Mill Rock Music Publishing Group, founded by Murray Elias and Christoffer Mannix Schlarb, has acquired the catalogue of legendary Jamaican composer, producer, musician and melodica master, the late Augustus Pablo.

“It is an honour to be working with Augustus Pablo’s music and we are excited about bringing a catalogue of this magnitude into its rightful place within the reggae industry and the music business overall,” said Elias.

“Much of Pablo’s catalogue has been unattended to for a very long time so there are many issues that need to be addressed. We believe there is great placement potential. Dub music can fit into so many different settings in terms of scoring scenes on movie soundtracks, and already there is great interest in Pablo’s catalogue among music supervisors and placement agencies. With Mill Rock controlling the publishing and the estate owning the bulk of the master recordings, Augustus Pablo’s catalogue is primed for easy, one-stop delivery for potential placements with music supervisors,” Elias continued.

Augustus Pablo’s son, Addis Swaby, a musician, composer and producer known professionally as Addis Pablo and co-director of the Augustus Pablo’s estate, along with his sister Isis, is also signed to Mill Rock Publishing.

“We have never had a publisher handle issues with our father’s catalogue or to take things to the next level, and Murray is the right person because of his skills as a publisher and his years of experience in the music industry. Our father’s music can now be accessed on YouTube, Spotify and other streaming services, reaching places where people might not have been able to access much vinyl before — and that is generating greater interest in new territories. Working with Mill Rock we can now spread our father’s legacy as far as possible and know that the publishing aspect is secure,” Addis Pablo noted.

“I have had the opportunity to work closely with Addis Pablo since early in his career, so it’s an honour to be taking this next step to work directly with his father’s catalogue — one of the most important catalogues in reggae music. I am looking forward to working alongside my partner Murray Elias as well as Addis and Isis Swaby to maximise the potential of their father’s tremendous musical legacy,” said Schlarb.

Augustus Pablo’s music is the first legacy catalogue acquired by Mill Rock Music, a boutique, service-oriented company that specialises in, but is not limited to, publishing and administration services for reggae producers, writers and artistes.

One of Jamaica’s most distinctive artistes, Augustus Pablo, who passed away on May 18, 1999 at 44 years old, added to reggae’s trajectory with his sonic innovations which included his mystical Far East sound, characterised by haunting, minor-key melodica lines; and his contributions to the evolution of dub, the impactful art of stripping a recording to a forceful bass line overlaid with reverb, echo effects and fragments of melody.

Born Horace Swaby in Kingston, Augustus Pablo was a self-taught multi-instrumentalist. While still a teenager he worked as a studio musician, beginning in the late 60s. A friend introduced him to the melodica and he took the instrument into his initial session with producer Herman Chin Loy.

Chin Loy had previously used the name Augustus Pablo on other instrumental productions but the name stuck with Swaby. Augustus Pablo introduced his Far East sound on his next single, East of the River Nile which he followed with Java, voted Jamaica’s top instrumental in 1972. The same year, Pablo founded his record labels including Hot Stuff, Yard, Message, and Rockers International.

As a producer, Augustus Pablo enjoyed associations with several singers including Jacob Miller for Baby I Love You So, Hugh Mundell for Africa Must Be Free and Junior Delgado for Raggamuffin Year.