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UK 2010 | 47 min.Director: Ed Dallal
Don Letts is an unsung hero of British music. “Superstonic Sound: The Rebel Dread” is a documentary about the Letts family legacy that mirrors the history of BASS in the UK from Dub, Reggae and Punk to 80s pop, Hip Hop and Dubstep; a musical, cultural and personal link between past and present. Don’s father was amongst the first Jamaican immigrants to Britain and he brought his sound system with him, introducing London to Jamaican Dub with its heavy BASS accent.
Don grew up in Brixton, immersed in Dub and Reggae. In the context of Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech and KBW – Keep Britain White - grafitied across the walls of London, Don became the lone Rebel Dread crossing musical and cultural boundaries between black and white. He became DJ at the first Punk club, the legendary “Roxy” where in between
Live Punk sets, he played hard core Dub-Reggae and fortunately for him… “the Punk kids liked it. They liked the obvious anti-establishment vibe, they liked the BASS lines and they didn’t mind the W**d either”.
His son Jet, now 24, is trying to make it as a DJ and producer of Dubstep – the latest sound in British music and a direct descendant of Dub, Reggae and Hip Hop. If Reggae was black music and Punk was white guys influenced by Jamaican music, Dubstep is perhaps the first true combination of black and white musical and cultural traditions in today’s post-racial London. Three generations of DJ; the Letts family has been an integral part of British music for over 50 years. Their story is the story of BASS in British music.
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Event venue
Next Door Market & Event Space, 971 Gladstone Ave, Ottawa, ON K1Y 3E5, Canada
Tickets
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