Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae

Journeying back to 1960's Jamaica, director Stascha Bader compensates for a cultural neglect by taking a closer look at the heyday of rocksteady - a music style born out of ska and later to morph into reggae, spanning from Millie Small's "My Boy Lollypop" to the legacy of Bob Marley.

Walking us along a celebratory, musical cavalcade are the era's most prominent musicians: legendary Stranger Cole, Gladstone Anderson, Ken Boothe, Marcia Griffiths, Derrick Lara, Hopeton Lewis, Rita Marley, Derrick Morgan, Judy Mowatt, Dawn Penn, Leroy Stibbles and U-Roy. As old songs, rhythms and memories are revived, archival footage is interspersed with in-studio musical performances and interviews. A Kingston of optimistic youth - troubled by poverty but never without hopes and dreams - is recalled and put in contrast to today's city imagery of the impoverished community of Trenchtown, marked by street violence, abandoned concert arenas and railroad stations.

Without romanticizing the past, Bader's dynamic cast embraces both good and bad times - capturing the mellow melancholy essence of the rocksteady genre itself.
SABINA ÅBJÖRNSSON

Cast
Ken Boothe, Hopeton Lewis, Leroy Sibbles, Stranger Cole, Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, Derrick Morgan, U-Roy, Dawn Penn, The Tamlins; Musicians: Ernest Ranglin, Hux Brown, Sly Dunbar, Gladdy Anderson, Lloyd Parks, Clifton Jackson, Robbie Lyn: Producer
Valentin Greutert, Betty Palik. Executive producers: Simon Hesse, Michael Prupas: Script
Stascha Bader: Cinematography
Piotr Jaxa: Spoken language
English