The good folks over at See Of Sound have uploaded Jamdown, described as “the holy grail of reggae films”, to their Youtube channel. Reggae fans rejoice.
Jamdown takes you on a journey back to 1980, straight into the heart of the Jamaican reggae scene, following legendary reggae artists Toots Hibbert and The Congos. The film, shot in 1980, had a limited release in France and therefore remained undiscovered by the rest of the world. Since its initial release almost 30 years ago, Jamdown has become what reggae footage collectors often refer to as “the holy grail of reggae films” due to its rarity and the difficulty in finding an original copy of the film. The film contains some of the only known early footage of The Congos, performing tracks from their legendary ‘Heart Of The Congos’ LP, which was produced by Lee Perry at the Black Ark studios at the height of their career. For the first time in almost 30 years, this film has finally been made available to own on DVD. ‘Jamdown’ contains some of the most electrifying live reggae footage ever captured on film, and we hope you enjoy this legendary film as much as we do.
Here’s Jamdown in its entirety. This is deeply rootsy.
