Reggae has been part of Jamaica’s ‘starting gun’, given voice to Rastafarianism and fired up crowds from Trench Town to Yokohama.
Yet when Earl Gateshead, one of the pioneers of the UK scene, found his calling the irrepressible Jamaican sound was a niche genre absent from record stores and regarded by many as ‘Sunday music’.
Releasing an exclusive playlist on Metro.co.uk to mark the end of Black History Month today, the legendary British DJ has chosen five tracks reflecting reggae’s ‘incredible’ impact on the world.
More than four decades on from the beginning of his own musical odyssey, the selection represents enduring moments not just in reggae’s origin story but in the cultural life in two of the countries where it burst into life.
He opens with the embracing uplift of Feel Like Jumping by Marcia Griffiths, which he chose to represent the optimism of post-independence Jamaica.