Jérôme Laperrousaz:
Stand Up For Reggae (France, 2004)
Production: Valentine Production
52 min - Beta. English. No Finnish subtitles.
Thanks to the less sophisticated features of ganja culture and rastafarism, reggae has always been the bad boy of popular music. Reggae's potential to divide people and views was also evident in last summer's Ilosaarirock festival, where the anti-gay statements found in the early lyrics of Buju Banton and Capleton raised a wave of opposition not unlike a middle-sized tsunami.
Stand Up for Reggae is a story of a poor island called Jamaica that used its own music to manifest its right for independence and freedom. Reggae is only one, if arguably the most famous, of the many Jamaican-originated music genres: there is also ska, mento, rock steady, rub-a-dub, ragamuffin and dancehall. In this documentary, Jérôme Laperrousaz plumbs the history of Jamaican music with both the old hands and the newcomers by his side. There are interviews, concert footage and street toasting sessions with such names as Beanie Man, Lady Saw, Stephen Cat Coore, Capleton and many others. Word up!
"When we come against Babylon, we come with words and sound of power"
