Arts & Entertainment

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Documentary finds rocksteady rhythm

Film walks bridge between ska and reggae

By: Bernard Perusse

Posted: 11/13/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

The Tamlins perform backup vocals in a scene from Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae. (MUSEE D’ART CONTEMPORAIN AND THE MONTREAL INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL )

Movie Review

Rocksteady: The Roots Of Reggae

Directed by Stascha Bader featuring Ken Boothe, Derrick Morgan, Judy Mowatt

Cinematheque: Fri 9:45, Sat 9:00, Sun 7:00

Four stars out of five

There are at least a couple of versions of how rocksteady came to be. A common account involves scorching conditions in Jamaica during the early part of 1966, which might have called for a slightly slower musical tempo, more conducive to dancing than the fast-paced ska beat.

The explanation offered in Stascha Bader's wonderful documentary Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae centres on singer Hopeton Lewis, who asked his musicians to slow down the beat during the 1966 recording of Take It Easy.

"I could not follow the ska beat," Lewis says. "It was too fast. I asked Gladdy (pianist Gladstone Anderson) to slow it down."

To illustrate the point, guitarist Ernest Ranglin (a man whose name should be spoken with hushed reverence far more often) plays patterns from both styles.

Oddly, a 50-song box set of rocksteady classics on the blue-chip Trojan label does not even include Take It Easy.

Whether it came about by design or accident, one thing is certain: rocksteady, the bridge between ska and reggae that produced some classic Jamaican sides between 1966 and 1969, has rarely been given its due. Bader's film goes a long way toward righting that wrong.

In the style of Wim Wenders' Buena Vista Social Club, Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae reunites some of the old-timers behind those great records to revisit their hits in the studio and, ultimately, to perform a live show.

Along the way, they tell their stories while Bader examines the political, social, economic and cultural changes that surrounded the music.

The era started with optimism, inspired by Jamaica's 1962 independence from Britain. Early in the film, singer Judy Mowatt remembers the brief period as a romantic one, with no violence in the streets.

The arrival of young people from the countryside into the urban ghettos of Kingston, where there was no work for them, soon changed that. Their appearance on the scene spawned a delinquent (rude boy) subculture that began to leave its mark on the subject matter of the songs.

The Rastafarian movement, fuelled by a 1966 state visit from Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, also came to the foreground.

It's a fascinating look at the times, but what keeps one coming back to this film, and its excellent soundtrack, is the music.

Lewis, Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, Ken Boothe, Leroy Sibbles, U-Roy and the Tamlins are some of the artists who allow us to let rocksteady touch our hearts again, with joyous, stirring, R&B-influenced shuffles like People Rocksteady, Silent River Runs Deep, Stop That Train, Shanty Town (007), Equal Rights and Tide Is High.

A scene featuring Morgan performing an acoustic version of Tougher Than Tough at the site of Kingston's Palace Theatre, where he started his career in 1957, is as thrilling as they come.

-- Canwest News Service

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 13, 2009 D5

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