Cultural Capital

Reflections on books and the arts from the New Statesman culture desk

Reggae revisited

A tribute to the forgotten venues that helped shape black British culture.

By Tim Burrows Published 09 February 2011 19:03

Reggae Britannia, BBC Four's latest archive-heavy trawl through music history is notable for the absence of concrete setting. There are ironic settings: Tony Blackburn -- not a DJ known to covet dubplates -- strutting outside Broadcasting House in period attire and the leafy suburb of John Hassel (whose Hassel Recordings pressed much independent British reggae vinyl), complemented by Good Life-type footage of neurotic neighbours mowing their lawns. Then there are the gritty urban settings: the Coventry estates, around which the Specials started their ska revival, and to the west of them the perma-grey Birmingham streets where UB40 seem to have been filmed standing around smoking, studiously affecting the pose "Unemployed of Thatchers Britain™" for much of the early 1980s.

But what of the places in which British reggae musicians met, danced, smoked and drank in? The many makeshift venues, such as the shells of houses in Notting Hill where blues parties were held, and the licensed reggae clubs run by Caribbean émigrés and pioneering white promoters, dotted around the UK: Count Suckle Cue Club in 1960s Paddington, for example; or the Bouncing Ball in Peckham, run by Admiral Ken in the 1970s?

In many ways, Reggae Britannia's companion piece is Legacy in the Dust, the 2008 documentary that follows the same chronological arc (beginning with the release of Desmond Dekker's "Israelites" in the 1960s) and shares many of the same talking heads, such as Dennis Bovell, Bunny Lee and Don Letts. The key difference is, while Reggae Britannia looks at history from a mannered distance, Legacy... tells it better by zooming in on one venue in particular, the Four Aces on Dalston Lane in Hackney.

This multistoreyed, multi-roomed, Victorian-built hulk was labyrinthine -- a reggae centre as if concocted in the mind of Jorge Luis Borges -- and at different times had been home to myriad clubs, such as the Rambling Rose, Cubies, 007 and the Hideaway; as well as, in one large abandoned auditorium for a period of time, a car showroom. The bricolage of imagery, stock footage mixed with images that the film-maker Winstan Whitter recorded in the later years of acid house and jungle raves at the appropriately titled Labyrinth, reflects the venues three-and-a-half decades. Whitter, whose father was a barman and chef at the venue, highlights its role in the evolution of reggae into dance music, from ska, to rocksteady, to dub, to lovers, to dancehall and the evolution of jungle.

Legacy... may never be on general release due to copyright issues (there is the odd screening), but it nails the vital autonomous role that cultural spaces such as these played, necessarily out of sight and underground for a demographic under the cosh. Kingston-born Newton Dunbar, Four Aces' proprietor for over 33 years, today tells of National Front threats outside his door and being constantly "fitted up" by the police -- he was taken to court over 14 times but never convicted of anything.

Four Aces was just one venue that contributed greatly to the evolution of reggae music in Britain. The Bamboo Club, which was run by Tony Bullimore, later a round-the-world yachtsman, in Bristol; the Venn St Social Club in Huddersfield that welcomed Gregory Isaacs and John Holt; they have pretty much all disappeared, succumbing to the genre's inevitable slide out of fashion. But many were forcibly closed down. When the Four Aces closed it was in the sights of Hackney Council for years. Dunbar was handed a compulsory purchase order in 1998, to make way for a cinema that never came. After the theatre was demolished in 2007, Dalston Square, four Barratt Homes tower blocks were erected on the site next to the new Dalston Junction station. Provocatively and without consent, one was named Dunbar Tower.

"Until black people in England can achieve representative influence in national institutions, and a fair amount of control over their own cultural institutions -- especially the reggae industry -- they will remain isolated in sub-standard worlds," reflected the African-American scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr in 1976 in his essay "Black London", based on a London visit while black-run clubs were common in comparison to today, when Form 696, introduced by the Met a few years ago, has made it difficult for grime and R'n'B acts even to perform or DJ at venues without intrusive checks being made. He was pessimistic about reggae's potential for black British youth even at its height. "Reggae is the channel for urging forth an inevitable and drastic social change," he wrote, before adding a proviso: "...soon."

Reggae Britannia is on BBC Four from Friday 11 February.

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Tags: music

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11 comments

Sun, 2012-05-13 14:05 — Makoo2 (not verified)

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Thu, 2011-02-17 17:42 — Carlton (not verified)

Wicked Big Youth at Reggae Brittania....caught the dread DJ at his best! photo by Pogus Ceser

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75913636@N00/5435545475/in/photostream/

Thu, 2011-02-24 20:24 — Barry Gardner (not verified)

All in all the programme were really good. Well done BBC !

http://www.masteringmastering.co.uk/

Sat, 2011-02-12 14:32 — Barry Gardner (not verified)

This was a truly excellent programme and I cannot wait to see some more reggae programmes like this.

