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(STATIC CRACKLES)
# Once I reach into my record box
# Here comes another Classic selection #
For years, it's been branded as trouble music.
There's not been much of it in the media.
But as our film shows, reggae is already adapting itself
to its British way of life.
All it asks, like the people who make it,
is the chance to be heard, understood and enjoyed.
(STATIC) (NOTE WAVERS AND FADES)
# Dim the lights
# Let me thrill your soul... #
ANNOUNCER: In 1966,
five musicians got together in Harlesden,
and straight away, they were a big hit.
They played on 90% of the reggae music made in this country.
(APPLAUSE) Brothers and sisters, they're here with us tonight.
So put your hands together...
..and give one big round of applause...
for...the dynamic Cimarons!
Onstage, we're not human...
..we are...invincible.
After all these years, I didn't think that we would survive this long.
Without Cimarons, there'd be no reggae music in the UK.
It's like what the Rolling Stones has done for rock and roll.
# This time, we're having a nice time
# Mood is good, and we feel fine
# Your liveliness is catching Like wildfire
# Fire, fire
# We're going on as if there is A riot, riot, riot, riot
# Oh, make we rock, rock, rock, rock Rock, rock
# To reggae rhapsody...
It doesn't matter where you go, in the world,
if they play reggae music, you'll hear the name Cimarons.
# ..rhapsody...
They were the first to take reggae around the world.
# ..to reggae rhapsody...
The first time hearing reggae, it's a mind-blowing thing.
If people were hearing it live, in front of them,
for the first time, hopefully that struck a chord with 'em.
I can imagine it must have done.
# One dread done tell ya
# You better lively up yourself
# Another dread say
# You better check Your money-maker...
I was amazed when I got out there. It is ram out.
What is this? Wow. We love this! Yes!
This is an unprecedented feat for a British reggae band.
Nobody has done that before or since.
# Let me take you higher, higher Higher, higher, higher, higher
# Come rock, rock, rock Rock, rock, rock
# To reggae rhapsody...
Music back then is how we found ourselves.
They're crucial at that moment in time.
It takes a spark. They were the spark that started a big flame
that is still blazing till today.
# Come rock, rock, rock Rock, rock, rock
# To reggae rhapsody...
I don't think they have received the credit that they should.
There was definitely racism there.
We can't get a record deal or a distribution deal.
# (VOCALISING)...
When I'm onstage, I don't feel it. I don't feel no pain at all.
You're in a different world. Nothing can trouble you up there.
People have given up everything for this music.
I broke down, man. I cried.
I cried. I'm just hoping...
that the band will continue.
# They come rock, rock Rock, rock, rock, rock
# To reggae rhapsody
# Come skank, skank, skank Skank, skank, skank
# To reggae rhapsody
# They come rock, rock, rock Rock, rock, rock
# To reggae rhapsody...
This is part of my heritage, this is part of my culture.
They can't stop. They can't stop until it's time for them to stop.
# Rock... 'And that's not yet.'
I mean, we're getting older, but I'm sure the fun isn't done.
# Rock...
There's more to come.
# Rock #
(WAVES RUSHING, BIRDSONG)
(BELL RINGS)
# CIMARONS: Soul For Sale
So if we trace it back, they form in the late 1960s.
And initially, they're all based around this youth club in Harlesden.
And they came together as a group of friends.
..this building here in Harlesden.
And this is where the Cimarons started. We started right here.
After we mess around, jamming on guitar,
we decided to meet here on Friday.
That rehearsal wasn't really a rehearsal, it was just a...
feel out, get together.
Cos we didn't know many songs, did we?
I was learning, he was learning. So I was teaching him what I knew.
I learnt from Gichie.
Cos Gichie could play the guitar before me.
And he couldn't teach me nothing because he didn't know nothing.
And I learnt from...
from TV. (CROWD SCREAMING)
The Kinks. The Kinks.
(CHEERS, LAUGHS)
And then we decided to say, yes, go and buy an instrument.
So work, work, work, and save up, save up, save up.
Maurice was here as well and said he can play drum.
And then Carl Levy came in, right here.
So everyone started right here, you know?
I think it was the way that they meshed together as players.
Almost immediately, they started to make an impact.
On a Friday evening, when we were rehearsing, it was like a party.
Everybody would leave from downstairs, come upstairs.
Everybody dancing and drinking. It was like a party every night.
# CIMARONS: Feel Nice
I'm Popsy, Starlight Records...
Harlesden. (CHUCKLES)
This is where, like I said, this is where it all started.
Harlesden is a mecca, you know?
All the producers, all the manufacturers,
if they started out somewhere else,
they always end up in Harlesden. (CHUCKLES)
Caribbeans coming over went to where there was a friend, a family member.
Harlesden, Brent.
The largest and most diverse, I think,
borough in London, was that place.
Individuals like Delroy Washington,
one of the first musicians to write with Bob Marley,
it's Harlesden, Brent, again.
And so, you know, in terms of the Cimarons,
it's not an accident that they're from that location.
That was the place to be.
# AL BARRY & CIMARONS: Morning Sun
I'm Richie, Richie Johnson,
originally at Trojan Records in the early '70s.
If you wanted something with that Caribbean flavour,
Harlesden has always been it.
I'm General Levy, and I buss in the same club as the Cimarons did.
Growing up in Northwest London, Harlesden,
in the '70s and '80s,
it could have been mistaken for the Caribbean, or even Africa.
I mean, you could have been in Coronation Market, Jamaica.
And you'd also be seeing the people,
hearing the conversations in the street, be smelling the food.
Musically, there were dances every week.
House dances, blues dances, maybe two or three in the area.
On a Friday, Saturday night, we'd just get dressed,
walk down the road, and we listened.
And you can hear a sound system pumping away.
Because those days, sound system was really the thing.
And when you get there, it's good vibes, you know?
You can buy a drink, you can buy food, and then you dance all night.
In the vinyl days, I mean,
records used to sell, you know?
In this area, in the Harlesden area, there was about four record shops.
You'd hear from Hawkeye record shops,
Starlight record shops, Orbitone record shops,
and you'd be hearing Bob Marley, Dennis Brown.
On the weekends, you couldn't get in there - a roadblock. (LAUGHS)
Yeah, there's so much people there,
queuing up to get the records, you know?
There'd be people outside, even.
Soul food, good music, good marijuana.
(LAUGHS) In the air.
So it was good, man. Good vibes all around.
(MUSIC STOPS, MELLOW SONG STARTS)
Most of the tracks that Cimarons actually did,
my voice is on it.
Because they were like the first UK band,
you know, group of black guys.
They were learning on the job...
and doing everything that they wanted to do,
until finally,
they are recording, they are touring.
Early on, they...
were invited to tour in West Africa.
They were the first British reggae band to play in West Africa.
I went to Africa playing...
with this finger. Remember, Locks?
With this finger. When I came back...
I came back playing with all of these.
We went there with a set, which is one-hour-plus, normal set.
When we finish, we would go back into the hotel.
We started to rehearse more - more tune, more tune, more tune.
And this finger become so tired,
so me have to use these, you know?
That's when it getting serious.
It become serious when we came back from Africa.
In the aftermath of that, they started to work with Lambert Briscoe.
He started the Hot Rod label, so they became...
the Hot Rod All Stars - that was kind of their alter ego.
And when they performed at the Q Club in Paddington,
they attracted the interest of one of the A&R people at Trojan Records.
# This is the Cimarons! #
GICHIE: Cimarons was the name of a Western series on TV.
It was called Cimarron Strip.
And everybody said, 'Yeah, that sounds good.'
But then we found out that the name 'Cimarons'
actually mean, wild and free.
I got to know them very early.
In 1971, I left school,
I started working at Trojan, and I think that's where I met them.
They were the band, you know?
They were the start of it. They were the...
first real live band that we had contact with.
