{"id":115285,"date":"2022-11-08T13:40:02","date_gmt":"2022-11-08T11:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/?p=115285"},"modified":"2022-11-08T13:40:12","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T11:40:12","slug":"tyrone-downie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/tyrone-downie\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyrone Downie, The Wailers&#8217; fantastic keyboardist, is gone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The exceptional Jamaican keyboard player, key to Bob Marley&#8217;s Wailers, and sponsor of pan-African reggae died on November 6 at 66.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>What would &#8220;Three Little Birds&#8221; &#8211; Bob Marley &amp; The Wailers&#8217; timeless anthem, be without Tyrone Downie&#8217;s melodious notes? The young Tyrone, a musical prodigy, was noticed early on and quickly joined the ranks of reggae&#8217;s most prestigious band ever to be. Going from the keyboard to the organ, the percussions, and even his voice, he elevated <em>Rastaman Vibration<\/em>, the 1976 studio album that followed the giant <em>Natty Dread<\/em> from 1974. Lead by an unwavering Rastafari philosophy, he contributed to the Wailers&#8217; legendary years, right up until Bob Marley&#8217;s death in 1981. But Tyrone Downie&#8217;s legacy goes even further. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Bob Marley &amp; The Wailers - Three Little Birds (Official Music Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HNBCVM4KbUM?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UJ-lDL6Zvtk\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UJ-lDL6Zvtk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jamaican Guy<\/a>&#8221; &#8211; like Grace Jones sang, inspired by the musician&#8217;s aura in 1982, is the key element to reggae&#8217;s expansion and democratization worldwide in the 80s. Sometimes a producer or an arranger, other times a composer or a keyboard maestro, Tyrone Downie was the discreet conductor of the pan-African reggae movement. He showed enchanting harmonica skills on Jimmy Cliff&#8217;s <em>Humanitarian<\/em>, he produced <em>Jah Victory<\/em> for Alpha Blondy, he ventured on a <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bWIRYUTRrg8\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bWIRYUTRrg8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dakar-Kingston<\/a><\/em> trip with mbalax king Youssou N&#8217;Dour,&#8230; From Jamaica to Africa, he offers his knowledge and wisdom to the genre&#8217;s biggest names. And in France, he found his most faithful disciples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Richacha, Tyrone Downie, Passi, Doc gyneco, Arsenik, Jacky, Ben J, Yovo, Stomy Bugsy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iqEKHvK_RSA?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>Tyrone Downie with the French group Secteur \u00c4 at the Olympia in 1998.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Tyrone Downie loved France, and France loved him too. He spent most of the 90s and 2000s there and started two families: his own, and the French reggae one. He blessed his presence with the likes of Jacky and Ben J (from the group Neg&#8217;Marrons), Passi, and many more. Most importantly, he formed a beautiful musical relationship with Tiken Jah Fakoly, a man of strength and values, just like him. In 2002, he directed his opus <em>Fran\u00e7afrique<\/em>, and continued working on the following projects in one way or another. This wonderful connection lasted until November 4th with the release of <em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fRhubrfN_qY\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fRhubrfN_qY\" target=\"_blank\">Braquage de Pouvoir<\/a><\/em>, the Ivorian singer&#8217;s 11th studio album, produced by the rastaman himself. Sadly, Fakoly is now losing one of his mentors, the same way Downie did in 1981: &#8220;<em>he was a precious keyboardist, and one of Marley&#8217;s trusted friends: when Bob smoked too much and was too high, he&#8217;d bring Tyrone [&#8230;] to answer questions in interviews (laughter). His was a big brother, I appreciated him deeply<\/em>&#8220;. Tyrone Downie won&#8217;t deliver the solo album he was working on, but leaves us with one last gift: <em>Women<\/em>, a disc he produced for the band Jahzz, to be released November 8th. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1010\" height=\"671\" src=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Bob_Marley__The_Wailing_Wailers_Zurich_Com_L29-0351-0003-0001-1010x671.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-115269\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Bob_Marley__The_Wailing_Wailers_Zurich_Com_L29-0351-0003-0001-1010x671.jpeg 1010w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Bob_Marley__The_Wailing_Wailers_Zurich_Com_L29-0351-0003-0001-759x504.jpeg 759w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Bob_Marley__The_Wailing_Wailers_Zurich_Com_L29-0351-0003-0001-661x439.jpeg 661w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Bob_Marley__The_Wailing_Wailers_Zurich_Com_L29-0351-0003-0001-465x309.jpeg 465w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Bob_Marley__The_Wailing_Wailers_Zurich_Com_L29-0351-0003-0001-375x249.jpeg 375w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Bob_Marley__The_Wailing_Wailers_Zurich_Com_L29-0351-0003-0001.jpeg 1280w\" sizes=\"(min-width:1010px) 759px,100vw\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>\u00a9 Patrick L\u00fcthy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The exceptional Jamaican keyboard player, key to Bob Marley&#8217;s Wailers, and sponsor of pan-African reggae died on November 6 at 66. What would &#8220;Three Little Birds&#8221; &#8211; Bob Marley &amp; The Wailers&#8217; timeless anthem, be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":115266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3944],"tags":[6881],"location":[8082],"yst_prominent_words":[34227,10752,9178,8938,8414,8402,8435,8506,12173,20733,24111,8543,8945,8438,8848],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115285"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115285"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=115285"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=115285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}