Kingston, Jamaica, Cana
'ROOTS, Rock, Reggae', a 20-year-old film documenting Jamaica's music and social atmosphere in the 1970s, has been re-released here by Shanachie Records.
'Roots, Rock, Reggae' was first released in 1979 by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as part of its Beats Of The Heart Series.
In it, Marre interviews Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Jacob Miller, Toots and The Maytals, Joe Higgs and Lee "Scratch" Perry. There is also footage of the One Love Peace Concert in April, 1978. "We are re-releasing it on DVD because it is the format of the future and is a new avenue for sales," said Randall Grass, head of Shanachie Records.
"It ('Roots, Rock, Reggae') is still highly relevant as it captures the late seventies historical period of Jamaica as well as reggae music."
In addition to its being sharper visually, 'Roots, Rock Reggae' will be, Grass believes, a valuable piece for historians and others fascinated with Jamaica's history and music in the turbulent 1970s.
"As far as I know, there aren't very many documentaries about the '70s reggae scene that were actually shot at that time," Grass pointed out. "Thus, 'Roots, Rock Reggae' has an immediacy others lack."
Jeremy Marre is recognised as one of the foremost producers of films on the musical culture of the Third World. Through the acclaimed 'Beats Of The Heart Series', he introduced African performers like Nigeria's Fela Kuit and King Sunny Ade to the western world.
In 1999, he produced 'The Making Of Catch Afire', in which musicians who played on the inspirational Wailers album revisit the creation of one of reggae's most acclaimed records.
Shanachie, an independent company based in New York City, distributes various types of indigenous music and has an impressive catalogue of seventies reggae.
