Soul Jazz Records’ new album Rastafari: The Dreads Enter Babylon 1955-83 chartsthe many links between reggae music and the Rastafarian faith.Featuring themusic of CountOssie,Johnny Clarke, The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari,Ras Michael and The Sons of Negus, Bongo Herman, Roy Ashanti (Congos), Earth &Stone, Mutabaruka and many more, this is an in-depth look at some of the mostunique and righteous music ever made and comes complete with a 40+ page outsizebooklet, containing exclusive photography and extensive historical and contextualsleevenotes.At the source of the music of Rastafari isthe figureheadmaster drummer and leaderCount Ossie, who first brought the deeply spiritual nyabinghi and burro rhythms,heard and played at sacred Rastafarian grounation (reasoning)sessions, into popularJamaican music through his many collaborations and performances with artists –from The Skatalites to The Folks Brothers – and producers, including Clement Dodd,Prince Buster and Harry Mudie.At the start of the 1970s Count Ossie formed the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari withsaxophonist Cedric Brooks, which immediately became the most significant group ofthe Rastafari faith, bringing together authentic rasta nyabinghi drumming togetherwith spiritual and avant-garde jazz influences of Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders and AlbertAyler into a truly unique and groundbreaking sound.From the earliest proto-rasta beginnings on vinyl, Lord Lebby’s 1955mento recording‘Etheopia’, through to the raw, afro-jazz rootssounds of CountOssie to the deep andheavy roots reggae of the 1970s (Johnny Clarke, Earth & Sound, Roy Ashanti of theCongos and others), this album covers nearly 30 years of revolutionary music.This album comes in three separate formats: Deluxe CD with slipcase and 40-pageoutsize booklet, deluxe limited-edition heavyweight gatefold-vinyl edition + freedownload code (with full sleeve notes etc.) and as a worldwide digital release.