Roots Timeline

Boston Reggae Timeline

ROOTS OF REGGAE:

1513: 

The first Africans were captured and taken to Jamaica by the Spanish and Portuguese.  These Africans brought their African culture - traditions, music, languages - with them and maintained them for centuries and across generations (the island had been inhabited by native peoples as far back as 6000 BC, with the Arawaks arriving around 800 AD - they referred to the island as Xaymaca)

1673: 

The first Maroon Rebellion took place in Jamaica, followed by many more rebellions and wars over the next 150 years

1929: 

Marcus Garvey formed one of the first political parties in Jamaica

1958: 

The West Indies Foundation was formed, comprised of 12 Caribbean islands, for the purpose of creating a single political unit that could gain independence from Britain (included Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Dominica, Montserrat, ...)

1962:

• July 19: 

The Parliament of the UK passed the Jamaica Independence Act, granting independence to Jamaica as of August 6th

1965: 

The Wailers put out their debut album The Wailing Wailers (Bob was 20 years old) - comprised of 12 Ska tunes

1965:

• Oct .3

President Lyndon Johnson signs the Immigration and Naturalization Act, which allowed for many more immigrants to come to the U.S. from non-European countries, in turn allowing many Caribbean people to move to places like Boston and Cambridge

1968: 

Nanny Goat by Larry Marshall released - recorded at Studio 1, it's one of the first true Reggae songs recorded

BOSTON/CAMBRIDGE: 

(new band forming represented in orange, underlined)

1967:

• The Western Front opens at 343 Western Ave, Cambridge, as a Jazz and Funk club (see full Western Front timeline here)

1971:

Cleve Reynolds opens Mukasa Records at 509 Columbus Ave, in the South End, selling strictly Jamaican Reggae - likely the first ever Boston Reggae music shop

1972:

• Dec. 28:

  The earliest live band listings found in the Boston Globe archives for the Western Front - featuring the Webster Lewis Quintet for a New Year's Eve Party

1973:

The Harder They Come begins it’s 8-year run at the Orson Welles Theater, between Harvard and Central Squares in Cambridge, bringing Reggae to thousands of Cambridge and Boston area residents.  In addition, the "international flavor" of the area, with all the colleges and universities, meant that the music was exported back to other states and countries, from all the college students that exerienced this flim and the reggae scene that followed.

• July: 

Bob Marley & the Wailers play at Paul’s Mall in Boston - several people later involved in the local Reggae scene were in attendance at these early shows

1974:

• March 26:

Jamaica Hilton plays Reggae at Burke's Place, near Gov't Center in Boston.  This is the first listing found of a local Reggae band playing in Boston  (although we believe they were not 100% a reggae band - they also did Calypso)

1975:

• March 30:

West Indian Music Radio show on WTBS-FM (this may be the Lloyd "Dr. Soul" Edwards show, which is likely the first Boston Reggae radio show in the Boston area)

• July 24:

Luke "White Ram" Ehrlich hosts the Jamaica Rundown on WBOS-FM, which is likely the  second Reggae radio show to air in Boston

• Sep 18:

Cleve Reynolds opens his West Indian Music store at 10B Magazine St. in Cambridge, selling Reggae, Soca, Calypso and music from other West Indian nations

• Dec 11:

  Jamaicaway Reggae Band  (they started out as Jamaica Hilton) - plays the MLK School on Putnam Ave on Dec. 11 

c.1975: Ras Jahn Bullock joins Loose Caboose in Western Mass.o setting them on the path to becoming a local force in Roots Reggae

1976:

• Rupert's Records opens in Cambridge, becoming the central place to find Reggae music in Cambridge and which would help to feed the latest music to the Strictly Rockers program.  It was the only exclusively reggae record store in America at the time - they didn't carry any other genres of music.

• Feb 8:

Sunday 1pm Reggae radio show on WRBB 91.7-FM (no show name listed)

• May 20: 

“Reggae Disco by WUNR’s White Ram” at The Club, 823 Main St. in Cambridge (first evidence in the archives of a reggae DJ playing at a club)

• Nov. 30:

WERS starts their first ever Live Music Week, with the first band to play Reggae live on Boston airwaves: the Jamaicaway Reggae Band, as one of the bands in the lineup

• Nov. 30:

White Ram is mentioned in the Boston Phoenix as spinning the latest Reggae at the Caribbean Kitchen, 556 Mass. Ave, in Cambridge

• Dec 12:

Cleve Reynolds' West Indian Music store on Magazine St. has a writeup in the Cambridge Chronicle

1976/77: 

• Zion Initation forms with main lead singer Jah Jah/Ras Jackson/Major Jackson.  This is the first Boston-based Roots Reggae band to form

1977:

• May 27: Loose Caboose plays at Jack's in Cambridge - the first evidence of a pure reggae band playing at a Club in the Boston area

1978:

• Aug 10:

White Ram spinning reggae at the Western Front (first mention in the Globe archives) - part of a regular gig there

• Aug 24: 

