MOVIE REVIEW: RUDEBOY – THE STORY OF TROJAN RECORDS (screening as part of Revelation Film Festival)

MOVIE REVIEW: RUDEBOY – THE STORY OF TROJAN RECORDS (screening as part of Revelation Film Festival)
Directed by Nicholas Jack Davies
Starring Song-Hung Chang, Andrew Dwayne, Toots Hibbert, Matthew Jacobs Morgan, Don Letts, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
77%

Through interviews, dramatisations and archival footage, Rudeboy tells the story of Trojan Records, which was formed in London by Lee Gopthal. The story of Trojan, though, is synonymous with the spread of Jamaican music – specifically dancehall, ska and early reggae – into London, and which then swept right around the world, insinuating itself into every culture.

London was ripe for the music – many Jamaicans had emigrated looking for better opportunities than they could find in the shanty villages at home, and they were all homesick and hungry for the tastes and sounds of their own culture.

Desmond Dekker, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Toots Hibbert and others were on the frontline of the Jamaican music scene and all were thrilled to find they had an unexpected audience amongst West Indian expats in England, and it wasn’t long before the British skinhead and punk scenes started to pick up on these, to them, new sounds.

It’s unlikely that Bob Markey, Peter Tosh and Co would have found their own journeys from Trenchtown to the world’s stages as easy as they did had Trojan not already broke so much of the ground ahead of them.

This fascinating documentary is cannily crafted by Nicolas Jack Davies, taking us into the 1970’s music scene in England, and as you should expect, the music makes for a simply stunning soundtrack.

Category: Movie & Theatre Reviews