Roots Archives Forum

Eternal thanks to the kids at school who played police n thieves on cassette in the corridors at lunch.I never looked back, it was 1978.

Burning Spear did a gig in one of the parks of my home town and I just happened to sit outside, enjoying the music. The following year the same organizers introduced a local reggae festival, which I could hear, and almost see, from my appartment window, so I became very curious about what was going on. The following year I attended the festival and got to see artists like Luciano and Junior Kelly, and the year after that they had invited Max Romeo, Barrington Levy and Misty in Roots (!), among others. But I wasn't really hooked until I got to hear the local roots sound play with Earl Sixteen on the microphone in a small and crowded room.

I lived in Brixton. The reggae sound was in the air, the bass was in the ground there was no escape. Sometimes you could swear you smelt it!!

Sound systems were in their early days and a couple of 18 inch woofers was enough to play out. Even Capital Radio had a reggae slot on a saturday night with Tommy Vance as the dj called Tv on reggae. Never forget one week he played one side of King Tubby lp and the next week he just played the other side!!

Good times, easy times, we did what we felt not what we were told.

Back then music got boys and girls together at the dance. Nowdays the music makes people fight.

Better shut up now and leave it to the youth.

About 1980 West Indian Carnival in Brooklyn where I was living at the time. Lloydie Slim & Big George educated me at their Happy Faces Reggae shop on Nostrand Avenue. First record that caught my ear was the Wackies 12" of Horace Andy's Zion Gate. It just flew from there...

I'm another refugee from the punk thing myself...i was a skinhead here in the states for 10 years about (no, not the racist asshole kind...google it) So i was into old ska and rocksteady, skatalites, desmond dekker and such. Then two-tone ska stuff - the specials etc...
Discovered roots reggae/dub and its what i'm listening to 90% of the time now. I'm also really into some of the newer artists like Sizzla, Capleton, guys like that. I listen to reggae all day long and have a massive collection. The new Richie Spice is playing here at work right now.
respect to reggae massive worldwide and forever!

When I was 16 I felt in love with a girl, at this time she was slightly interessed in reggae and rasta (in fact she didn't know nothing exept popular rumours and stereotypes). So I decided to take her to a reggae concert to make her interested in me. Moscow, end of the 90's - no reggae music in stores, no possibility to find and download reggae from the net, just ocasional local reggae bands concerts, totaly underground. I kinda liked the music and the atmosphere, so I got realy interested myself. I didn't like Bob Marley (the only reggae you could easily buy at that time), so I was more in the local scene untill a good man gave me about 100 cd's of pure classic roots reggae. Ijahman's hypnotic voice, Steel Pulse Harmonies and Burning Spear blew up my head (Dub and DJ style seemes kinda weired and unpleasant first ). And then the girl dumped me in a couple of years cause I started smoking to much ganja and get into the religious thing, she's a babylon witch, but she opened my mind for the love of all my life )

Came across The Roots Doctor late at night on WHBI in NYC. This was 79-80. You stay up all night because you want to hear what else he would play next. It was rough getting up for school the next morning but it was worth it!!!

Was raised with it since youth. My Mom's from St. Kitts/Dad's from Barbados, so I grew up listening to Calypso/Soca/Reggae.

Well couldn't hide from it. Was blasting through the air waves as Nigeria took a stand against aparthied in the late 70's and 80's.
Real revolutionary music no carbon copy.
My older brothers brought home X's amount a tunes Johnnie Clarke, U-Roy, Al Campbell, Sonia Spence, Third World, Eric Donaldson. Then Bob died in 81.
That opened a whole new chapter. Dancehall take over. Welton Irie, Tonto Irie, Tippa Irie, Miss Irie- no wonder i became Shinan Irie.
I bought my first reggae cassete displayed on the ground at a local bus stop in Lagos "2 GIANTS CLASH" ranking Toyan and Nicodemus.
Went on to set up Daddy FAIZER Studio as the first reggae sound system in Nigeria alongside my elder brother. Still going on strong 26 years after

BAD BRAINS made every other "hardcore/punk" band completely and totally irrevalant while simultaneously propelling roots reggae to my favorite music. Knew of Bob Marley before hand and liked it alot, then bought every bad brains album (newest one at the time was "quickness") and then went to peter tosh, burning spear, big youth etc etc. at the time i was about 13.