Earlier this week, Menelik Shabazz‘ documentary ‘The Story of Lovers Rock’ aired on The Africa Channel. A couple of years earlier, members of the meetup group Black British New Yorkers went to the premiere in Manhattan. The Story of Lovers Rock tells the tale of an era and a music – romantic reggae – that defined a generation in the UK of the late 1970s and early 80s. Combining live performances, interviews from the key figures of the scene, and winningly funny sketches (fans of 1990s comedy series The Real McCoy will enjoy contributions from Eddie Nestor and Robbie Gee), the film paints a fascinating and compelling picture of an influential, yet hitherto undocumented, moment in time. The documentary will re-broadcast on The Africa Channel Sunday, November 3 10AM-12 Noon.
Members of Black British New Yorkers with Film maker Menelik Shabazz
As someone who grew up in London, in the 70s and early 80s I could identify with the music, culture and life story depicted in the film. I know I got locked out of the house after coming home too late from a blues dance. Today, I think of those dances in the basement with the blue light bulb with the black soft paper on the wall to block out the sound, it was quite a fire trap, but those were the best dances of my youth.
The strength of this film lies in its positive conceptions and portrayal of the impact such music had upon the black community and how it was adopted by that generation of white people, giving rise to one of the most successful bands of the era UB40. UB40, who in commercial terms, along with the whole genre of reggae have not received the acclaim and recognition their achievements truly merited.
After the movie, we were treated to a Q & A with director, filmmaker and documentarian Menelik Shabazz. Shabazz provides answers to questions pertaining to the way reggae is set aside from popular music yet is incredibly popular worldwide, especially in Europe and Japan by using the commentary of the singers, comedians, producers and regular contributions from the owners of the Dub Vendor Record Store
Menelik treated us to footage of the Reggae Greats showing many classic performances by artists including Sugar Minott, Gregory Isaacs, Winsome, Sandra Cross and Maxi Priest who was huge in the USA. We even had a glimpse at Britains lost heritage, Top Of The Pops with reggae’s first ever #1 song in the UK ‘Silly Games,’ by Janet Kay. The crux of Lover’s Rock was shared through the beautiful described memories and opinions from pre-dominant artists including the ‘ English Godfather, ‘ Tippa Irie along with Victor Romero Evans, Janet Kay, Sylvia Tella and Linton Kwesi Johnson and many more.*
*Some information for this article courtesy of Jaz McKenzie.
