Narratives from Beyond the UK Reggae Bassline: The System Is Sound

ISBN-13: 9783030551636 / Angielski / Miękka / 2021 / 340 str.

Henry, William 'lez'

Opis

This book explores the history of reggae in modern Britain from the time it emerged as a cultural force in the 1970s. As basslines from Jamaica reverberated across the Atlantic, so they were received and transmitted by the UK’s Afro-Caribbean community. From roots to lovers’ rock, from deejays harnessing the dancehall crowd to dub poets reporting back from the socio-economic front line, British reggae soundtracked the inner-city experience of black youth. In time, reggae’s influence permeated the wider culture, informing the sounds and the language of popular music whilst also retaining a connection to the street-level sound systems, clubs and centres that provided space to create, protest and innovate. This book is therefore a testament to struggle and ingenuity, a collection of essays tracing reggae’s importance to both the culture and the politics of late twentieth and early twenty-first century Britain.

Spis treści

1. Introduction: Narratives from the Bassline- William ‘Lez’ Henry & Matthew Worley

2. Vexed history: time and the waning of heart-I-cal philosophy- Paul Gilroy

3. Reggae culture as local knowledge: Mapping the beats on south east London streets- William ‘Lez’ Henry & Les Back, with photographs by Olivia Thompson

4. A Who Seh? Reflections of a lost and found dub poet- Martin Glynn

5. ‘What a devilment a Englan!’ Dub poets and ranters- Tim Wells

6. Smiley Culture: A hybrid voice for the Commonwealth- Lucy Robinson

7. The Story of Nzinga Soundz and the Women’s Voice in Sound System Culture- Lynda Rosenior-Patten and June Reid 

8. Sound-tapes & Soundscapes: Lo-Fi cassette recordings as vectors of cultural

Transmission- Kenny Monrose

9. ‘Dem a call us pirates, dem a call us illegal broadcasters!’: ‘Pirates’ Anthem’, PCRL and the struggle for black free radio in Birmingham- Lisa Palmer

10. Rebel Music in the Rebel City: The Performance Geography of the Nottingham ‘Blues Party’, 1957-1987- Tom Kew

11. ‘Curious roots & crafts’: Record shops and record labels amid the British

reggae diaspora- Peter Hughes Jachimiak 

12. From Sound Systems to Disc Jockeys, From Local Bands to Major Success: On Bristol’s Crucial Role in Integrating Reggae and Jamaican Music in British Culture- Melissa Chemam

13. Growing up under the influence: A sonic genealogy of grime- Joy White

14. Sound Systems and the Christian deviation- Carl Tracey

15. Handsworth Revolution: Reggae theomusicology, gospel borderlands and delinking Black British Contemporary Gospel Music from Colonial Christianity- Robert Beckford

O autorze

William 'Lez' Henry is Professor of Criminology and Sociology at the University of West London, UK.

Matt Worley is Professor of Modern History at the University of Reading, UK and a co-founder of the Subcultures Network.