RITA MARLEY / IGNACIO SCOLA / GREGORIO PANIAGUA - SPECTACLES FOR TRIBUFFALOS RITA MARLEY / IGNACIO SCOLA / GREGORIO PANIAGUA

This album is a collaborative project born from the creativity, cooperation, and boldness of three completely different artists who decided to combine their talents to shape this remarkable work.

Ignacio Scola is a Spanish record producer who, in the early 1990s, released albums with a number of artists, including well-known names such as Juan Luis Guerra, Willy DeVille, and Manu Dibango.
Rita Marley was a Jamaican singer who had been a member of the Soulettes—something like a Jamaican version of The Supremes—in the mid-1960s. While still very young, she married Bob Marley and lived through a turbulent relationship, overshadowed by her famous husband. After Bob’s death, she decided to resume her artistic career and released several noteworthy reggae albums, which were later rediscovered by Scola and issued in Spain through his record label. He subsequently became her producer and organized several concerts for her, bringing her a certain level of recognition and helping her songs reach major radio playlists.

When Scola presented Marley with a song he had composed, “Miracle Baby,” dedicated to his newborn son, she agreed to record it immediately. The original recording was completed with arrangements by Spanish cult artist Gregorio Paniagua, and the result was so striking that they decided to record more songs following a similar approach. Scola would show Paniagua the song sketches, and they would later meet in Paniagua’s studio to embellish them with instrumental arrangements, as well as contribute their own ideas—creating a kind of artistic ping-pong completed by Rita Marley’s voice, who traveled from Jamaica to Madrid to take part in the recording sessions.

The result is an album of sophisticated and experimental pop, in line with other works by Gregorio Paniagua, in which Marley showcases her extraordinary vocal talent, rooted in soul and Jamaican music, built around Scola’s concept. Companies such as Luaka Bop and Disney showed strong interest in the album, which was ultimately released in 1995 on Scola’s own label, Tabata.

We present here, for the first time on vinyl, “Spectacles for Tribuffalos”—never before reissued—along with the remixes by Spanish ambient producer Suso Sáiz, influenced by trip-hop, dub, and more, previously unavailable on vinyl. Includes an insert with liner notes.