"Niyah Man" - Rico Rodriguez

“Niyah Man” (PDF) from the Rico & The Rudies album, Blow Your Horn

This 1969 album credits the song “Niyah Man” to Jamaican singer Johnny Osborne [sic] and record producer Winston Riley, who may have previously worked together on an unreleased 1967 recording session for The Wildcats - it is unclear exactly how Rico ended up choosing to record their song. Osbourne later released a version of “Nyah Man” (or “Niah Man”) around 1972 that became the assumed “original” version but it only bears slight resemblance to Rico’s instrumental interpretation. Perhaps ahead of their time, it would still be another decade before both Osbourne and Riley would go on to invent their separate signatures of dancehall reggae music.