Apart from that, it was always records, of course.
But this was a live band really doing the business, you know?
# We are the Cimarons! #
Cimarons is the foundation of reggae music in the United Kingdom.
In the Cimarons, of course, there was...
Maurice Ellis that plays the drums. Carl Levy was the organist.
There was Franklyn Dunn, he was on the bass.
There was Gichie, of course.
Also, there was Carl Bert, who was the lead singer.
He was very, very versatile. He could sing anything.
He was a very good singer - two-and-a-half years,
maybe three years, he worked with us, and then he left.
ANNOUNCER: Let's give it up for the Cimarons!
(APPLAUSE)
There was no superstar in the Cimarons, yes?
They were all playing music the way they love to play it.
And they had their own sound. They were different from everybody else.
They just became...
hugely in demand as session players.
They played on countless sessions that were recorded here in the UK,
for Trojan, and also for the Pama group of labels.
They could go into rock.
They were known for covers of soul music early in their career.
Many of the Jamaican musicians were jazz,
soul, then reggae, and people forget that.
These are accomplished musicians.
They've played on countless records. Their name's not on it.
There's no mention of them as the band. It's the name of the singer.
Once you're not the front person,
you're invisible - you're the backing band.
So you're there, but you're not there,
in terms of the press, the media, how it's reported on.
This is a band that's...
you know, been hugely under-recognised over the years.
They're part of the records that popularised reggae.
They're crucial at that moment in time.
When your hear a recording, even if they are doing a backing track,
you could say, 'Cimarons that,' cos you would know...
by how Maurice played the drum,
you know by how Gichie play.
Franklyn how he played - you just knew.
Cimarons were just...
in a class by themself.
That's all it was. They were just different.
# Skinheads, mash up London town Skinheads, oo-ee
# Skinheads, mash up London town
# Skinheads, oo-ee... #
At that point in time, we've got an audience which...
is embracing black music, R&B, within the Mods...
ska, Jamaican ska.
And rocksteady, precursor to reggae,
amongst the first wave of skinheads.
We started just at the end of the ska era, into rocksteady -
and we loved rocksteady -
and then rapidly, within a year and a half, we just switched to reggae.
(SCRATCHES)
(LAUGHS) Switched to reggae so quick.
MAN: Cimarons was the band
that all the artists from Jamaica went to.
It was like a go-to band, whether it was live gigs or TV.
We could back any artist, any artist that came to us,
Cimarons could back them because you knew their song.
Any artists that come to England to perform,
naturally, it's got to be the Cimarons, you know?
They attracted the likes of Jimmy Cliff...
..Ken Boothe.
There was Bob Marley.
The Pioneers. The Maytals.
There were the Heptones, Nicky Thomas,
you name it, they backed them, you know - they backed everybody.
Almost every artist come from Jamaica at that time -
you have to work with the Cimarons.
ANNOUNCER: Dennis Alcapone!
# You got to see the man called Cassius Clay in action
# Tell you
# Huahua, chi-huahua
# Chi-huahua, chi-hu... Huh!
# Huahua, chi-huahua, tell you Chi-huahua, chi-hu...
I am one of the Cimarons who nobody don't know of.
I'm coming from Jamaica.
And I see these guys doing... just working, just working, working.
You know what I mean? They do all the concert, all the clubs them.
We were doing, like, two shows a night -
every venue that we went to...
was packed out!
And it was mostly white people.
Mostly.
At the time, we were young people, you know what I mean?
We carried the equipment round the back,
and we'd take them up the stairs, and you know,
Carl Levy, he'd have a big organ, that, you know,
everybody have to put them on to take it up the stairs. Yeah.
# The man called Cassius Clay Is comin' back to retain his title...
First van we had, Bedford van, there's no heater.
The windscreen wiper gone, so one man have to...
tie a string on one side, tie a string on the other side.
You're driving - dry that side, dry that side, dry that side.
You know, you're working -
you're not sleeping properly, you're not eating properly.
Time you go to bed at three, four in the morning,
you've gotta get up, have breakfast, go on the road again,
and it goes on for days and weeks.
It's like you're in a football team, you know?
Them days.
# (VOCALISING) #
(APPLAUSE) Thank you!
If there's a um... artist from Jamaica...
want us to do their song,
we'll do exactly like how them want it.
But when we are doing our stuff, it's different.
It's still reggae...
but our style.
When I first hear them, they had a sound,
and I think the sound, to me,
the Cimarons' sound is really Gichie and Franklyn.
# We're harder than the rock
This time
# We're harder than the rock
This time
Franklyn Dunn, the bass player - reliable, rock-solid anchor.
Franklyn, the bass player, he was a character on the stage.
Frank is a mad man onstage -
do some things that you thought, 'Whoa, crazy!'
Franklyn would do different things with his bass, just something out of the ordinary.
The last time, Franklyn play with a toothbrush on his bass.
And it...it sound wicked! You know what I mean?
And then you had Locksley Gichie,
an expressive guitarist, and someone who's quite a...
a thoughtful and meditative person.
Gichie would know what to play and, you know,
how to make the music come across.
# We're harder than the rock
# Harder than the rock this time
# We're harder than the rock
# So hard
# We're harder than the rock This time
# When I was a young head My teacher used to say
# The cow jump over the moon
# Now I've grown up, I'm a man
# I'm sure I can overstand
# Mama Africa
# Liberation freedom
# Mama Africa
# Liberation freedom
# Lord
# We're harder than the rock
# So hard
# We're harder than the rock This time
# We're harder than the rock
# So hard
# We're harder than the rock This time
# Starvation
# Lord
# Sufferation
Brutality
# Brutality, we know it
# Murder Oh, we got too much of that
# Starvation
# We're harder than the rock, yeah So hard
# We're harder than the rock This time
# We're harder than the rock
# So hard
# We're harder than the rock This time
# We're harder than the rock #
As you listen to music today,
I don't know if you listen to the radio a lot,
or if you listen mostly to records, but...
what are things that you see that you think are good or bad?
I like the thing that happened in Jamaica called reggae.Excuse me?
There's a music in Jamaica called reggae,
which has been around for years under the disguise of ska,
bluebeat, etc, etc, but it finally formed itself into reggae.
I don't like the word 'reggae'. I like 'Jamaica music'.
(MUSIC PLAYS ON TV)
Me have a brethren called Chilli Dixon,
which is my best friend from, you know,
when I just came to England - we link up.
In those days, we had lots of records,
and everybody's got their little system and so on.
And he just start playing some records, and he just start singing.
And I thought, 'Wow, you can sing.'
He told me about a band called Cimarons.
# Surplus food
# On wasteland...
Cimarons at the time was a very big, very popular band,
and they hear that over in North London,
there was some guy singing like a bird.
So I went to see them one night.
They were very good, very tight, very professional.
They sound like Jamaican... like a Jamaican band.
You know, the sound that them used to have - used to love them sound.
That sound never change -
that rich, rich, rich, rich Jamaican sound, you know?
# In scorching sun Or the pouring rain...
I can remember posters saying, 'Just in from Jamaica.'
And we'd believe it.
It's only decades later, I thought...that was a lie.
But at the time, it was an inspiration.
The performance - just to see a Jamaican band play was a big deal.
But when Winston come in, Winston bring upon a rootsy level now.
# Say he who's lost his hoping
# No excuse for dreaming... #
Cimarons threw me right in the deep end, really.
So we just have a few rehearsal, and I was on tour.
Yeah, we went to Japan.
# CIMARONS: People Say
Japan.
We set the trend. I'm proud about that.
You know, everything moved fast at that time.
# The problems of today
# Is pretty darn confused
# Why's that...?
They ended up touring Japan and Thailand.
They must be the first reggae band ever to perform in Thailand.
Yeah, man, Japan really surprised me, to be honest with you,
cos we did a show in Hibiya Park, like, in the centre of Tokyo.
