Reggae or Not: The Birth of Dancehall Culture in Jamaica and Toronto
Friday Feb 1 to Thurs Feb 28, 2013Exhibition Hours: 12-5pm daily
Venue: 2nd Floor Gallery
Opening: Friday Feb 1, 7pm-10pm – featuring deejay Everett Cooper aka King Culture
An exhibition of photographs that document the history of modern reggae music and dancehall culture to celebrate the important story of Jamaican musicians of the 1970s and 80s. This presentation will be Beth Lesser’s first public art exhibition – she travelled between Toronto and Jamaica extensively during the 1970s and 80s documenting this emerging music scene through her photography and publication, Reggae Quarterly.
Curated by Wedge Curatorial Projects Director, Kenneth Montague.
The exhibition will be accompanied by varied programming including a music night, a panel discussion and guided group tours. Curated by Wedge director Kenneth Montague, the exhibition is presented in partnership with The Gladstone Hotel in Toronto.
Programming Overview
Saturday, February 2MUSIC NIGHT
Gladstone Ballroom – 9:00pm – 1:00 am
An event to celebrate traditional Jamaican sound system sessions. Deejay Dave Kingston, also known as Lord Selector from 9-11pm, followed by a local sound crew performance from 11pm-1am.
Sunday, February 17
PANEL DISCUSSION
Gladstone Ballroom – 2:00pm – 5:00pm
This panel will include discussions around music, film, fashion and art; immigration and cultural export in Toronto and Canada; identity and representation within the Jamaican Canadian community.
Participants include: Beth Lesser, Dave Kingston, Jo Jo Bennett, Jerry Brown, and Lisa Steele. Moderated by Kenneth Montague.*
Sunday, February 10 and 24
EXHIBITION TOURS & FILM SCREENING
Gladstone Gallery (2nd floor) / ArtBar – 12:00pm – 2:00pm
Kenneth Montague will host an exhibition tour with Beth Lesser. These tours will be followed by film screenings:
Sunday, February 10 – Rockers (1978, Ted Bafaloukos) and Proverbs (2008, Peter Dean Rickards)
Sunday, February 24 – The Harder They Come (1972, Perry Henzell)
*Panelist Bios
Beth Lesser is a Canadian photographer whose work has appeared on countless album and CD covers, in various books, magazines and movies and are considered rare artifacts of the reggae and dancehall era from the late 1970s and 1980s. Lesser is also a prolific writer, who has completed four books on 1980s dancehall including King Jammy’s, Dance Hall: The Rise of Dance Hall Culture, The Legend of Sugar Minott and Youth Promotion, and Rub-a-Dub Style: The Roots of Modern Dancehall.
David Kingston got involved with reggae when he and his wife Beth Lesser started a fanzine for Augustus Pablo’s organization Rockers International in 1980. The fanzine soon became a magazine, Reggae Quarterly which began to explore dancehall territory. At this time, David Kingston was also hosting Reggae Showcase on CKLN community radio in Toronto, under the name Lord Selector.
Joseph “JO JO” Bennett began an early musical career in Jamaica. In 1980s, Bennett moved to Canada and started a music school with verteran Toronto musician Fergus Hambleton. The school lead to the creation of the pioneering, Juno award winning band The Sattalites.
Jerry Brown had an early start in Jamaica’s music industry as a key participant in reggae and the emerging dancehall scene. Brown moved to Canada in 1968 to become of the first artists performing in Toronto. His studio in Malton was a focal point for local reggae and the place where legendary Jamaican engineer and producer King Jammy served his apprenticeship.
Lisa Steele, Associate Chair of Visual Studies at Univeristy of Toronto, works in video, performance, installation and photo-text, to investigate issues of the body and the individual’s relationship to society. A co-founder of the media arts centre Vtape, Steele continues to be active in the artist-run culture.
Location: Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street, West, Toronto, ON
More info: http://www.gladstonehotel.com
No comments:
Post a Comment