Cairo by Joyella Blade
There's very little info on Joyella Blade out there. The picture above, from the cover of her debut single, is the only one I can find. In fact, it appears she only released one single. But... WHAT. A. SINGLE. Cairo came out in 1978 on Virgin's reggae imprint Front Line. It didn't trouble the charts in any way, shape or form and copies of the original 7" are now very rare.
The thing is, if justice prevailed, this would be as much of a classic as Night Nurse, No Woman No Cry and Uptown Top Rankin'. It's a terrific record, Joyella's voice is as unique as any on tape and that deep baritone backing vocal just seals the deal for me.
Cairo occasionally pops up on the odd reggae collection - for quality purposes I've used the one I have on 2014's awesome Front Line compilation 'Sounds Of Reality'. It's well worthy of inclusion on any mixtape/playlist.
Soundtrack:
- Cairo - Joyella Blade (single)
Great to hear this, I only know Amazulu's version. It certainly has an 'Uptown Top Ranking' vibe about it. Excellent.
ReplyDeleteA great way to kick off the first Monday of the New Year
ReplyDeletethank you. a stone cold classic. never heard of it until now.
ReplyDeleteI guess it shouldn't seem odd that it's SO hard to find any other info about this gifted singer...
ReplyDeleteHopefully she's alive and well and happy, but suprising that can't find any mention of her so far on the search engines..