Before Columbus discovered Jamaica in 1494, the island had been inhabited by the Arawak people. Spanish and British colonizers first exploited, and then exterminated these friendly natives, replacing them with African slaves. Five centuries later, Jamaica’s major export product is reggae music. Laperoussaz wants to know how the globalization trends that have made reggae and its visual identity (dreadlocks, Bob Marley cult and marijuana) popular throughout the world affect the identity of these oppressed people from whose throats this music stems.
French author Jérôme Laperrousaz was born in 1948. He started his documentary career in 1969 with his ‘Continental Circus’. In 1970, he makes ‘Amougies’ (Music Power - European Music Revolution); then follow ‘Third World’ (1980), with Bob Marley in one role, and ‘À l’école des étoiles’ (2003). His short SF engagement resulted in ‘Hu-Man’ (1975).