Roots Archives Forum

anyone agree there seem to be very few female contributors here. shame really , i wonder why that is? i mean, if you try www.rasta-man.co.uk youll see plenty female rastas contribute and keep the forum very sweet and very spiritual..here the vibes are good but why no women?actually maybe this post should be on the off topic forum but hey, reasonable point , what do you think?

I think it is a shame too. It can be a bit of a men's club in here!

ites deh

yeh its a shame fe shure
but for my point of view we men are more devoted to the music and getting the music and knowledge and women are more devoted to spiritual tings and way of life...
for my experience dats what i see with people around me and over the world even on the web.

respect everytime
dreadrecords

Hey Guys,

I have wondered this point too in the past.

I have always had the opinion that it is maybe because when you look at reggae music industry as a whole it has always been very much a male dominated genre.

From what I have seen over the years there seem to be very few female artists and even less female producers.

I believe the very low percentage of female visitors / contributers to the forum is probably proportionate to the number of woman who have been involved in the reggae industry.

The Roots Regqae world that we love is very much like a mens club and I for one don`t think that is such a bad thing.

We all, from time to time, need a break from the woman in our lives and what better way to obtain it.

Any woman readers, no offence intended and sorry if I have, its just an opinion.

Dave

Few female producers, yes, but one of them produced a huge catalogue of quality reggae:

Gentlemen (and ladies), can we have three cheers for the wonderful work of Sonia Pottinger!



http://www.roots-archives.com/artist/305

I'd love to know more about this woman and how she managed to be a producer of so many titles in such a male-dominated world.

Anyone know anything about her?

I'm going out on a limb here - I should probably check it out first - but I have a feeling she was Duke Reid's wife?

MightyZ

OK - I consulted wikipedia and this is what I got - not married to the Duke, but a long time friend and married to another producer Lyndon Pottinger. I see she is responsible for the 80's Treasure Isle reissues - which are the one's I have - that is how I have come to associate her name with Duke Reid! She also produced Harder than the Rest by Culture which was one the albums that really got me set on the Roots path - respect to Sonia - surely the First Lady of Reggae Music?

This is the stuff from wikipedia:-
Sonia Pottinger (born c. 1940) is a Jamaican reggae record producer.

The most important Jamaican woman involved in music business, Mrs Pottinger's produced artists from the mid 1960s until the mid 1980s.

Married to music producer Lyndon Pottinger, she opened her Tip Top Records Shop in the mid 1960s and started to record musicians in 1966. The first single she issued (recorded at Federal Recording Studios) was a Baba Brooks tune which became a Jamaican hit. Other artists recorded during this period include Roland Alphonso. Throughout the rocksteady and early reggae eras, she became very prolific with hits by The Ethiopians ("The Whip"), Delano Stewart, The Melodians ("Swing And Dine"), Ken Boothe, Alton Ellis and Toots & The Maytals. In the 1970s, she produced albums by Bob Andy, Marcia Griffiths, Culture, U Roy and Big Youth. Her most well known production is Culture's Harder Than The Rest album, released in 1978.

She was Duke Reid's long time friend when she bought his Treasure Isle label in 1974, shortly before his death. Until she retired from business in 1985, she reissued many Treasure Isle tunes.

She ran many labels; mostly Gayfeet and High Note (also the names of her Trojan UK sub-labels), as well as Gloria.

where is she (sonia) now? Is she still alive, anyone knows?

I would like to locate and interview her.

Where would that Interview appear Don? It would be cool to read some of your work!

And thanks for the research Mighty Z...

A very trustful source, who recorded many tunes for Mrs Pottinger, told me that she never ever was in the studio when a tune was recorded. However, even if se didn't have anything to do musically with the tunes she released, it's still great music.