SafeandSound Mastering
http://www.masteringmastering.co.uk/

Wed, 2011-03-02 18:27 — Carlton (not verified)

Pogus Caesar's new book MUZIK KINDA SWEET = it features rare archive photographs of legendary Reggae artists including: Burning Spear, Mighty Diamonds, Augustus Pablo, Jimmy Cliff, Junior Delgado, Prince Alla, Dennis Brown and a host of others - a must for all lovers of Reggae.

Punch and OOM Gallery launch Pogus Caesars’ new book Muzik Kinda Sweet. In his new, limited edition book , the Birmingham-based photographer celebrates iconic Black musicians.
Specially commissioned and published by Punch and OOM Gallery, the book features 95 evocative, nostalgic and largely unpublished images of musical legends including Stevie Wonder, Grace Jones, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and Augustus Pablo.

The book contains a foreword by Paul Gilroy, Introduction by Kate Pryor - Williams (Arts Council of England ) & Ammo Talwar MBE. Shot entirely in black and white on a Canon Sureshot camera purchased in the 1980’s, the photographs offer a stark alternative to the digital performance photography of today.

All books are signed, and are part of limited edition of 250. 190 Pages, A4 Paperback Monochrome, 95 Black and White plates.

ISBN-13: 978-0956674104

Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 8.2 x 0.8 inches

muzik kinda sweet on photobucket

http://photobucket.com/images/pogus%20caesar%20muzik%20kinda%20sweet/

Sat, 2011-02-12 17:11 — AlexCap (not verified)

Didn't get to bed until the wee hours of the morning hence the lateness of this blog. I was busy clearing up the broken glass, post my attempts to hit Janet Kay's famous high note in 'Silly Games', during BBC4's documentary on Reggae Britannia. (Available on BBC iPlayer if you missed it).

90 minutes of listening and viewing pleasure, intertwined with snippets of some of the most amazing music, the documentary charted Reggae's influence on British music and youth culture and to and extent politics, from the 60's to the 80's. For me, it also charted the soundtrack to my parents and my youth. I had been looking forward to it from the moment I heard it was going to be on. I was not to be disappointed. Yes, they missed out many wonderful bands, including Misty in Roots, but you can't mention everyone in 90 mins.

Job well done BEEB and I see there is more to come. My summary http://dlvr.it/GQRTY

Sat, 2011-02-12 18:56 — Barry Gardner (not verified)

I missed the start was David Rodigan and Mad Professor mentioned ?

There is another programme on BBC4 Sunday 13th Feb as was advertised at least anyway. Look forwards to it.

SafeandSound Mastering
http://www.masteringmastering.co.uk/

Mon, 2011-02-14 01:16 — Lou (not verified)

Reggae Britannia at The Barbican concert on BBC4 tonight at 1.05 a.m for any night owls.

Fri, 2011-09-09 20:27 — G McKeith (not verified)

Thanks for the info on exhibition!

Wed, 2011-09-07 21:37 — Carlton (not verified)

MUZIK KINDA SWEET BY POGUS CAESAR 1st - 30th October 2011 The British Music Experience at O2 presented by the Co-operative, in association with OOM Gallery will be showcasing an exclusive exhibition of 38 rare photographs celebrating legendary black musicians working in the UK.

Using a simple camera photographer Pogus Caesar followed the musicians and singers around the famous venues producing a collection that celebrates a style of black music that brings together the UK, the US and the Caribbean.

From Stevie Wonder in 1989, Grace Jones in 2009 and Big Youth in 2011, this unique exhibition documents how black music, in its Reggae, Soul, Jazz and R&B tributaries of sound, has changed and renewed itself over the decades.

Journeying from Jimmy Cliff to Jay-Z via Mica Paris and Mary Wilson of The Supremes to David Bowie's bass player Gail Ann Dorsey, these images conjure up an alphabet of the music of the Black Atlantic.
The photographs selected from OOM Gallery Archive are also as much about the clubs and venues, as it is about the singers, producers and musicians. The Wailers at The Tower Ballroom, Sly Dunbar at The Hummingbird Club, Courtney Pine at Ronnie Scott's, Cameo at the Odeon Cinema, Ben E. King at the Hippodrome and Soul II Soul's Jazzie B at BBC Pebble Mill, many venues now lost to regeneration or renewal, and only recalled through memory and imagery.

http://www.britishmusicexperience.com/muzik-kinda-