Don Letts is an unsung hero of British music. “Superstonic Sound: The Rebel Dread” is a documentary about the Letts family legacy that mirrors the history of BASS in the UK from Dub, Reggae and Punk to 80s pop, Hip Hop and Dubstep; a musical, cultural and personal link between past and present.
Don’s father was amongst the first Jamaican immigrants to Britain and he brought his sound system with him, introducing London to Jamaican Dub with its heavy BASS accent.
Don grew up in Brixton, immersed in Dub and Reggae. In the context of Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech and KBW – Keep Britain White - grafitied across the walls of London, Don became the lone Rebel Dread crossing musical and cultural boundaries between black and white. He became DJ at the first Punk club, the legendary “Roxy” where in between live Punk sets, he played hard core Dub-Reggae and fortunately for him…
Kingston, Jamaica born Spragga Benz is the subject of Shotta Culture- A documentary about the life of this influential dancehall artist and the unforgiving streets he came from. Born into a large family of modest means, Shotta Culture chronicles Spragga’s rise to fame, as he overcomes personal obstacles, political strife and violence to become one of Jamaica’s most influential artists. Shotta Culture also explores the 2008 murder of Spragga’s son, Carlton Grant, Jr. at the hands of police. Providing never before seen interviews with witnesses and candid discussions of the ongoing violence claiming the lives of Jamaica’s youth.
If you have been to Jamaica and managed to venture off the resorts, you already know that there is an certain awareness you should have to your surroundings. Danger can come from a lot of different angles there. On one hand it could be the criminals, and on the other it could be the police. This news report, shot by Al Jazeera, highlights the brutal and deadly confrontations that many of the poorer people face.
The Havana sun casts a golden, late afternoon light, lending a brief glow to a narrow street. Decaying houses, with their half-crumbling facades, somehow cling to their faded glory. The camera pulls back and reveals the silhouette of a man, rounded by age and good living, puffing on a cigar. At the age of 67, Luis Tiant has come back to Cuba, the island he had left at age 20 for a trip he thought would last a month and became nearly a half-century. But is this still home? What is home for an exile that becomes a star in his new land, leaving former teammates to play for their government and country in isolation and povertis home for a man who never had a sister or brother and whose parents are dead? Where can he go to sort out the guilt and the glory? And is it too late?
I’ll (hopefully) have a full review of the film next week, so be on the lookout for that.
Walter Rodney’s had a huge influence on my life. Besides the fact that I’m named after him (My full name is Omar Walter Ellis…), he’s one of the main reasons that Burden Clothing even exists.
That all said, when I heard about this documentary on the man by Clairmont Chung, I had to let folks know. Check out the trailer below…
This film covers the life of world renowned, historian, author, and activist, Dr. Walter Rodney who was assassinated on Friday, June 13, 1980, at age 38, in his native Guyana. It’s a story of a man who dedicated his life, and ultimately, gave his life in the struggle for equal rights and justice. He did so through his considerable intellectual gifts and actual grassroots involvement everywhere he went. He went everywhere. The people who knew him weave a tale of how they related to him and him them. In the process we see the growth of their friend, his ideology and how that changed over the years from his coming of age in racially divided Guyana through the cold war, the Black Power Movement, Pan-Africanism, Caribbean independence, and the idea of self emancipation. It’s about the influence of places on him and him on places as evidenced by the riots in Kingston, Jamaica, his role in Southern Africa’s struggle for independence and finally civil rebellion in Guyana where his life ended just a block from his birth-home. It’s a film about us: all of us.
This is a 1976 Reggae documentary about reggae and reggae artists in UK during the 70’s. The documentary explores reggae as it has traveled across the pond and what made it work in that time. Essentially the music was locally supported then it the sound expanded. Check out the video…
New film on the way directed by a close friend of the artist. Check out the details below…
In his short career, Jean-Michel Basquiat was a phenomenon. He became notorious for his graffiti art under the moniker Samo in the late 1970s on the Lower East Side scene, sold his first painting to Deborah Harry for $200, and became best friends with Andy Warhol. Appreciated by both the art cognoscenti and the public, Basquiat was launched into international stardom. However, soon his cult status began to override the art that had made him famous in the first place.
Director Tamra Davis pays homage to her friend in this definitive documentary but also delves into Basquiat as an iconoclast. His dense, bebop-influenced neoexpressionist work emerged while minimalist, conceptual art was the fad; as a successful black artist, he was constantly confronted by racism and misconceptions. Much can be gleaned from insider interviews and archival footage, but it is Basquiat’s own words and work that powerfully convey the mystique and allure of both the artist and the man.
I caught the promo for Rise up, a documentary about Reggae music on Large up. The screening of the documentary will take place at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center on February 25th. Below is the trailer for the movie.
I came across this over the weekend. Share and share alike they say, right? See the video below…
AFRICA UNITE is a singular and masterfully executed film by Stephanie Black that is at once concert tribute, Marley family travelogue, and humanitarian documentary, igniting the screen with the spirit of world-renowned reggae icon BOB MARLEY in its every frame. In commemoration of Bob’s 60th birthday, AFRICA UNITE is centered on the Marleys’ first-time-ever family trip to Ethiopia in 2005. Includes rare footage of Marley.
