Rocksteady – The Roots of Reggae, CH-CA 2009 colour 98 min.
dir:  Stascha Bader
pro: Betty Palik, Valentin Greutert, Muse Entertainment Enterprises, HesseGreutert Film AG
sc: Stascha Bader
ph: Piotr Jaxa
ed: Teresa De Luca, Mathieu Grondin
cast: Gladstone Anderson, Ken Boothe, Stranger Cole, Marcia Griffiths, Derrick Lara, Hopeton Lewis
dis: MK2

More than 40 years ago in Jamaica, an influential musical genre was born: rocksteady. The child of ska and parent of reggae, rocksteady’s rhythm was more relaxed than ska, having been conceived when Alton Ellis once asked his bandmates to “slow it down.” In Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae, the remaining musicians of Jamaica’s Golden Age of music reunite in Kingston to record an album of their influential hits like “The Tide is High,” “Tougher than Tough,” and “Rivers of Babylon.” The film takes us on a journey through the genre’s short-lived glory days, when not only the music, but the cultural and social climate of Jamaica as well, was in flux. Director Stascha Bader mixes musical performances with archival footage and interviews with the musicians telling the stories behind the songs’ socially conscious lyrics and soulful vocals. Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae is the story of an era, a time when things were indeed a bit more calm and easy.