Reggae and Raï: Resistance Music from Jamaica and Algeria
Reggae from Jamaica and raï from Algeria are two musical forms that emerged from the global south in the 1970s and 1980s and carried the same message: resistance to authority. Through a mixture of rare screenings, conversations and dj sets, this event will connect these two musical rebel cultures, exploring their roots and impact.
THE FILMS:
RAÏ IS NOT DEAD (dir: Hadj Sameer). France 2022. 19 mins
From Oran in Algeria to Barbès in Paris, the DJ Hadj Sameer’s six-part documentary series traces the tumultuous course of raï, whose hit makers like Khaled became planet-wide stars in the 1980s and 1990s. Travelling back and forth between Algeria and France, his journey takes the form of a mythical soundtrack, to the sources of a hybrid and transgressive music that continues to reinvent itself. This specific episode focuses upon the city where it all began – Oran – and shows how raï music became the expression of rebellion for a young generation who felt at odds with the Algerian post-independence state.
CHEB HASNI (dir: M’rah Abdellatif). 2004. 60 mins
M’rah Abdellatif’s documentary charts the remarkable life of the Oran raï singer, Cheb Hasni, tragically murdered in 1994 aged just 26 during Algeria’s ‘Black Decade’ which witnessed huge violence between the Algeria regime and various Islamist groups.
Broadcast on Algerian television ten years after his death, the film portrays a society still grieving at the loss of one of the country’s brightest stars; a rebel voice whose songs confronted taboo subjects such as sex, divorce and alcohol.
THE HARDER THEY COME (15) (dir: Perry Henzell. With: Jimmy Cliff, Janet Bartley, Carl Bradshaw). UK 1972. 102 mins.
With dreams of becoming a successful Reggae singer, a young Jamaican man played by the charismatic Jimmy Cliff finds his path blocked by corrupt record producers and the drug pushers they’re connected to.
An explosive action thriller with a killer soundtrack, this film is universally credited with introducing reggae to the world. On its release Perry Henzell’s visceral portrait of the country’s music industry was a sensation in Jamaica because the film used real locations and the actors spoke in patois. Now, for the first time, ordinary Jamaicans saw themselves and their daily struggles depicted on screen.
THE SPEAKERS:
Sarah El Hamed, performance artist and expert on raï.
Martin Meissonnier, film maker and record producer who has produced Fela Kuti, Cheb Khaled and Sly and Robbie.
Djamel M’rah, musician and whose father, Abdellatif M’rah, made documentaries on Cheb Hasni and the raï group Raïna Raï.
Mykaell Riley, musician, reggae academic and founder member of Steel Pulse.
Special Reggae and Raï DJ Set by John Pandit from Asian Dub Foundation
The whole event will finish with a very special reggae and raï dj set by John Pandit, the legendary mixer from the Asian Dub Foundation whose resistance music combines militant high-speed rap with dub bass lines and wild guitar overlaid by references to their South Asian roots.
This event is part of:
Resistance Cultures from the Global South
Over two nights CINECITY explores 1970s and 1980s film and music rebel cultures in Algeria and Jamaica as exemplars of wider resistance perspectives from the Global South.
Curated by Professor Martin Evans (University of Sussex) for the Resistance Studies Network at Sussex and the Middle East and North African Centre at Sussex (MENACS).
Supported by Black@Sussex, University of Sussex