Matumbi

Matumbi were a British reggae bands active from 1971 to 1982, and are best known as the first successful band of guitarist and record producer Dennis Bovell. The group wrote and performed the opening theme song to Empire Road, a British television series made by the BBC in 1978 and running until 1979. The popularity of the song led to it being released as a single in 1978.

History

Matumbi formed in 1971 in South London, with a line-up of Tex Dixon (vocals), Euton Jones (drums), Dennis Bovell (guitar), Errol Pottinger (guitar), Eaton "Jah" Blake (bass guitar), Bevin Fagan (vocals), and Nicholas Bailey (vocals, later better known as Nick Straker). In the early 1970s, they acted as a backing band to touring Jamaican musicians. In 1973, they opened for The Wailers at the Ethiopian famine relief concert in Edmonton, where much to their embarrassment they went down better than the headliners, Bovell later saying: "The press thought we were much better, and we felt terrible because they were our heroes." Matumbi signed to Trojan Records, and had a major breakthrough in 1976, when their version of Bob Dylan's "Man in Me" became the biggest-selling UK reggae single that year.

Success brought...

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