ReggaeXplosion

Reggae Blow-Up: A Photographic Exhibition

 

A major exhibition of reggae photography and visual materials is now underway at famed North London landmark, the Roundhouse. A huge Victorian domed red brick edifice, the Roundhouse was originally built as an engine shed and marshalling yard. It's fifteen minutes of glory however was in the sixties when it was a celebrated venue for avant garde theatre, poetry and rock music.

On Friday 29th SeptemberReggaeXplosion kicked off with a launch party down in the brick passages and catacombs at its base. All of London seemed to be there and one could imagine their numbers expanded by hippies still vainly trying to find their way out of the labyrinth since back in the Sixties. The visuals are set up on the raw brick passages which radiate like spokes from the building's central space or, a welcome touch for contributors to this site, on panels of zinc fence and corrugated iron. Rootical rub a dub sounds were provided by the Mighty Tip-A-Tone Hi-Fi to a crowd well lubricated with free Appleton Gold rum punch and Carib beer. Among the heaving mass of thirsty reggae fans jostling at the bar were spotted Mark Lamarr the radio DJ, members of Aswad, Tricky the DJ and Massive Attack associate, Gaz Mayall of Gaz' Rockin' Blues and all the usual reggae suspects.

I'd expected something like a private view at a gallery but this was on a far, far bigger scale. This is a major reggae event and a model of how to present reggae to a larger audience. After the first shock, that so many people were there, the second was tthe sheer amount of material on display. What comes across strongly is the range and diversity of the reggae experience and how much has been accomplished in fifty years by one small island. A '50 years of cultural firestorm' as the exhibition organisers put it.

Most of the photographs were from Adrian Boot, Simon Buckland, Bernard Sohiez and Tim Barrow, all of a high standard and covering the whole range of the music from the ska era right up to young guns like Red Rat and Vegas. Everything and everyone is there: every major reggae artist, every phase in the music's development, blazing chalices, gaudy modelling posses of dancehall queens, rural dreadlocks camps, juggling selectors, rain soaked hills, ghetto lanes. It was particularly good to see the often maligned dancehall era given fair coverage, with excellent pictures of the likes of Junjo Lawes, Tenor Saw and Yellowman. The photos are helpfully organised around particular periods of the music and often show musicians at less publicised times and places of their career, like a contemporary shot of a snowy haired and patriarchal Big Youth or a photo of Bob Marley at London's Keskidee Centre with an infant white-socked Naomi Campbell. The text captions for the photos are informative and detailed although no credits are given for the writers. The whole exhibition is well presented, meticulous and gives the music and its photographers the respect due.

There was so much to see that I'd recommend going there for a second visit. Easily overlooked is the peripheral stuff like the flyers and posters, some dating back to the venerable days of V-Rocket, Duke Reid and Downbeat, and even ephemera like a mail order advertisement for Afro Wig bargains. Classic album sleeves are also displayed among the posters together with a range of rare and long lost 45s, their often hand drawn labels works of art in themselves. Sound booths are set up in the central area for the punters' listening pleasure and a computer with an interactive ReggaeXplosion CD Rom for children. A TV monitor shows a video loop by veteran film director Don Letts of himself driving around the red soil western parishes of Jamaica while another shows clips from reggae films.

If you can't make it over to London before the exhibition closes on 29th October, don't despair. The exhibition will then travel abroad to Australia, the USA, and Europe. Check the exhibition website at www.reggaexplosion.co.uk for further details. But don't miss it.

 

 

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