Big festival - Japanese band were all punk, and rock and roll -
they were all rock and roll band. (MIMICS ROCK GUITAR)
And we played... I think it was the Friday night.
And when we played, the place ram! And we said, 'Whoa!'
They have never heard reggae music live in their lives. I mean...
'What is this? Whoa! We love this! Yes!'
They went crazy, man.
# People say
# People say...
They said, 'Can you come back this Sunday?'
When we came back the Sunday, there was three times the amount of crowd.
Outside!
Can't get into the venue. That was serious.
# (VOCALISING)
# People say
# People say... #
When everything came together, that sound -
that was authentic sound that was there - was unbelievable.
Cimarons done things that, you know, people weren't doing.
The style of reggae that they were playing, you know,
people gravitated to it.
Cimarons was a fantastic live band.
You had to have the live band to take it to the people.
And that's where Cimarons came in.
The energy that the Cimarons brought on the stage was magnificent.
You know, and their show was a show that...was entertaining.
(SPEAKS FRENCH)
They were different from everybody else -
their outfits, just the way they performed.
When I'm onstage,
you're not here, you're not there. You're...
on cloud nine, or whatever you want to call it.
You're invincible, like I said. You're enjoying yourself.
And when you see the people them enjoying themself too,
it give you more again to push on.
Brilliant.
They were one of the first...
to really take reggae to certain countries in the world.
# We've got to keep on moving on up
# We've got to keep on Moving on up... #
DIXON: I remember when we went to Spain -
place was absolutely jam-packed.
And I went back, and I says, 'Ram - place ram out.'
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
'Same thing in Holland.' (ANNOUNCER SPEAKS DUTCH)
Cimarons took reggae music throughout the world.
KATZ: First reggae band to play in West Africa,
then the first reggae band to play in Thailand and Japan.
I'm thinking about Africa...
Japan, Ireland.
ALL: (SINGING) It's a long way to Tipperary.
It's a long way to go.
MAN: Without your mother. It's a long way to Tipperary.
To the sweetest girl I know...
MAN: One, two...
# CIAN FINN: Rosie Dubh
If you think about it, it makes perfect sense
that the Cimarons would be the first reggae band to play in Ireland,
because they have that history of that.
# We don't want to fight no more
# We just want to live and love you
# We don't want to fight those wars
# We just want to sing songs to you
# Sweet Rosie Dubh
# Let me kiss and hug you
# You know I love you...
(MUFFLED SINGING) Rosie Dubh... (BIRD CAWS)
# Rosie Dubh
# Know you're loved #
There's a hurt in the music, and there's a soulful release.
And there's a... there's a therapy in singing it.
With the Cimarons coming here in the '70s...
you know, this soulful rebel music...
in the wilds of West Cork, in Macroom, like, in Ireland...
..there was just nothing people had ever seen before.
# We want freedom
# Oh, yeah...
Yeah, we were the first reggae band...
yeah, we were the first reggae band to go to Ireland.
The first time the Cimarons came to Ireland was to play...
at a festival in Macroom.
They'd been playing at something like T In The Park or one of those,
and then they were flown in this little plane to Macroom.
Eight-seater plane. Eight-seater to fly us in.
The pilot could hardly see the plane - pure smoke!(LAUGHTER)
He was a policeman. (LAUGHTER)
It was massive, man. It was big, man. First festival in Cork.
Walking through the crowd with a spliff in my hand.
Policeman come up and ask me, 'What's that?'
I say, 'I don't know. Somebody just give it to me in the crowd, man.'
And I just kept walking.
They were blown away by the reception they'd got.
People went absolutely berserk for it.
They loved it.
People first time hearing reggae...
..it really blew their mind. It's like, 'What the fuck?
That was great.' (LAUGHTER)
'Who are these guys?' You know?
# Just stoop over the horizon
# And see the sun
# Shining down on you...
REEDY: We have some serious experience in Ireland.
# Ship ahoy, ship ahoy Ship ahoy, ship ahoy...
I was doing a show in Queen's University in Belfast.
IRA bombing up, bombing up.
When Winston came on stage, Winston said, 'No, no, no, no, no, no.'
You see them take time coming together.
Everybody start to mix them.
And before that, they was fighting each other on the street.
Bombing up, fighting because that one there Protestant,
that one there's Catholic or whatever.
And the crowd went absolutely mad.
And I dived...I dived in the crowd.
Them start enjoying themself when the music played.
Them forget about...
all that rubbish.
But then after the music's gone...
come tomorrow, they gone back to normal.
So music can carry you in.
Music can carry you in.
The Irish really love reggae, man.
Reggae's popular all over Ireland, but I think Cork is the spiritual...
home of reggae - it's rebel music, isn't it?
Rebel music for the rebel county.
Cimarons have a song called Ship Ahoy.
Ship Ahoy - the O'Jays record that dealt with the...
transatlantic slave trade.
(SINGS) Ship ahoy, ship ahoy, ship ahoy...
# Ship ahoy-oy-oy... #
When you play Ship Ahoy in Cork, it mashed on the place.
The place gone mad!
Because of the tribulation that we've been through...
Irish was slave also in Jamaica, you know?
It's not just black people are known as slave.
Irish was slave too. So them feel it like us.
Who were they, these first Irish settlers?
A great number of the Irish immigrants
were either indentured servants or prisoners.
Because real recognise real. It's pain. It's pain, you know?
A lot of people who have been through pain
can recognise other people who have been through pain.
# Ship took us away
# From Africa
# They took us away from Africa...
Ireland and the Caribbean -
reggae, racism - have always been bedfellows.
No blacks, no dogs, no Irish.
That's really... To see that sign there, you know?
So we've been bagged, you know,
in the same category of 'human' by the English.
England was sold as the motherland to all its colonies -
oh, it's gonna be some warm place that they get to.
STARR: I was just 20 years old when I first come to England.
And, you know, the shock of it is like, 'Wow,' you know?
How much chimney I've seen when I come?
You know what I mean - smoke coming out of the top of the house.
The closeness of the Irish and Caribbean communities in general
in England is quite a testament to how...
similar the two places are, the two cultures are.
You must always remember, you know,
where we were living, there was mostly Irish round there,
you know what I mean - Queen's Park, Maida Vale.
You know what I mean? Kilburn was Irish.
There was no separation between these communities...
on a certain level, and so...
some of the biggest supporters of reggae has been the Irish community.
I've always had a strong connection with a lot of Jamaican artists.
And I do feel like there's an element of that
that comes back to the similarity between Ireland and Jamaica.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, Ireland.
Definitely, man. There's Irish people in Jamaica,
There's a strong connection.
That's why the Guinness is so popular as well, I think, you know?
The traditional music in Ireland...
compared to the traditional music in Jamaica,
and the history of it, sonically might be slightly different.
(UPBEAT IRISH MUSIC)
At the core of it, the message...
..is quite similar, and the storytelling is quite similar.
A lot of the songs are about oppression,
a lot of songs are about, you know, upliftment, as well.
A lot of the songs make you feel like, 'Don't worry, things are gonna get better.'
There's a reggae community in Ireland now, with the Cimarons...
bringing reggae to Ireland for the first time...
you know, paved the way for this incredible Caribbean music.
# Ship took us away
# From Africa #
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
So the Cimarons would have been in Ireland probably...
two years before Bob Marley played.
And he says, 'Yo, fellas, this is Bob Marley.'
We said, 'Bob Marley?' He said, 'It's Bob Marley.'
I said, 'What are you talking about?' He said, 'This is Bob.' Bob said...
We said, 'Yeah, we know his songs.' Bob said, 'Which song do you know?'
We said, 'Duppy Conqueror.'
So we start playing Duppy Conqueror, and Bob couldn't believe it.
Bob said, 'Why?!' and ended up swearing, 'Bloodclaat!' (LAUGHS)
Bob wanted to do the live gigs - it was his first time in England.
