Acclaimed reggae documentary to make NYC premiere at Bronx Music Hall
On Feb. 1, the newly-opened Bronx Music Hall will host the New York City premiere of the 2019 documentary, “Studio 17: The Lost Reggae Tapes,” which chronicles the roots of the genre beginning from a family-owned record store in Kingston, Jamaica.
The late legendary producer Quincy Jones called “Studio 17” one of his favorite documentaries at the time. “It’s documentaries like this that bring us closer to the music,” said Jones via Forbes.
The film traces the beginnings of a used record store called Randy’s, founded by a Chinese-Jamaican couple in downtown Kingston in the early 1960s. The store evolved into a recording studio and starting base for poor but up-and-coming reggae artists including Bob Marley and the Wailers, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Peter Tosh, Gregory Isaacs and Dennis Brown.
In the late 1970s, Clive Chin and his family fled political violence in Jamaica and came to New York City, leaving behind a trove of over 1,000 unreleased recordings that Clive only began restoring after his son’s murder in 2011, according to a 2021 GQ article about the film.
The film tackles not only the struggle to retain the rights to the studio’s archive but also the unsolved killing of Clive’s son, Joel Chin, who worked for the family’s record label and signed major dancehall stars including Sean Paul and Beenie Man. Joel Chin was shot to death in 2011 outside his home in Kingston.
“I had to find something to honor him, and by doing that, the tapes,” said Clive Chin in the film, which features archival footage as well as interviews with some of reggae’s most prominent musicians.
In the GQ piece, filmmaker Reshma B said the documentary has been very well-received, which speaks to the international appeal of reggae.
“Reggae music comes from Jamaica but this music is listened to worldwide,” she said. “As such, it deserves to be represented on a mainstream level with the same quality and the same care as every other genre.”
Reshma B also pointed to the influence of reggae on the birth of hip-hop in the Bronx: “If it wasn’t for Jamaican sound systems, there wouldn’t be hip hop. Remember that Kool Herc was a Jamaican kid who strung up some speaker boxes in the Bronx and threw a party that changed music forever.”
“We’re excited and honored to host the New York City premiere of “Studio 17: The Lost Reggae Tapes” at The Bronx Music Hall,” said Elena Martínez, co-artistic director of the Bronx Music Heritage Center. “This is a fascinating film about one of Jamaica’s most legendary recording studios with amazing songs that are now finally able to reach the audiences they deserve.”
The Feb. 1 screening will begin with a 6 p.m. reception featuring DJ Madout and Jamaican food by 2 Girls & a Cookshop. The film will begin at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a discussion with filmmaker and music journalist Reshma B, Studio 17 recording artist Carl Malcolm and Pat McCay of Sirius XM. Tickets are $15 at bronxmusichall.org.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
