Jamaican musical trailblazers turned Toronto into a world-class Reggae hotspot
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At the height of the golden age of reggae, some of Jamaica’s brightest stars left their homeland to relocate to Toronto. Now their stories and the musical community they helped build are celebrated in Graeme Mathieson and Chris Flanagan’s captivating National Film Board of Canada (NFB) anthology series Sounds & Pressure: Reggae in a Foreign Land, premiering August 23 on nfb.ca and the NFB’s streaming platform for smart TVs.
Through rare archives, electrifying needle drops and lively interviews, this five-part series takes viewers from Kingston, Jamaica to Kensington Market in Toronto to see and hear how reggae made roots in Canada against all odds, chronicling the musical and geographical journeys of Nana McLean, Johnny Osbourne, Leroy Sibbles, Jerry Brown and the duo of Roy Panton and Yvonne Harrison.
Getting their sound to catch on in Canada wasn’t easy. These innovators of rhythm and rhyme had to work against racism, scarce resources and an industry that stigmatized reggae music. But that didn’t stop them from transforming the city into a reggae mecca. With a powerful message of love and a revolutionary spirit behind them, these visionaries faced the pressure head on—and thanks to them, you can still feel the infectious beats in Toronto reverberating all over the world.
Special Toronto screening at Paradise Theatre August 22
Before the launch of the online version, the Paradise Theatre (1006c Bloor Street West) is hosting a special Toronto screening of all five episodes on August 22, starting at 8 p.m. The screening will be followed by a live Q&A with directors Graeme Mathieson and Chris Flanagan, and all five artists featured in the series, moderated by journalist/radio host Danae Peart. General admission is $15.00 + HST/fees. Tickets are now available at Eventbrite.
Short episode descriptions:
Roy Panton and Yvonne Harrison were the first Jamaican ska couple. Decades after going their separate ways, the pair rekindle their magic—this time, 3,000 kilometres north, in Scarborough, Ontario.
Against the changing face of Toronto’s Little Jamaica, where she established some of the city’s landmark reggae record stores, singer Nana McLean challenges outdated stereotypes and establishes her reputation as the queen of reggae in Canada.
Before gaining international reknowned as the “Dancehall Godfather,”The legendary singer Johnny Osbourne led a revolution in Toronto that transformed it into one of the world’s most vibrant reggae cultures.
In Trench Town—the birthplace of reggae—Leroy Sibbles rose to stardom as the lead singer of The Heptones and the undisputed king of the reggae bassline. At the height of his success, he decided to leave it all behind and create a new legacy in Toronto.
Jerry Brown’s Summer Records was one of the first recording studios to give Canadian reggae artists a voice. The man behind the mixer is finally revealed in this never-before-seen video.
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