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Part 1, entitled "Revival", takes us to
the Roots of Reggae, which is directly related to
slavery. The story of slavery, when Africans were
taken from their homeland to work for the
Babylonian colonizers, is explained. Drums were
forbidden, torture was the rule: but in all this
tribulation, the Africans did keep and develop
their culture and dignity.
The enslavers, who claimed to be
"Christian", looked down on the
Africans. They kept their white religion for
themselves, but in 1784 the first Black Church,
called "The Ethiopian Baptist Church",
was established. A significant event in the
further development of Black Spirituality and
Culture on Jamaica.
We're taken to what in the meantime has become
a rich spectrum of Revival and other Spiritual
Movements, all of them having their influence in
shaping the Music that we love so much: Roots
Reggae, Deep Roots Reggae.
Musically, Reggae has predecessors like Mento
and Ska. These musical styles were as much
connected with the Jamaican Spiritual heart-beat
as Reggae is today. This connection becomes very
clear in the long explanations and filmings of
sessions.
It has to be clear, before we can continue to
go into the Ghetto to meet the Skatalites, the
band that had Studio One as their basis. Studio
One, where most well-known Reggae artist have one
or more times practiced their talents and skills.
As they talk and sing, it become clear that
this is 1980. The Skatalites were already legends
in Jamaica, as they were very much responsible for
creating the rhythm and sound called Reggae some
15 years before that. Things had rapidly changed
in that 15 years, and yet, some things stayed the
same.
The Nyabinghy rhythm of the Rastafarians, for
example. The percussionist starts to explain where
he's coming from and plays the rhythm, singing
over it...
Another influential group is Toots and the
Maytalls, whose tune "Do The
Reggay" is said to have given name to
the Music, even though the spelling is -for
obvious reasons- a bit different today. We see
them in an old, old live performance, when Ska was
still the music of the time.
Ska was heavily promoted by the first
government of Jamaica after independence was
declared, in order to promote the indigenous music
from "Yard". Jimmy Cliff was another
Super Star from that time. We see him too, in
black and white film from the 1960's.
Just before the end, we fast forward to 1980
and meet up with Jimmy Riley, who was there back
in the 1960's when Reggae came into existence. As
he is singing "Poor Immigrants", he
reflects on what was then already a Reggae
History.
Part 1 of "Deep Roots" establishes a
solid foundation for the five hours of essential
Reggae History that are yet to come.
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