So we did Bob Marley's first gig in England, at the Apollo Club.
A week after we did...
the Bouncing Ball in Peckham.
That went down crazy, man. Bob really did work the show, you know?
And then a week after, we did The Bamboo Club in Bristol.
We did two nights. They billed it as Bob Marley and the Wailers.
Bob Marley and Cimarons, it should have been.
You know? That's history.
It was at the carnival - Notting Hill Carnival.
And Bob said to Gichie,
'I notice you guys licking over a lot of other people's music,
but you no lick no Wailers?'
So we went and do Talking Blues,
and it went to number one in Jamaica.
# CIMARONS: Talking Blues
I'd like to be able to claim that we had the session from the Cimarons
before they'd actually made a commercial record.
But that'd be manifestly untrue - they've already had a number-one record in Jamaica
with Talking Blues.
# Talking blues
# They say your feet Is just too big for your...
KATZ: Now, Talking Blues was a pretty obscure record,
but their recording that they made up here
became a chart-topping success in Jamaica.
# They say your feet Is just too big for your shoes
# Yes...
This is an unprecedented feat - for a British reggae band...
to go to Jamaica and have a number-one hit on the charts
with a cover of a Bob Marley and the Wailers record?
Nobody has done that, really, before or since.
# ..on the rock for so long So long...
REEDY: So he come and check us now to play a game of football.
So he come up to me, and he look, and he says...
..'So you're the youth who sing my song.'
So me say, 'Yes, Bob.' And he said, 'Sound alright.'
If Bob Marley tell you that your thing sound alright,
sounds good, isn't it?
GICHIE: You couldn't do that, you know?
Cimarons was my baby. I couldn't give it up.
No regrets.
I just feel good to know that I knew the great man and work with him.
To me, that's enough. I knew Bob.
And through that success, they came down to Jamaica,
and they recorded their magnum opus -
an album called On The Rock.
# (VOCALISING)
# We're all on the rock, Jah say
# On the rock
# Wake up, Jah-man-can
# Wake up, roots man
# Get yourself together Together
# Try to know your brother
# And sister
# Critical has got other plans
# By undermining the weaker minds
# With false hopes
# Can't you see critical is using Jah name in vain?
# Them use it in court as a joke
# Them use it in church as a curse
# Them use it in a
# (VOCALISING)
# We're all on the rock, Jah say
# On the rock
# Wake up, Jah-man-can...
They're a classic, original, roots reggae band,
and when they did their own stuff, I love it, absolutely love it.
My best Cimarons album is On The Rock.
# Let us be free...
I think that album was very interesting.
KATZ: You know, in Jamaica, they played these significant gigs
around the island, and they made a tremendous impact there.
And they were working at Channel 1 and Randy's,
and also at Lee Scratch Perry's Black Ark,
where they made some exceptional music together with Scratch.
Wow, actually in Black Ark Studio,
with the great Lee Perry - he's energetic.
He said to Frank, 'Oh, man. Play the bass, man.'
(IMITATES BASS)
He's very, you know... He'll tell you what he wants.
# Wake up, Jah-man-can
# Wake up, roots man
# Wake up, Jah-man-can
# We're all on the rock, Jah say
On the rock
# We're all on the rock, Jah say
On the rock
# We're all on the rock, Jah say
# We're all on the rock #
# CIMARONS: Paul Bogle
# Call his name out loud
# Everybody, yeah
# Paul Bogle...
They did produce, throughout their career,
some really hardcore roots reggae
that was very interesting and very innovative -
I'm thinking of songs like Paul Bogle,
which celebrated one of the Jamaican national heroes.
(SINGS ALONG TO TRACK) Paul Bogle.
# Was the leader of our strife...
And then the 12-inch has this wonderful toast,
this kind of hardcore Jamaican toasting.
You know, when you hear songs like those,
you just think, 'Wow, this is phenomenal.'
# England needs a leader...
# We need a leader
# Leader like Paul Bogle... #
(SONG FADES OUT)
The music we have done over the years, we haven't had no great hits.
What we did was a lot of albums.
We did a live album - we did Live At The Roundhouse.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
We got a deal with Polydor Records, and...
when we brought the live album to them, they loved it.
I believe it was the first reggae band to be signed by a major.
Polydor in the '70s.
And then we ended up doing an album called Maka.
# CIMARONS: Loosening Out
Maka was an experiment.
Frank always come up with some... some mad professor ideas. (LAUGHS)
Because in those days, we used to like one or two rock group,
like Cream and...
T-Rex and Fleetwood Mac.
So we decided to use a bit of rock sound,
add a bit of rock sound to the reggae,
and at the same time, create a new sound.
So we decided to go to Pebble Beach. Tony Platt was the engineer.
Well, my first interest, really, in reggae music
started because I was working at Island Studios.
I was asked to work on the Catch Fire album.
My introduction to the Cimarons...
the first day in the studio was the first time that I met them.
When you work as a studio engineer,
you're kind of thrown in at the deep end at the beginning of a session.
That's what we did for two weeks - there was no distraction.
No distraction - just wake up in the morning, have breakfast.
Bang - studio all day until about...
two o'clock in the morning.
These guys weren't necessarily used to...
a sleepy little Sussex coastal town.
# High up...
I can remember, in the studio,
smoking a lot of the weed.
# High up, not below...
Well, we call Maka, 'weed'
It was weed.
I think we was experimenting... the sound.
I think they were very much receptive to other...
other ideas and other influences, that's for sure.
GICHIE: And so the ideas we came up with, we can hear it now.
You watch a lot of reggae band playing live,
you can hear the rock sound.
Gichie's one of the first one who bring this rock...
(MIMICS ROCK GUITAR) ..onstage. Mad.
They're all playing the... (MIMICS ROCK GUITAR)
(LAUGHS) We started that.
# I will take you higher
# Way up there, way up there... #
I think anywhere a Jamaica group is,
it will always... the environment and the condition...
of the particular country will always come over in their music.
Cimarons is an English-based group.
Their music is very influenced by...
the roots of Jamaica,
and also a British rock sound.
Even though they're very rootsy, but living in England,
I think that's rubbed off on their music.
And then that inspires a whole other generation
of successive waves of other British reggae bands.
RILEY: We were very aware of the Cimarons.
There were two bands that we were very aware of,
back then, as Jamaican bands in Britain -
one was the Cimarons, the other was Matumbi.
And in every case, we thought they were better than us,
because they sounded Jamaican.
That was the aspiration - to sound Jamaican.
We were making fucking reggae. Who else do you wanna sound like?
(ENERGETIC REGGAE)
Well, they have a phrase saying...
'A king is not being recognised in his own country,' is it?
So them don't recognise us in England.
MCCALLUM: Their time as a band, when they were in their prime,
there was a passion for anything that was Jamaican.
Things that were English, and if you were based in England,
were not regarded as authentic.
At a point where your identity is also being formed,
the location in which you live is saying, 'You're not from here.
You're still not quite 100% British or 100% Jamaican.'
COXSONE: The thing I find with Jamaican musicians,
Jamaican musicians can play soul as good as the Americans.
Jamaican musicians can play pop as good as the Englishman.
But neither the Englishman nor the American...
can play the reggae as good as the Jamaican in Jamaica.
Authentic Jamaican artists, that's what you looked for.
There was no such thing as black British reggae.
You had Jamaican reggae,
and then you had...shit. That was it.
Yeah, that's Jamaica. Jamaica...
Forget Cimarons - Jamaica is a...
trendsetter.
Cimarons were authentic.
They were just in a different place. They grew up in Jamaica.
They understood that. They understood the sound.
But they're now located in England.
Yeah, they set a precedent that...
here is a band based in Britain
that's playing reggae that can be just as good as a Jamaican band.
It provided that bridge that brought us closer to the music -
you know, that we can make reggae here in England as well.
