The rerelease of a range of roots reggae albums exposes the music’s hidden political history, writes Ken Olende
Once feared by the authorities and celebrated by rebels from Notting Hill to Zimbabwe, roots reggae has been sanitised. Bob Marley is presented as simply uplifting summer music. But a series 1970s reggae reissues is making it possible to see how innovative, influential and politically aware it was.
Jamaican music developed dynamically through the sixties. Brass-led ska shifted into the more vocal oriented rocksteady, which saw the introduction of overtly political lyrics. In turn this evolved into slowed down, electric bass driven reggae. Another major change was in the influence Rastafarianism.
Jamaica has an explosive history. Slave revolts had been followed by protests against colonialism. By the 1950s there was a ferment against imperialism. Jamaica gained independence in 1962, but found itself on the front line of the cold war — the island is 90 miles from Cuba.
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