Description

Jamaican Music & Soul

‘Jamaican Music & Soul’ is a dvd that contains 2 documentaries, firstly Jerome Lapperousaz’s powerful ‘Made in Jamaica'(2006) and 2nd, the classic rasta repatriation story by German film maker Fitz Baumann ‘Journey Of The Lion'(1992), which is a beautiful film that has withstood the test of time and continues to be screened at film festivals each year.         MADE IN JAMAICA Made in Jamaica features wall-to-all music from 19 bands, including Bunny Wailer, Toots & the Maytals, Third World, Doc Marshall, and Sly Dunbar & Robby Shakespeare. Through music, interviews, and performances, this documentary explores the roots and influence of reggae and its evolution into island, rap and dancehall music. It is a powerful portrait of reggae’s best musicians and of Jamaica itself – the island that spawned a musical revolution. | Jamaica/France | 2006 | 110 mins | English | Jerome Laperrousaz, Dir. | “If you want to understand what is popular music, its power and its role in a postcolonial society like Jamaica; how the songs are able to do better than any study in sociology to translate the sufferings, the hopes, the dead-ends, the revolts, and the energy of all the people, then it is absolutely necessary to watch Made in Jamaica.” ~ LE NOUVELLE OBSERVATEUR   THE JOURNEY OF THE LIONThe Journey of the Lion* is a rare docudrama starring Rastafarian musician Brother Howie, who dreams of the land of his ancestors – Africa. On a journey in search of his roots and his identity he travels across three continents with his humor and sensitivity intact. |Jamaica and Germany | 1992 | 90 mins | docu-drama | English | Fritz Baumann, dir. | “Howard A. Trott, the subject of Fritz Baumann’s film The Journey of the Lion, is a Jamaican Rastafarian who lives an impoverished existence with his two children in a shack on the outskirts of Kingston. Disgusted with modern civilization, Brother Howie, as he is known, dreams of repatriation in Africa. Out of the blue one day, he receives a letter from the sister he hasn’t seen in 30 years inviting him to visit her in London. Leaving Jamaica for the first time in this life, he embarks on a journey that takes him to England and eventually to Egypt and Ghana. In the final scene of this eloquently simple film, Brother Howie stands on the remains of a coastal fortress and reflects on his ancestors who were carried off as slaves… “ — Stephen Holden – The New York Times. *”If you’ve not yet seen this beautiful film – The Journey of the Lion – i can highly recommend this. it’s the best film i’ve ever seen on the subject of repatriation and Rasta living, the film gives an accurate view of the self-sufficient rasta lifestyle which many other film-makers have attempted to document but have failed to accurately portray this. The Journey of The Lion gives real insight into the life of a single parent rasta family living in the countryside and also follows brother Howie on his journey to Africa which is fulfilling his life long dream.