# ..Africa
# You're the mother of all creation #
I think, one of the things that's very important is...
when you're being introduced to reggae, not to expect anything.
Do you know? Go there with a completely blank mind.
And then the things will come out to you.
Music, back then...
is how we found ourselves.
It was like a newsreel for us,
the Caribbean news, you know?
That's how you kept up to date, cos often, the mainstream radios...
didn't really give us that information.
Reggae had low status in this country. It wasn't recognised.
In fact, it was ridiculed on the BBC on a regular basis.
It was the accent, it was the subject matter,
it was the rhythm, it was people who looked like my parents.
It was people who looked like me.
# So get ready up a Harlesden
# Yeah, get ready Round a Willesden... #
In England, right, you come up...
against a class structure.
And there's also a racial structure as well.
There came a time where...
racial tension was a bit tight - in those days, very, very tight.
You know, most communities who ended up coming over here
had to deal with, you know,
the backlash of prejudice, and racism, and being the outsiders.
We come from Jamaica, not knowing...
what the word 'prejudice' means - we don't know what prejudice mean.
I went to school in East London,
so I saw a bit of the Teddy Boys and the National Front.
We grew up during a point in British history
where I think, politically, it was OK to be...
overtly, openly...
vocally racist.
# Racemongers are spitting out words Abomination... #
Up until his diatribe, he was a hero.
His performance was born out of black music,
and he covered our hero's song - I Shot The Sheriff.
And so anyone that helped promote reggae...we were a fan of.
And all these people wrote in to New Musical Express,
Sound On Sound, Melody Maker.
There was a huge groundswell of letters
that came into these magazines,
which gave rise to Rock Against Racism.
# Rock against racism Adopting make a schism
# What about the children? #
To me, the Asians, the West Indians,
all these other immigrants coming in...
is an added plus to the English society.
And the sooner they realise this is the better it is, better it will be.
Where have you been?I'm sorry I couldn't make it this morning, bwana.
(LAUGHTER) But I had to go to Heathrow, meet my cousin.
Oh, bloody marvellous, eh? They're flying them in now.
(LAUGHTER)
What's the hurry? Couldn't he get on a banana boat?
It also appealed to my white mates.
It was like, 'Yeah, we're in the same boat, mate.'
Well, not really, but I get where you're coming from.
# The oppression, the oppression... #
REEDY: In this country, there was a lot of sufferation going on at that time.
Reggae music, it mixed in with the punk thing because it was like...
chanting, the same kind of thing.
Try to break down the same barrier, you know?
REPORTER: Fighting and looting went on well into the night.
Only a quarter of a mile away, the bands were still playing.
# It was a riot, riot in the city
# Riot, riot in the town...
At the time, the Cimarons was doing
most of the universities and college circuits - we are the headliners.
Most of the bands used to support Cimarons, like UB40...
BOTH: Tom Robinson.
I remember doing a gig one night with Sham69.
You know, the guy came out and said...
So that relationship between punk and reggae...
was not as distant as the press often made it out to be.
The only difference is maybe the music.
(ENERGETIC PUNK)
But we're the same. A band is a band, you know? We all love each other.
We're in the same dressing room. We don't see nobody different.
# And there's a riot Riot in the city...
That audience were already embedded -
wedded to reggae as much as they were to punk.
It was the lyrics...
and that political resistance to the state.
That was loud, that was right in your face within reggae.
(CLAMOURING)
(SIREN WAILS)
WHITE: If they were a white band or a rock band, you understand,
they'd have got a lot further than where they are today.
You know, people would still be hailing them out now,
you understand, and their journey would have just been continuous.
Everybody after Bob Marley had to have...
a kind of sexy kind of appeal and that kind of stuff.
The original appeal was not about that, it was a rebellious thing.
I think that bands like The Cimarons who...
maintain the original fundamental message of the reggae music,
may have been seen as too raw, and then the majors got involved.
And then they wanted to change the direction.
And I think that it got diluted.
# Mull of Kintyre...
There's not too many reggae artists who can...
say they were asked to create an album by Paul and Linda McCartney,
but the Cimarons can say that.
# Oh, Mull of Kintyre...
We was in Chalk Farm Studios, and the Engineer said,
'Um... Guys.
Paul McCartney is on the phone. He wants to talk to one of you guys.'
Paul McCartney? This man is a crazy man!
Paul and Linda McCartney are long-standing reggae fans.
Paul McCartney has spoken at length about hearing reggae,
and the effect it had on him, and travelling to Jamaica in the '70s.
Well, about nine...ten years ago, we were in Jamaica,
a place which I liked very much.
Linda was really a nice person. Linda was down to earth, man.
Linda loved reggae music to the max.
And listening to RJR, which is a radio station there,
and all they played at the time was reggae music,
and I just fell madly in love with it.
# Mull of Kintyre...
So, in the early 1980s,
the Reggaebility album began as a...a command performance, really -
Paul and Linda McCartney recruiting the Cimarons to make this album.
# Oh, Mull of Kintyre... #
Even though we were singing mostly roots songs before but...
you're gonna try things. You never know.
You might get a crossover and end up in the charts, you know?
# Big girls, they don't cry...
# My girl...
GICHIE: I thought this would be a big breakthrough for Cimarons.
It was supposed to be their ticket to the big time,
but it was basically a flop.
We were really hoping Big Girls Don't Cry would have hit the chart,
which it didn't.
They had a lot staked on a breakthrough,
and it just must have been a huge disappointment.
There was a kind of loss of direction,
and things began to collapse.
(SONG FADES OUT)
# CIMARONS: Reality
After the Paul McCartney project,
we continued for about a year after, I think,
but then things got really, really slow - nothing was happening for us.
The punitive nature of the music industry is such,
and especially in reggae, that it's very, very hard to earn a living.
I remember when Maurice said him was going to stop playing.
There was some discrepancy about funds.
I said to him, 'Yeah, boy, you can't stop right now.'
Him say, 'Yeah.' Me say, 'What you gonna do with your drums?'
Him say, 'No, no.' Him not gonna get rid of them. Him gonna find a job.
Carl Levy, the keyboard player, he went to off to America.
Winston got lucky and broke out as a solo artist.
And I had to go and do a 9-5. (LAUGHS)
I wasn't very happy about that.
I remember Franklyn Dunn, in those years,
was driving a minicab to make ends meet.
You know, a lot of musicians went through that here in the UK.
A lot of reggae musicians were forced...
they cannot rely on just being musicians,
regardless of high-calibre international touring
and success abroad.
Even though you're working, and you're on the move, but...
you're not earning a lot of money.
You're still under pressure in a way,
but you don't see it that way when you're doing it.
But financially, you're still under pressure.
So we're always breaking records,
always breaking records.
First one to do this, first one to do that, first one to do that.
Always the first.
We was the last one to get that... get that...
I need some of that now.
Need some retirement money now.
Only thing that was wrong with the whole situation is that...
there was no representative to represent us.
They didn't have the professional management...
to ensure that their contracts...
would pay dividends.
No management - we manage ourself.
But I reckon that was a mistake.
I reckon that was a mistake.
We should have a manager, but we didn't.
They're not getting royalties. They've made all this music. You might say, why don't we know...
more about the band?
And from day one, they weren't as I said, getting the publicity.
They never had the press coverage. They never made videos.
There's a lack of photography, even, to support that they existed.
They just sort of... disappeared out of view, really.
I think that was very disappointing.
Major record labels were a little intimidated
by the idea of trying to market that music.
You know, well, 'Where's our audience?
Who are we aiming this at?'
We love the music, so...
we went into it for the music, not for the business.
We didn't have the knowledge of the business side of things.
Once you believe in a certain thing, you know,
it doesn't really matter too much about how much money you're making.
Yes? That was the attitude we had.
We just wanted to do music.
