history of the music, launching from her own classics, ‘Tell Me Now’, ‘Melody Life’ and Feel Like Jumping’, seguing effortlessly into ’54-46’, ‘Israelites’, ’Freedom Street’, throwing in an impression of Eek A Mouse, riffing on Damian Marley’s ‘Welcome to Jamrock’, even doing the DJ part of her own combination tracks. Still young enough to dance all night, she reminded us the fire is still burning from back in the day. As she said in recent BBC interviews, she never leaves the stage without doing a Bob Marley tune and treated us to ‘Could You Be Loved’ and ‘Three Little Birds’, (of which she was one third, of course), and finally the band coolly joined her on an improvised ‘Natural Mystic’ by special request. I was enjoying myself so much I only later realised she did not do ‘Truly’, ‘Really Together’ or ‘Pied Piper’ – come back, Marcia! Thanks and respect due to JA Ecosse and the African Caribbean Network for making this happen. One love.