Review
Publication date : Wednesday, March 11th 2009 - 6 742 views
A Jamaican Odyssey
Setting out to tell the story of reggae within the span of a single show is quite a challenge. A troupe from the Yvelines region pulls it off rather well with its Odyssée Jamaïque: from the founding myths to the digital era, six musician-actors revisit a repertoire rich in four decades.
Going back to the source, feeling the essence of this music that makes them vibrate. Embracing as a whole a culture that has rocked them to sleep, and sharing it with as many people as possible. Such is the leitmotif of this troupe of actor-musicians who take up the challenge of condensing into an hour and a half a story that has taken some people 500 pages to write.
And yet... they did it! Not without brilliance and, of course, far from the impossible exhaustiveness of an exercise that inevitably involves choices. Newcomers will thus get an idea of the evolution of reggae culture in Jamaica and around the world. The others, those who have been steeped in it for a while, will not learn much. At most it will serve them as a refresher. Above all, they will embark on a musical adventure out of time. Between passages acted out theatrically, mixing humour and history, the band superbly performs its standards.
George Lindo, LKJ and dub poetry
How can you not leap out of your seat when the Abyssinians' Satta Massagana rings out, chosen to illustrate the reaction to the violence in Jamaica in the 1970s. "Already 300,000 rastas at that time on the little island", notes the narrator. Then comes the rise of protest, echoed by Bob's I shot the shérif, covered by Eric Clapton, popularising the genre internationally. At the end of the 70s, reggae blossoms in England with Aswad, Steel Pulse…
The 1980s in Brixton, London's Jamaican district: George Lindo is unjustly accused of theft and thrown in prison. The event triggers riots and the brilliant Linton Kwesi Johnson creates dub poetry. "Abd Al Malik and Grand Corps Malade invented nothing with slam…", chants the singer before launching into LKJ's It dread inna Inglan, dedicated to Lindo, who was cleared at his trial. The English episode ends with an interview with the band The Clash, which highlights the common roots of punk and reggae.
Commando operation in Africa
Later, over an extract from the film Les dieux sont tombés sur la tête (The Gods Must Be Crazy), we are told about the erroneous vision of Africa given by the "developed countries". A pretext for Alpha Blondy's Brigadier Sabari – magical. The audience finally gets to its feet and no longer sits down for the rest of the show, to the rhythm of hits by Yellow Man (the beginnings of digital in 1985 with the arrival of Casio keyboards), Buju Banton, Anthony B, Sizzla and Capleton, for the dancehall of the 1990s and the bobo ashanti philosophy. They finish in style with grandad's mento brought up to date by a very inspired Damian Marley on Welcome to Jamrock. The audience is won over, the sceptics convinced. We would like more but the Odyssey is coming to an end. At least for tonight. The adventure continues...
Report written by Laurent Perrin
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