Yes? That's all we wanted to do.
We never trust anybody. We still don't trust anybody.
And there's a lot of promoter in England...
who owe Cimarons money.
A lot of them - some of them die now - owe Cimarons money.
I find it so distressing, really,
when you hear certain songs playing,
and you say, 'Yes, that's one of my songs.'
What have you got to show? Nothing.
Nothing. You got nothing to show.
(BIRDSONG)
(BAND PLAYING INSIDE)
# Harder than the rock So hard
# Harder than the rock
# So hard Harder than the rock this time
# Harder than the rock
# Harder than the rock this time
# So hard Harder than the rock
# So hard
# Harder than the rock, rock, rock Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock... #
We were planning to start again in March this year.
And we started rehearsing. We had a couple of gigs lined up.
And then COVID took over and just stopped everything.
It's all about relaunching the band,
making the people know we're here, and we're ready.
(LAUGHS) Here to go.
That same authenticity is still there, you know, so they can't stop.
That's why they keep going now,
when they're far beyond a standard age of retirement -
they're not just going through the motions.
They're doing it because they have to do it.
They can't stop until it's time for them to stop. And that's not yet.
Winston Reedy, he's been doing his own thing as a solo artist.
He couldn't really find his space and time to fit in with us.
So we bought in a new singer by the name of Michael. Michael Arkk.
# Yeah
# Paul Bogle
# (VOCALISING)
# Was the leader of our strife
# (VOCALISING) #
# He travelled a long, long way Across the valley...
ARKK: My name is Michael Wright.
AKA Michael Arkk
(SINGS ALONG WITH SONG PLAYING)
# Paul Bogle, oh, lord... #
When I first came to London, I've never seen anything like it.
At school, we heard of...
(SINGS) London Bridge is burning down, burning down.
I didn't know I would have seen it for real.
I couldn't bear it at first.
I didn't like it at all.
In Jamaica, I know everybody in my community.
(LAUGHS) But here, nobody gives a...
gives a biscuit about you.
But as time goes by, you know...
you know, you adjust...
and accept that this is the reality of this city living.
My friend Charles, he called me one day and said,
'There's this band that needs a singer.'
(VOCALISING)
He brought me over to Harlesden
to meet up with Cimarons.
I've never heard of Cimarons before.
Never heard of Cimarons before. And...
from the time I met them,
it's as if I knew them.
I felt as if I went to school with these guys.
And when I saw them, the spirits between us was so cordial that,
you know, I think they say, 'Yeah, man.
Brother, ya... Brother, you're alright.'
They were wild and free. I'm wild and free.
So we gelled.
('PAUL BOGLE' BY CIMARONS PLAYS)
# Was the leader of...
# The leader of our strife, yeah...
I can't remember them interviewing me or...
asking me to sing anything.
We just started. Right there and then, we just started.
And, you know, it's been like that.
# Cimarons are saying...
Kind of give me a bit of a funny feeling,
though, but...yeah.
Because I like Michael - he's got the character that suits the band.
It's not a competition thing, but...
having to follow in Winston's steps...
it's not easy. It's not easy.
Very different from me in a certain way.
I'm aggressive. I'm like, you know...
I'm like early Tyson - I just knock you out in the first round, man.
Me no partial.
But he's more cool.
It's not an easy shoes to fill. Not an easy shoes to fill.
But I'm trying my best.
Yeah, I hope Mikey um...
..likes what he's doing.
I hope... How am I gonna say this?
I hope we grow on him.
We have to grow on each other.
# Oh, yeah, oh, yeah #
# CIMARONS: Rock Reggae Rhapsody
# Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock
# In reggae rhapsody
# Rock, rock, rock Rock, rock, rock... #
Over the years, I've had to...
subsidise my musical...desire.
(KNOCKS ON DOOR)
(VOCALISES)
So I had to find work. So um...
I became...
..a cleaner.
(HUMS)
(SINGS QUIETLY)
I say I do cleaning, but I've never seen myself as a cleaner.
(VOCALISES)
And hoping that Cimarons now... we will grow to the stage where...
we don't...I don't have to have the side hustle.
That hasn't happened yet, but I can see it happening.
# Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock
# In reggae rhapsody... #
(PLAYS BLUES-STYLE PIECE)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER) MAN 1: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
MAN 2: This is where the magic really happens.
We are lucky to have the legendary Cimarons...
back for one... (LAUGHS)
..back by public... no, by my demand or their demand.
Recording new tracks for their forthcoming LP.
# Words of wisdom, wisdom
# Spoken in parables...
This is a Neumann U47.
Ella Fitzgerald.
Oh, right, this is the one they used? Yeah.
And this is my little studio.
Well, I say it's mine.
It was built by a couple of elderly Jamaican fellows.
So it was built as a reggae studio, originally.
# Spoken in parables... #
Which is why it actually suits these guys down to the ground.
You know, look at these speakers - they're built into pods like that...
to get as much sort of... of that dub-y sort of bass sound.
Not very well labelled.No. It's all over the fucking shop.
All over the place, yeah, yeah. Typical Frank.
We took them off Frank's hard drive,
and he probably labels things how he thinks they should be. (LAUGHS)
Well, it would help if he was here. (LAUGHS)
Because he probably knows where he's...
hidden them all, but...
So we rang him, and he was in a garden in Jamaica.
Chop down Babylon.
And I was jealous. Very jealous.
# Green is the colour of the grass
# That grows so wild...
Yeah, yeah, I think it's different, yeah...
a mixture of rocksteady - you can hear the rocksteady
and the reggae mixed together.
It's where we started from - roots. You know, more roots-y.
I can hear you now.
(VOCALISES)
To be working with these guys is...
is something I never, ever dreamed of.
This is a little bit short of a miracle.
Yeah, well, it's just, you know...?
It's a good feeling, though, isn't it?Yes.
What is yours is yours - the rest, it don't matter.
At the end of the day, yeah, the path leads here, you know?
# Gold is the colour of the sun
# That shines so free
# For you and for me
# And for all living things...
(PLAYS LAID-BACK DRUM BEAT)
(SONG CONTINUES PLAYING)
# Gold is the colour of the sun... #
That's how life is, you know...
..one day you're here, and the next day you're nowhere.
(CHATTER, LAUGHTER)
Alright.
(SCATTERED APPLAUSE)
Sorry, I can't...
(APPLAUSE)
(BASS DRUM THUDDING)
(MELODIC GUITAR CHORD)
DUNN: Drum and bass, bass and drum - I'm always where Maurice is.
We don't have to say anything. We understand each other.
Drum and bass - I'm always where Maurice is.
I don't think Maurice's family...
..knew him like I knew him.
I miss him.
(SNIFFLES)
Sorry.
Frank and Maurice was really, really close,
because they live just five minutes away from each other.
A year before, Frank lost his dad.
And at the end of the year, end of 2019, he lost his mum.
So he took his mum home to Jamaica to bury her,
and while he was in Jamaica, hear that Maurice pass.
So it was a double blow for him. He took it really hard.
For days, he was shattered. You know? Shattered.
I phoned his brother, Johnny,
to find out what was happening.
And Johnny said to me, 'Why, it don't look too good'
But even up to that point,
I was still, you know,
believing that it wasn't all that bad...
until Johnny phoned me a second time and said,
'Boy, Dego.
It doesn't look like Maurice is gonna pull through, you know.'
Shock. It's more like a disaster.
But the shock of hearing that he was ill...
I know it takes a short time,
and then he's...he's gone, you know?
I broke down, man. I cried.
I cried.
# You say you gonna leave me...
Maurice, he's the master drummer. (LAUGHS)
REEDY: Oh, Maurice was one of the best drummer.
There's something about that guy.
At the time, when Maurice was really going...
He could...a press roll...
Do you know what a press roll is? A press roll is... (MIMICS DRUM ROLL)
On a snare drum, he could hold that for about an hour and a half.
