Few people know that Toronto was one of the few cities in the world where reggae music flourished outside of Jamaica, where it was born. Far from the beaches and sun of the Caribbean, the Queen City had its own scene, supported by studios, record labels and many artists. This little-known history is brought to light in the documentary series Rhythms and resistance produced by the National Film Board (NFB), which lands on the Web on August 23, in French and English.
Canadian audiences may have caught wind of a certain reggae buzz in Toronto when Jamaican-born organist Jackie Mittoo found success from coast to coast with his instrumental piece Wishbonein 1971. But this window opened to the general public quickly closed, and the Canadian reggae phenomenon remained contained in its community in the Eglinton district of Toronto, also known as “Little Jamaica”.
With Rhythms and resistancethe NFB sheds new light on this unusual cultural phenomenon, at the initiative of co-directors Graeme Mathieson and Chris Flanagan. “We met at record collectors’ conventions,” they explain. “We realized we had a common passion for reggae music and, later, we also realized that We were both filmmakers!” It therefore seemed quite natural for the two men to work on a first joint project, a short documentary film which led to the present series.
Graeme Mathieson, a Torontonian with maternal roots in Jamaica, was well aware of the Jamaican cultural and musical boom in Toronto, but working on this documentary helped him understand how “deep and wide” the reggae scene ran, he says. Mathieson was the community liaison who helped build bridges and track down artists. Chris Flanagan took on more clerical, even geographical, tasks. He tracked down the exact locations of old Toronto reggae bars, studios and shops to bring in speakers and revive their memories.
The Birth of a Canadian Reggae Sound
It was political tensions that led many Jamaicans to seek refuge off the island starting in the 1960s. “When Jamaicans started emigrating to Canada,” Mathieson says, “most of them wanted an easier life here. And among them were artists who wanted to pursue their music careers. Unfortunately, it wasn’t easier for them, it was probably harder.”
According to the filmmakers’ observations, the Canadian music industry was not ready to make room for reggae music, which was considered too “slow” to appeal to audiences. “But the Jamaican community [de Toronto] was immense, says the filmmaker, which allowed him to develop his own cultural ecosystem.
This is how a Canadian reggae sound was born, slightly different from that of Jamaica, if only by the precise sound of the studio and the production of Jerry Brown, the first character encountered in this series. Rhythms and resistance then brings us to meet Nana McLean, a reggae singer-songwriter whose records are being snapped up by collectors. Then the team meets Johnny Osbourne, a huge name in reggae music and a pioneer of dancehall—a style marketed internationally by Sean Paul and Pitbull, among others, during the 2000s. This giant did indeed live and record in Toronto before returning to the Caribbean sun. The same goes for Leroy Sibbles, nicknamed the “king of reggae basslines,” another major talent who has had a profound impact on the history of reggae, but also on ska and rocksteady, related Jamaican musical styles. The series of five 15-minute segments then ends with a meeting with the charming duo Roy & Yvonne.
And did these artists have an influence as far as Quebec? “They would go play in Montreal and Quebec and discover an audience there that was immensely open-minded and very receptive to their music,” notes Mathieson, who had the opportunity to meet many other reggae artists who made careers in Canada, in addition to those featured in the series. The Montreal Jamaican community, although smaller than Toronto’s, also had its reggae and dancehall artists, the co-directors point out, notably with the legendary Jah Cutta at the forefront.
Artists to recognize
Mathieson and Flanagan hope, of course, that audiences will learn from the documentary and enjoy the music of the artists featured in the series, but they also hope that their work will contribute to the names of these pioneers being celebrated now.
A few weeks ago, they say, for example, a presentation of the documentary series took place in Toronto in the presence of Johnny Osbourne. The screening was followed by a speech by the artist, who explained that his name is recognized in England, Japan, and Jamaica, but that here, in Canada where he lived, his name is recognized only by a handful of reggae fans.
For Graeme Mathieson, the documentary series should serve to reverse this trend, it should serve to “elevate these names to the level of recognition that other artists of other genres have had, those who have been recognized by the mainstream media.” mainstream from here”.
Chris Flanagan adds: “They should be among the great names in Canadian music. There are people around the world who recognize these artists for their talent. There are people from Brazil, Japan, France, everywhere, who know and love Canadian reggae. But here, for one reason or another, we have not celebrated them as we should. So, yes, the idea is to give them flowers and make sure that they are known to the next generations.”
Rhythms and resistance
ONF.ca, starting Friday, August 23