Mabrak

Mabrak is a Jamaican reggae band founded by Leroy Trevor Mabrak. The group works in reggae, dub, roots reggae and rockers styles, and describes itself as part of the roots, rock, reggae sound. It performs as an eight-piece band and is associated with roots-oriented and cultural reggae performance.

Background and recordings

The band has hits on the British charts with ITAL TALK and LIQUID TALK in the mid-1970s. Its recordings are known in Germany, France and London. Mabrak also appears on THE JAMAICA'S GOLDEN HITS, VOL. 1 with the track OH CAROLINA, described as a Jamaican classic from the 1960s. The group records and performs contemporary roots, rock and reggae sounds, and its repertoire includes The Rootsman, Come Sister Come, Survival, Dis Ya Sound, Give Thanks and Praise and Jah Love is Forever.

Leroy Trevor Mabrak

Leroy Trevor Mabrak is the founder and leader of the band. He develops what is described as the world’s first electric repeater drum and serves as a resource consultant for drum music at Stanford University. Mabrak also claims a historical role in recorded music through the use of the talking drum as a lead instrument in a song. The group gives lecture demonstrations on polyphonic drum arrangements and is identified as masters of repeaters, West African talking drums and the Nyahbinghi sound.

Performances and recognition

Mabrak performs lecture demonstrations on the West African musical experience and the African diaspora, and has played at venues and festivals including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Village Gate, the Circle Star Theater, Zellerbach Auditorium, Stanford University, the Monterey Reggae Festival, the Mount Shasta Reggae Festival and the Willamette Valley Folk Festival. It has also headlined the Stanford International Music Festival, the Budweiser Reggaefest and the San Diego World Music Festival, and appears as a featured act at the Tribal Stomp Music Festival. In 2003, the group wins four medals for musical composition and arrangement at the World Music Championships in Burbank, California.

Influences

The band grows up around figures including Tommy McCook and The Skatalites, Ossie Scott and Count Ossie, and it develops a background in what it calls first-class rootical, cultural and contemporary arrangements.