Satta Massagana

Satta Massagana is a roots reggae album released by The Abyssinians officially in 1976. It is widely considered The Abyssinians' crowning achievement and a classic roots reggae album.

The title track "Satta Massagana" was a huge hit and has been versioned numerous times by both The Abyssinians and other artists since. It has even been adopted by some Rastafarian groups as a hymn used during services. The song, which translates from the Amharic language as "He Gave Praise", was originally recorded for Studio One in 1969, but the label's owner, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd declined to release it.

Release history

The Abyssinians debut album has had a very complex release history. The first unofficial editions, very limited in quantity, were released by Clive Hunt in 1975. The first official release occurred in Jamaica in 1976 on Pentrate Label, issued by Clive Hunt and Geoffrey Chung, and shortly after in the United States on Jam Sounds.

The following years, 1977 and 1978, saw the album released by three labels under the title Forward On To Zion. The album was released in the United Kingdom on the UK Klik Chart Sounds and Different labels, as well as on Bernard Collins' own Clinch label. Similarly, Clive Hunt's US-based Azul label released the album under the title Satta. A note on track-listings: the Klik & Different releases reverted to the original tracklisting of the limited pre-release editions which placed the title track as the final track, furthermore, the Azul edition renamed some tracks and did not include "African Race".