A large collection of musical recordings from the 1970s has disappeared from the archives of the former Jamaica Broadcasting Corp (JBC), the Jamaican authorities announced on Sunday 6 January. It is thousands of CDs and vinyl records kept as part of the island's musical heritage, including some recordings by Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, but also footage of Fidel Castro's visit to the island and of the 1978 One Love Peace Concert, at the end of which Bob Marley brought together the leaders of the two rival political parties.
"It is a catastrophe for the island's history," said Olivia Grange, Jamaica's Minister of Information. Gladstone Wilson, former head of programmes at the JBC, called it a "national disgrace". No one yet knows whether these precious archives were stolen or simply mislaid. Their disappearance was noticed by employees of the Public Broadcasting Corp of Jamaica. Musicians and former JBC employees have condemned the conditions in which the recordings were archived.
Source: Jamaica Gleaner