Unbreakable.
He was a very talented drummer. Very, very talented.
And the thing about Maurice that... he just didn't know how good he was.
Maurice never knew how talented he was as a drummer.
Yeah, I would say he was the most talented one of all of us -
Maurice was way ahead.
He was one of the best... best drummers, like I was saying.
One of the best.
Every drummer used to come and check him. Everybody come check Maurice.
Everybody come and check Maurice... to see what we're up to.
How Maurice was licking the sound, you know, licking the drum -
I said to him, 'You sound like a yard drummer.'
Compared to now, I don't hear a drummer
who lick them skin hard like Maurice.
Making the skin bawl like a goat, you know?
He didn't get much recognition for it,
but he was a top drummer in the UK.
REEDY: He played on a lot of stuff that you don't even know.
You're dancing to all these records for years,
and you don't know that - it was Maurice Ellis.
He would love going onstage and playing.
And we have to continue because of Maurice, too, also.
We can't just stop.
MAN: Do you feel like it's what he would want?Yes.
Yes, yes, yes.
On the drums...put your hands together for Maurice Ellis.
(MAURICE PLAYS DRUM SOLO) (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
One, two, three... (DRUMS COUNTING IN)
We are African, but we are...
Caribbean people. But we are African.
Some of us don't recognise that.
But I do. We do.
# Ethiopian romance
# Ethiopian romance...
DIXON: Reggae music is an experience.
It's a feeling, it's a love.
When you're involved, nothing else matters.
# Ethiopian romance
# Ethiopian romance...
Some people say reggae all sounds the same,
but if you get it, it just...
I don't know, it just does something to me - it moves me.
It's something that reaches right down to the depths of the soul -
that's what reggae is all about,
and that's what the Cimarons were all about.
# I'm in love with Jah
# And his loving ways
# I'm in love with Jah
# And his loving ways
# Ethiopian romance
# Ethiopian romance...
Look how many generations in popular music that
that's come back in and been relevant, that sound...
that was created in the '60s.
And people still search for that now, you know,
40-50 years beyond that,
because it's the purity of the storytelling,
the purity of the sound that never, you know, goes out of fashion.
It's impossible to listen to it without actually...
feeling the music come through.
I mean, I used to come out of reggae sessions with my stomach aching,
because I'd been kind of grooving in the chair behind the desk.
# Africa
# Africa...
Reggae music is part of my heritage, it's part of my culture, you know?
It's just like me as a black person,
me can't be white - me have to be black.
So reggae is my thing.
Reggae have my heartbeat right now,
right now, right now - my heartbeat.
# Africa
# Africa... #
Reggae is humane music - it's humanity singing about human issues.
It's a music that expresses the problems...
of the Jamaicans who created it,
but it has that universality.
He says, 'I'm singing about my problems,
but I'm singing about your problems too.'
It's a warm vibe, and it's a warrior vibes.
And it's soulful,
and...rebellious.
REEDY: It's a big force, man.
It means a lot to me.
It carry me, teach me.
Make me feel happy, make me feel sad.
Long live reggae music.
Well, Cimarons' destiny is just to be themselves...
and get back into the thing.
You know what I mean? They've lost their drummer.
And I'm sure... I'm sure that none of them...
..wants to stop playing music.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
We should start rehearse tomorrow, and go back on the road.
Basically.
Go on through, young boy.
Go onstage, make people enjoy themselves, make me enjoy myself.
I miss that. I would...
I would do that now - right now - even though me have a bad back.
But when you go onstage, you don't feel no pain.
You don't feel no pain at all.
That's the best painkiller you can get - go onstage and play music.
# Ethiopian romance... #
Yeah, Westbourne Rehearsal Studio. Yes, in the basement.
In the basement, where we can't get no place to park.(LAUGHTER)
If we all get the tune, them sharpen up like irons, you know?
Yeah, ready to go to battle and...
you know, bring forth Jah message.
You know?
It's not a big thing if they don't play for two or three months, or even a year.
But when you call them, they're ready.
Because they know exactly how to play with each other.
Simple as that. Yes, simple as that.
All they need is a couple of rehearsal. They're ready to go, man.
Trust me, ready to go.
('ETHIOPIAN ROMANCE' PLAYS ON CAR STEREO)
We did our final rehearsal last night,
and the gig will be tomorrow -
tomorrow at Hootananny in Brixton.
Good people, good afternoon. (CAR DOOR CLOSES) Bless up, bless up.
I'm alright, thanks, I'm alright.
I'm not good, but I'm alright. (LAUGHTER)
We're gonna go and visit Dego, who is, unfortunately, not too well.
He's in hospital.
He's so upset that he won't be able to be a part of it. You know?
Cos he's been a great help, his songwriting ability.
We've done two of his songs on the album.
His harmony is brilliant. We won't be able to use his harmony so...
yes, we pray that he'll be OK.
We don't know what's happening on Sunday.
We'll just get up and go down and go set up.
Me, you, everybody go set up.
Just like what Michael Jackson do.
Soundcheck, rehearse, dress rehearsal, soundcheck.
Have a smoke, have a drink.All in all, it's a celebration of Cimarons.
Yes. Yeah, the return. Yeah.
Time flies so fast. We lost Maurice about two-and-a-half years ago,
and that was a shock for us.
I want to start some gigs before we lose any more members.
Pandemic came along and everything fell apart.
So it's over three, four years we've had to wait now for this moment.
It's a tough place to start,
because the London audiences are as critical as the Jamaica audiences.
They know music, so we just have to be good.
It's like a crucible, but then um... (LAUGHS)
..if you're any good, you've got to go through the fire.
(GROANS)
It is the calm before the storm -
only that we are in control of the storm.
We're in control of the winds, the temperature and the pressure.
Just wanna make sure everything goes right.
We would have loved to have Dego with us tonight.
Because Dego has, like...always been around Cimarons from the '70s.
So I miss him. Yeah.
(BAND PLAYS IN BACKGROUND)
When I look at my drummer on my right,
I'm seeing Carl, but that's Maurice.
I'm gonna see...but it's Maurice. He's there with me.
In spirit.
In thoughts.
Yeah, he'll be there.
Playing this, playing reggae music,
has always been my life, you know what I mean?
So when I'm up here, I'm playing, it's like...
freedom. Yeah. Freedom, yeah.
But it's also...
the love of it, you know what I mean?
From 1971, I've been with these guys. They're bona fide friends.
(PEOPLE CHATTING)
Honestly, a sense of nervousness.
You prepare your best you can,
but when you get out there, and the atmosphere...
and the vibe hits you,
you give, you know, everything.
Sing close to the microphone, please -
gonna make the difference, you know? You're gonna be more comfortable.
Closer.
Are you ready?! (CHEERING)
The first band to take reggae music to Japan.
(CHEERING)
The drum beat of Africa, Ghana, Asia.
The first reggae band in Europe.
(CHEERING) (CYMBAL CRASHES)
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls...
WOMAN: Yeah, man. ..are you ready for...
Are you ready? ALL: Yes, man.
..the return of...
Cimarons! (CHEERING)
Michael Arkk. (BAND PLAYS)
Yeah!
# (VOCALISING)
# This time we're having a nice time
# Mood is good and we feel fine
# Your liveliness Is catching like wildfire
# Fire, fire
# We're going on as if there is A riot, riot, riot, riot
# Make me rock, rock, rock, rock Rock, rock
# To reggae rhapsody...
Playing together is just like we just know exactly...
how the sound go - we still can do it, innit?
You know, put a guitar in Gichie hand,
and a guitar in my hand, and you hear music. (CHUCKLES)
# To Reggae Rhapsody...
GICHIE: When I'm surrounded with music, I'm fully alive.
I feel like I'm at home, you know, I feel, definitely, like I'm at home.
