Inside the bizarre world of Bass Lion, Martin Bashir’s forgotten 2010 reggae album

Yesterday, I felt like it was my duty to remind the world that disgraced journalist Martin Bashir stepped into the shoes of being an old crooner on The X Factor: Celebrity in 2019. Well, if you thought that was a fever dream, my friends – you ain’t seen nothing yet. In 2010, broadcast journalist Martin Bashir released an all-original 18 track reggae album. It’s called Bass Lion. Don’t check the date, this is no practical joke. Here’s everything you need to know about Bass Lion, the forgotten reggae album by Martin Bashir.

Track three: Jah Help I From Bout Ya

When I first read that Bashir had released a reggae album, I thought that someone had hacked his Wikipedia page to cause carnage. Turns out, it’s actually him. It’s on Spotify, there’s 18 tracks and the reggae tunes have names such as Down To Jamaica, Evevry Likkle Boy, Inna Reggae World and, my personal favourite, High Grade Tree.

I can’t find any live performances of Martin Bashir singing any of Bass Lion live, but I did find a clip of him talking about it.

“I grew up on a very large housing project in London. There were a large number of Jamaican families who moved in who came on HMS Windrush in the 1950s. They all lived on this large housing project, and that was the first time I heard reggae. From there, I grew to love it, taught myself to play bass and I’m about to release my first album.

“It’s all original songs, we went to Jamaica three times to record all the vocalists. All the rhythm tracks and munitions were recorded in New York. I hope it’s going to do very well.

“At weekends, I’ve been able to walk away from the front of being a broadcaster and just play music, it’s been terrific.”

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