Being pitched as “Jamaica’s Buena Vista Social Club”, this is a documentary film following the creation of an album by a group of reggae pioneers. The title of the film is both the name of the collective and also a reference to their album’s recording location out on the veranda of a house in the hills above Kingston.
The setting is perhaps unexpected – whilst it’s hot and humid down in the city centre, up in the hills at the recording location there is lush greenery and a refreshing coolness in the air. Filming the performances as they are recorded, director Peter Webber (The Girl with the Pearl Earring) uses the tracks to both frame and reflect the narrative.
As a collective who have been recording albums and gigging together since the early years of the 21st century, the membership of the group has a certain fluidity, with members joining or leaving depending on availability and their changing family situations. The album being made in this documentary is a stripped back acoustic collection of ‘greatest hits’, which allows Webber to focus his attention on four members whose work will hopefully be most known to UK audiences.
The collective nature of the endeavour also allows the next generation of artists to contribute comments and reflections, paying homage to their musical forefathers whilst they accompany them as backing musicians.
In a series of vignettes, Webber focuses his attention on Ken Booth, Cedric Myton, Winston McAnuff, and Kiddus I as they relate the stories of their lives, their careers, and their family histories. This allows Webber to introduce some truly astonishing footage of Jamaica from the 1950s and ’70s, and even some images from the early years of colonisation when huge numbers of Africans were shipped to the island to be sold as slaves. Indeed, there’s no shying away from the legacy of Jamaica’s existence as a former British colony, and the inescapable fact that for many of the island’s population, independence has brought poverty and lives blighted by crime.
That the film manages to make us consider these issues without becoming a scathing polemic is testament to the positive attitude conjured by the musicians and vocalists, even in the midst of immense personal anguish.
If we have to take issue, then it is with the use of subtitles throughout the film. The patois of the Jamaican musicians has been ‘translated’ into standardised English, and it feels like an insult – both to the participants and to us. To change the words being spoken takes away from the stories being told, and presumes that the audience is not intellectually capable of understanding the accents – this wouldn’t happen with Shakespeare, and it feels wrong that it happens here. The only consolation, if there is one, is that the clipped English RP tones of the archive footage of crisis-torn Jamaica in the 1970s are also subtitled – also with adjustments that don’t accurately reflect what was actually said.
Whilst the history of the island and of these performers is fascinating and compellingly told, it is in the musical segments that this film excels. We were tapping our feet as the opening titles rolled, and still bopping along as the final frame faded to black. It’s not just reggae which features here, but also the related forms of ska and rocksteady, and the frequent scenes of the collective on tour at Le Trianon in Paris show that these are musical forms which are not merely a part of Jamaica’s history, but that they remain popular, relevant and accessible to modern audiences. There’s also an acoustic performance of Everything I Own by Ken Boothe which sent shivers down our spines.
This documentary is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in Reggae, the social history of Jamaica, or music generally.
Inna De Yard will be on general release in the UK from August 30th. A screening of the film, introduced by the director Peter Webber and featuring a performance by Winston McAnuff will take place at Somerset House in London on Wednesday 21st August from 7pm. Details are available on the Somerset House Website
: Inna De
Yard is available now on digital, DVD and Blu-ray
