Blood and Fire: Roots, Reggae and Rastafari

Roots, Reggae and Rastafari Don Letts reveals the facts behind the religious movement that helped Jamaica to recover a lost identity after years of British colonial rule and enforced slavery. From the 1930s, Rastafari had a profound effect on Jamaican music, culminating in one of the most exciting periods in reggae music, Roots Reggae, in the 1970s. At one time, Jamaica was a place of feel-good sunshine vibes but as grinding poverty, high crime rates and violence hit the island in the 1970s, the music became darker and introspective. It also provided a voice for the poor and the oppressed and became a global phenomenon in the process. Bob Marley is known as the world's most famous Rastafarian and most successful Roots artist. But his story is well documented and often overshadows a wealth of talent from this golden period of reggae music - Rastafarian artists and bands such as Burning Spear, Max Romeo, Johnnie Clarke, Little Roy, Lee Scratch Perry, Big Youth, The Mighty Diamonds, Black Uhuru and Culture. Featuring interviews with Reggae legends Max Romeo, Johnny Clarke, Stephen Marley, The Abyssinians, The Mighty Diamonds, Steel Pulse, Matumbi, Rankin' Miss P, Rico Rodriguez, Tappa Zukie and Luciano.