Reggae: The Story of Jamaican Music

Three part BBC series about the history of Jamaican music and it's influence on modern charts in the UK and America. Traces the story of how Caribbean island conquered the world through its music. With interviews and commentary from reggae legends as well as people on the ground, Lloyd Bradley takes up the story from the late 1950s and the development of ska, then follows the music’s journey overseas in the 1960s. But it was in the 1970s that reggae exploded into an international phenomenon with the super-stardom of Bob Marley and artists like Burning Spear, Jimmy Cliff, and Third World. Since then, reggae has continued to reinvent itself as a powerful musical and cultural force.

Networks

BBC Two