Page 99 - Reggae Festival Guide Magazine 2019

Rudeboy:

The Story of Trojan Records

By dan david Davies was also acutely aware that Trojan’s
influence upon British mainstream society

n the face of it, the story of a London- extended beyond mere records, adding, “our

based Jamaican music specialist label ambition was to make a film that shows how Trojan

certainly doesn’t seem a particularly Records had been instrumental in creating the
Ocompelling premise for an 85-minute modern multicultural society that we live in today;

documentary. Unless, that is, the label happens to a film about the origins and ongoing love affair

be Trojan Records, arguably the most influential between Jamaican and British youth culture that

Black British record company of all time. Given explores the power of music to break down cultural

the daunting task of effectively relating Trojan’s barriers and change lives, all told through the prism
dramatic transformation from being a small, of one the most iconic record labels in modern

relatively insignificant enterprise, tucked away in musical history.”

unfashionable London N.W.10, into a major player Although determined to pay due respect to

on the international music scene, was Nicolas Jack Trojan’s legacy and those who had significantly
Davies, a Grammy-nominated director, whose contributed to its early history, he also appreciated

previous work included projects with Mumford & that in order to create a captivating visual and

Sons, Coldplay, PJ Harvey and the Maccabees.
aural experience that not only entertained, but

A reggae fan since childhood, Davies fully also informed, he needed to weave together a

understood and appreciated the challenge he variety of themes. He explained just how he set

and his team at Pulse Films faced, as he recently about achieving his ambitions:
related:
“The idea was to trace the impact of Trojan Records

“When Pulse Films got the opportunity to create a by placing it at the heart of a cultural revolution that
film about Trojan Records, we were excited beyond unfolded in the council estates and shanty towns

belief. Trojan Records represents something very of the late 1960s and 1970s in two wildly different

special to popular culture. We have all grown up island cultures – Jamaica and the U.K. Twenty years
with the records – whether we realize it or not, after the ship the Empire Windrush brought the first

its records have provided the soundtrack to our wave of West Indian migrants to the U.K., racial

lives for the last 50 years. The sheer volume and tension began to simmer on the streets of Britain.

quality of the music released on the label is utterly But when Trojan was formed in 1968, it captured the

astounding. Trojan is more than just a record label, sounds of an emerging post-colonial confidence in
it is a legend.” Jamaica in the form of ska, rock steady and reggae.

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