Referred to today as the Green Bay massacre, in the night of the 5th January 1978, 14 men who were believed to be part of the Skulls, a gang sided with the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), were trapped in an ambush at the Green Bay Firing Range by a sector of the army, the Military Intelligence Unit.
The M.I.U were acting for the leading opposition, the People's National Party (PNP). When the men were drawn into the trap, five of them were shot dead with others fleeing for their life.
Shortly after, two of the main dons (head of a gang) in prison, "Claudie" Massop from the JLP and "Bucky" Marshall from the PNP, took action to sign a peace treaty and put an end to the ongoing violence. Several songs celebrating the new peace were recorded and one of the most striking, which also happens to be one my favourites, is War Is Over by Dillinger.
The deejay uses George Nooks' version of Little Roy's "Tribal War" I mentionned yesterday. Produced by Joe Gibbs, Gibbs provided his own relick of the rhythm instantly giving it his own recognisable "fresh" sound.
Dillinger references the new situation in the introduction of the song as he engages a conversation in patois, possibly with his fellow friend and deejay Trinity :
"A long time I no see the I you know dread"
"Me hear now [the] peace treaty so me haffi come out and get a lickle bit of fresh air"
And boom, the new version of the rhythm kicks-in, with Lloyd Parkes' bass litteraly exploding over Sly Dunbar's serious rockers-style drumming, as Dillinger toasts :
"Musical Sound is called the war is over, so you got to come over and do the Bossa Nova..."
As George Nooks' voice fades away, Dillinger takes the lead and warns: "Son don't take your guns to town because the war is over. Say we feel so sweet when we sign the peace treat'."
However as often in Jamaica, this moment of peace unfortunately didn't last long, with 1400 people murdered in the 2 following years.
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