Linval Thompson: "Jamaica is out. Jamaica is finished!"

Linval Thompson verblijft tijdelijk bij zijn vriend, landgenoot en collega-zanger Kologne en diens Belgische vriendin Lucinda. Het concert in het Heldenpark ligt ons nog vers in het geheugen, en we zijn benieuwd hoe hij die memorabele avond zelf beleefd heeft.

How did you like Asham, your Belgian backing band?  Linval Thompson: "It was cool."

You looked a bit confused, went off and on the stage several times. Linval Thompson: "Because they don't know how to introduce an artist and keep the crowd moving. You have to be versatile. Not just play music, there's a lot more to it."   Still I think Asham did a very fine job in recreating your sound. Linval Thompson: "Yes, that was good. But at the same time you have to be able to talk, to sing, to do many more things. People don't just come to see you sing, they want to be entertained. Dem is looking for a certain vibe, my vibe."   Last year you suddenly reappeared on stage. It had been almost 15 years since we saw you perform. Where have you been all this time? Linval Thompson: "I had many things to do. Business was going down, so I had to take good care of things. And then we start Inna Di Yard. I was there from the beginning."   Tell me about your beginnings, way back in the seventies. Linval Thompson: "I was the first young producer after Bunny Lee, Niney, Lee Perry… Dem kind of guys. Wayne Jarrett, Al Campbell, Earl 16 The Meditations, The Viceroys…: artist come and flock me because they know I pay them. I realize nobody has to sing for free."   So how did you make money, if not by selling large quantities of records yet? Linval Thompson: "I had my own pressing plant. My house was stacked with records. It was the only way to make some money in Jamaica. And it's my hobby. It's what I love to do. It's still very difficult to do business in Jamaica. First of all: no pressing plant. That's why I link up with Roberto Sanchez in Spain. Im is a man that respect me, and Im is a man that speak two languages. Roberto loves my sound, and he follows it. It's not just a financial thing. Mi just love the way he works. Roberto use some of the device King Tubby used to have. That's how he recreated that classic roots sound. And that's how he pays back something to Jamaica, because that's what make him a living now. Jamaican music inspired him so much that he stepped into the business."

Isn't it amazing how popular Jamaican roots music of the seventies has become in Europe the last couple of years? Linval Thompson: "I see that, I hear that, but still it need more people to step into the business. More producers, more singers doing roots style. Jamaica is out, Jamaica is finished, so it has to happen here, in Europe. People don't know me in Jamaica but they know me in Europe, and in England, and in Brazil. Maybe I should leave Jamaica. No respect, no nothing."   Although in my perspective you played a crucial role in bringing reggae from the roots and rockers style in the seventies to the rub-a-dub style of the eighties.  Linval Thompson: "That's what I hear. You tell me, Roberto preach it to me. At the time I didn't realize I was creating something new. Nobody came to tell me what to do in the studio. No Jammy's, no Bunny Lee."   Only King Tubby, in Channel One, the studio where you recorded most of your work. Would you say that he created a new sound for you? Linval Thompson: "I would say King Tubby's responded to my new style of singing. Remember Johnny Clarke was there, Horace Andy was there, Jacob Miller was there, Cornell Campbell was there… I was the new kid in town, so we needed a new sound."   But then what was your role as a producer in the studio? Or did you just bring the artists to the studio, and leave them with King Tubby? Linval Thompson: "No, I work with Tubbs! If he goes like this (moves an imaginary fader), I tell him: Tubbs, I like that! Keep it like that! Tubbs never come to England to know that, to know what's popular over here, so I tell him to give me that style. I just come with a style that works. Then Henry Junjo Lawes came and he followed my style. He worked with the band that I introduced to the business, Roots Radics. Remember the first singer to work with them was Gregory Isaacs. Can't be nothing wrong with that."   Did you ever work with Gregory? I can't think of any tune, except for some dubs. Linval Thompson: "Gregory gave me some tracks but nobody knew that and i never release them. Only as a dub, where I leave his voice."   Do you mind giving me your response to some more names in your large producing catalogue? Linval Thompson: "No man, go ahead!"   Freddie McGregor. You produced his biggest hit, 'Big Ship'. Linval Thompson: "I make him a star. Nobody knew him before that. Freddie came to my house because he knew I made some money already. It was a big house, and Freddie look at it and say: it's like a big ship."   Wayne Wade. Linval Thompson: "I just finished an album with him but I don't know if or when I'm going to release it. His voice is not like before. People will hear it's Wayne Wade but they won't be happy. He just returned to Jamaica, so maybe… I don't know."   Rod Taylor. Linval Thompson: "I did an album with him, long time ago, but I never release it, just some tracks."   Johnny Osbourne. My favourite tunes: 'Night Fall' and 'Back Off'. Linval Thompson: "I go and voice them in Canada, because that's where Johnny Osbourne live at the time."   Sly & Robbie. 'Dem-A-Hallah' was released only last year, on the Taxi Label. Linval Thompson: "I never see that release. I never know it's on the market."   Last summer your tune 'Inna Di Hills' was revived by "street poet" Nazamba. Linval Thompson: "I don't know him. The guys in France (OBF) take the track and dem send it to Jamaica to voice it. I also voiced some tracks for a guy from Hawaii. They want that roots sound, and Roberto can produce it."   Any more plans with Roberto Sanchez? Linval Thompson: "I'm gonna voice back a lot of the tracks from the past. 'Cool Down Your Temper', 'Jah Jah The Conqueror', 'Long Long Dreadlocks'… Dem songs are still true, dem still mean something to the world. Roberto also helped me to release some classic tunes on Thompson Sound records. Original label. BMG hold much of the rights of my songs, through their subsidiary Trojan. They don't want to lose them. Still, we go ahead. And I've got a new album with Luciano. Recorded in Jamaica, wi a go mix it in Spain."   So for the time being Roberto is definitely your man in Europe. Linval Thompson: "Baco Records in France distribute my records, now they also want to invest in me as a producer. But I don't want that. They're gonna hold the business afterwards. I've got a lot of new tracks on the shelve and I don't want them to release those."