With Kingston in Hurricane Beryl’s path, a love letter to hallowed ground

The forecast is ominous: Sometime on Wednesday, the massive Hurricane Beryl, currently a category 4 storm, will likely hit Kingston, Jamaica with sustained winds of more than 145 mph and an expected storm surge of six to nine feet above normal tidal levels. Hallowed ground for music lovers, Kingston has seen hurricanes before — Ivan in 2004 and Dean in 2007 — but with global warming increasing ocean temperatures, the frequency and severity of them is on the rise.

We don’t need to tell you the part Jamaica has played in the evolution of music across the past 60-plus years. The birthplace of sound system culture, remixing, proto-rap toasting, and too many reggae subgenres to list, the island’s capital, Kingston, has had an outsized impact on the global sound, especially considering that in 1975 the city and its metropolitan area’s population was only about 600,000.

The video below, uploaded to YouTube last year, offers a snapshot of the city at a crucial time — when roots reggae was on the wane and dancehall was taking centerstage. From the video caption:

“REGGAE-MUSIC (1979-1981) is a documentary about the development and identity-creating importance of reggae for the Jamaicans. Jamaica, which is considered the birthplace of reggae, was a British colony for centuries to which countless African slaves were deported. The film was made in Coulanges’ first year of study at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb) and was almost not produced because Heinz Rathsack, the director of the Academy, classified the project as too ambitious for a first work.”

We’ve written about another, more extensive documentary on Kingston in the 1970s, which was produced by Channel 4 in the UK. Called “Deep Roots Music,” the six-part documentary series aired on in 1982. Directed by Howard Johnson, explored reggae history and its cultural roots in Jamaica. Here’s part of what our E. Little wrote in 2022.

An astounding document of a fertile time, the series, writes the British University’s Film and Video Council, explored “the origins of Reggae in the music and dance of early Jamaican slaves, and the isolationist Maroon culture that maintained many African traditions intact in the face of colonialism. It examines the upsurge in Black consciousness that grew from the teachings of Marcus Garvey and found expression after Jamaican independence in the Rastafarian religion and Reggae music.”

The series includes footage of Lee “Scratch” Perry, Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Mikey Dread, the Mighty Diamonds, Dennis Brown and many others. The third program ever to be aired on Channel 4, it’s a crucial time capsule of an era.

Here’s the episode featuring Bunny Lee and Lee “Scratch” Perry. Read more about the documentary here.

Below, a killer mix of roots vinyl for your party-starting needs, hand-mixed on one turntable before your very eyes. Need a co-sign? This from a commenter to the mix: “WE ARE TRIMMING 12 FOOT GANJA PLANTS TO THIS STREAM MANY THANKS.” (To which another replied, “And I’m scraping out my grinder to the wicked ganja music.”)

Those interested in seeing another side of Jamaica — one populated with fishermen and with a rural vibe — would be advised to check out the “Fishing with John” episode in which John Lurie and Tom Waits travel to the island to, what else?, go fishing.

Ever resilient, Jamaica will power through whatever Beryl brings, but it’s worth noting the consequences and threats that the island will be enduring as ocean temperatures continue to rise. Here’s hoping Jamaica is spared the worst.