# One dread come tell ya
# You'd better lively up yourself...
Yeah, we are all one - we can just use eyes contact,
and we know what's happening, and we go from there.
Beautiful onstage.
Onstage, we're not human.
We are...invincible.
# Come rock with me Let me take you higher, higher,
# Higher, higher, higher, higher
# Come rock, rock, rock, rock, rock Hey!
# To reggae rhapsody
# Come choke, choke, choke Choke, choke, choke
# To reggae rhapsody...
REEDY: You feel light, you feel...rewarded.
Me feel blessed.
You feel special. You feel...
'Thank you, Father, for giving me this moment, because...
not a lot of people can experience this sort of moment.
# Cimarons...!
When the whole crowd is going mad, you're crazy in your head, and...
..and everything is still together.
You sort of miss each other - as friends.
As a brethren, missing togetherness and playing.
You do miss it.
Yeah, you do miss it.
# Come make me rock Come make me rock
# To reggae rhapsody
# Boy, come make me rock Come make me rock
# Ay! To reggae rhapsody
# Come make me rock #
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Still, I miss my original singer.
I don't want to belittle anyone.
But my Reedy is my singer.
Winston Reed is my singer.
Not to put down Mikey or anything,
because from Mikey coming in the flock...
he is my singer.
It is said to me that...
(CHUCKLES) ..the man whose position I'm standing in tonight...
the great Winston Reedy, is somewhere around.
(CHUCKLES) (PEOPLE YELL OUT INDISTINCTLY)
Yes!
Respect due.
(CHEERING) (ELECTRONIC WARBLING) Yeah.
This is the man.
You're giving me the mic, my brother?
Yeah, man. Say something. Oh, my God, I'm humbled.
I'm feeling humbled.
What can I say about this band here?
This band here teach me everything.
Carry me all over the world.
Bless you, Cimarons, for teaching me everything.
Harder Than The Rock.
Harder Than The Rock. Um... How it go again?(BASS DRUM STARTS)
This we never plan, you know? No rehearsal.
# We're harder than the rock
This time
# We're harder than the rock
# Harder than the rock, this time
# Oh, yeah...
Winston.
# Harder than the rock So hard
# We're harder than the rock This time
# So hard Harder than the rock
# We're harder than the rock This time
# Cimarons #
Thank you! (NOTE CONTINUES)
Put your hands together...
for the great Winston...
Reedy!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Thank you, sir! Yeah.
Cimarons is out now, yeah?
There's nothing can stop them.
Those people that were there, they are all Cimarons fans.
GICHIE: Yes, yes, yes. And it's a blessing, man. Rastafari.
Blessings, blessings, blessings,
Listen. Irie. Irie.
Ah, cricket.
Mmm. Yes, yes.
I was so well-prepared for the gig.
I just became very ill.
And ended up in the hospital.
I was in there for about... two weeks.
I was so...
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
I was angry.
But...you know what them say?
Every disappointment is for a good.
But I'm hoping...
you know...
future gigs...
I might be able to be there.
You know?
# CIMARONS: Rock Reggae Rhapsody
# Well...
# Come we rock, rock, rock Rock, rock, rock
# To reggae rhapsody...
(GREETINGS DROWNED OUT BY MUSIC)
# To reggae rhapsody...
Yeah, man. Here we are. Rototom time. That's it.
Come to mash up Spain. Come to tear Spain down.
That's it. (CHUCKLES)
# To reggae rhapsody, yeah...
BOTH: (SINGING WITH TRACK) Come we rock.
Come we rock to reggae rhapsody. Yeah!
# Come we rock
# Come we rock...
(LAUGHTER) Alright! Alright! Alright!
Massive day for the Cimarons.
Massive day for Cimarons.
Massive, beautiful day.
Back in Spain.
First reggae band ever in Spain, and back in Spain now.
It's... It's cosmic.
(LAUGHS)
The cosmos must have something to do with this.
So I'm looking forward to tonight.
It has to be good, you know?
(BOTH SING MELODY)
Yes, Rasta.
I'm glad I come back, and the sun shining like Jamaica.
Rototom is the biggest reggae festival in Europe.
All the top acts from Jamaica has played Rototom over the years.
For us to be part of Rototom, to me, it's a big thing.
I wasn't thinking about it.
I was thinking about going home.
Sun. Ganja weed.
Coconut water.
But...I'm not complaining.
Yeah, I hope to have a nice time.
If I enjoy myself, the crowd should enjoy themselves.
Hopefully. Yeah. What about you?
I am elated, over the moon,
ecstatic to be among the legends.
Well, one word - irie. (LAUGHS)
MC: From the UK...
the first band touring Japan,
Africa...
please, welcome onstage...
WHITE: From 1967 until these times,
the Cimarons from the UK.
(BAND SINGING AND VOCALISING)
Good to go.
# Ethiopian romance
# Africa...
Everybody have a destiny.
It doesn't matter how long you take to get there. Yes?
But you have a destiny. And it will come.
Cos that's how the Father prepare it.
# Africa...
One morning, my dad said we should tell God what we want.
I told God I wanted to be a singer.
My most happy moments is since meeting Cimarons.
Because I am experiencing what I dreamt about.
# What did I say? Ethiopian romance...
The steps of a righteous man is ordered by the Lord.
You could take out the righteous bit.
But the steps of this man was ordered by the Lord.
# Ethiopian romance...
Gichie, Maurice...
them are my life.
They are my life, my musical friend, and my musical family.
# Africa
# Africa...
Reggae music is alive and well and will never die.
And reggae music, it's part of Earth, part of nature, part of creation.
And that can never die. It will always be there.
Reggae music is one of the parents of modern pop music.
My generation of musicians - and just people -
stand on the shoulders of bands like the Cimarons.
# Cimarons...!
Do your thing. Yeah, do your dream.
Thirty years, we've been waiting for this.
It's nobody's dream but your dream.
Cimarons have a dream and Cimarons never allowed the dream to die.
# Ethiopian romance...
Jah be praised, you know?
# Ethiopian romance...
GENERAL LEVY: It takes a spark - they were the spark...
that started a big flame.
And often, when the big flame takes over,
people forget about the spark, but the Cimarons...
are definitely a spark that started...
a big, big, big, big fire -
a big flame, positive flame.
And it's still blazing till this day.
Thank you! (CHUCKLES)
Thank you!
Tonight, we are the Cimarons.
(CHEERING)
Ganja weed and music, yeah...
..number one - ganja weed, music and food, girls.
That's...showbusiness.
(CROWD YELL INDISTINCTLY)
Every good thing...
has a place to begin and a place to end.
# CIMARONS: Ship Ahoy
Rototom!
Cimarons!
Thank you!
# Ship ahoy, ship ahoy, ship ahoy
# Ship ahoy-oy-oy
# Ship ahoy
# Ship ahoy, ship ahoy, ship ahoy
# Ship ahoy-oy-oy
# Far
# As your eyes can see
# Men, women and baby slaves
# Going to a land called liberty
# But life, you see, is already made
# So young and so strong
# You're just waiting to be saved
# Lord, I'm so tired
# And I know you're tired too
# Look over the horizon
# And see the sun
# Shining down on you
# Yeah
# Ship ahoy, ship ahoy, ship ahoy
# Ship ahoy-oy-oy
# Ship ahoy
# Ship ahoy, ship ahoy, ship ahoy
# Ship ahoy-oy-oy
# Ship ahoy, ship ahoy, ship ahoy
# Ship ahoy-oy-oy
# Can you feel The motion of the ocean?
# Can you feel
# The cold winds blowing by?
# Ship took us away
# From Africa
# Ship took us away
# From Africa #
Jah!
Rastafari.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(SONG CONCLUDES)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE CONTINUES) We wanna thank you all for watching.
I hope to see you all next time.
So, from Cimarons...
and to all of you, I wanna say peace and love...
Thank you very much.
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