Zion Initation plays Almont Park, Mattapan at 1pm

• Sept:

Doug Herzog starts Strictly Rockers on WERS late afternoons on Saturdays

• Danny Tucker releases 7" 45 Take Us Home ma,ing this the first local Boston Reggae vinyl release

Late 70's:

• Cambridge Custom Percussion hosts local Reggae bands like Zion Initation and the I-Tones in a "Cavern-Club" style basements, booked by Iva Spitzer and Abdul Baki.  This was a major step towards introducing Boston's Zion Initation to the local Cambridge Reggae scene

1979:

• Echo, Sista V. and Tappaknotts begin DJing Reggae music at the Western Front

• Zion Initation releases the LP Showcase, making it the first Boston Reggae vinyl LP recording released

• The I-Tones form with main lead singer Luke Ehrlich and play their first gigs

• April:

Zion Initation plays live on WERS Strictly Rockers program - possibly the first Boston pure Reggae Band Live radio broadcast (did Loose Caboose play live earlier?)

• May: 

Zion Initation plays the Central Square Festival in Cambridge

• July 14th: 

Zion Initation plays The Loft, Lincoln St. Boston

• Aug 8/12: 

Zion Initation plays Joy Of Movement in Central Sq Cambridge and Lulu White's in the South End

• Fall:

    Strictly Rockers moves to Sunday nights 11pm - 2am on WERS

• October 13:

Zion Initation opens for Eddie Lovett at the MLK School on Putnam Ave. in Cambridge

• October 14:

The I-Tones play their first club gig at One Pelham East Club in Newport, RI 

• Nov. 16:

The I-Tones play at The Loft on Thayer St., Boston

• December:

The I-Tones play live on WERS Strictly Rockers program

• December 21:

The I-Tones play their first ever local club gig at the Modern Times Cafe in Cambridge

1980:

• Lenky Roy forms band with the Ethiopian Roots

• I-Ses band forms with singer Neil McGee

• Magic and the Reggae Stars forms

• Jamontrad band forms with singer Courtney Morris

• Strictly Rockers on WERS becomes Rockers and goes from Sunday nights to Monday - Friday, becoming the first and only daily Boston Reggae radio show

• Jan 18:

The I-Tones play the Inn Sq. Men's Bar in Cambridge

• Mar 31:

Thomas Sabulis writes an extensive Boston Globe article on Boston Reggae bands, venues, and radio shows

• May: 

The I-Tones, Zion Initation, Lenky Roy all play a show at Tennis Up on Mass Ave in Boston

Steve Morse writes about local Reggae in the Boston Globe

Zion Initation opens for Barrington Levy at the Carver Lodge in Dorchester

• June 6: 

Fred Locks, Zion Initation, Lenky Roy and the Ethiopian Roots at the Modern Theater in Boston

• July 13: 

Zion Initation and the Neighborhoods together for the Rock Against Racism show at Spit, Boston

• Sep: 

Reggae Mukasa reggae show is airing on WMBR (7-10pm)

The I-Tones release the 7" 45: Love Is a Pleasure

• Sep 25: 

Zion Initation opens for Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus at the Bradford Hotel

• Nov 3: 

I-Ses (with Neil McGee and the Montgomery Bros. later with One People) plays at Rock Against the Draft at the Old Cambridge Baptist Church

• Nov: 

I-Ses and The I-Tones play a show together at Jonathan Swift's

• December: 

The Western Front reopens after a remodel and diversifies their live musical offerings

1981:

• One People forms with lead singer Stone Montgomery

• Rashante Rub-a-Dub Band forms with lead singer Errol Strength

• Jah-Ma Roots forms with lead singer Bigga Reid

• Jah Spirit forms with lead singer Ras Michaelk Wolfe

• Zion I 'pon tour?

• Feb:

Healin' of the Nations band forms with lead singers Rocky, Inando,  and Igene

• Mar 3:

Healin' of the Nations at Jack's (first listing found for them - the ad said "New Reggae Band")

• Mar 6:

I-Ses plays the Western Front (first listing found in the archives of a local Reggae band playing live at the Front)

• Apr 12:

Healin' of the Nations plays the Western Front

• May 14:

  One People plays the Underground in Allston

• Aug 21:

Healin' of the Nations gets a nice write-up in the Boston Globe

1982:

• Loose Caboose releases LP Dealer's World

• Zion Initation 'pon tour (mid-west/west coast)

• Healin' of the Nations releases their album Love Is the Answer (recorded in Winter of '82)

• April:

 Zion Initation and Healin' of the Nations play a show together at the Channel

• Sept:

 Zion Initation plays welcome home gig at the Western Front

1983:

• Zion Initation releases the single Complexion Girl

• Right Time forms with lead singer Josefina Bosch

• The I-Tones release 12" single Walk On By

1984:

• Fall:
  The I-Tones play a free concert on the Esplanade, drawing a crowd of 7,000, likely marking the largest crowed, to that point, for a Boston Reggae Band in Boston

• Kuumba forms with lead singer Errol Strength

• New Lions forms with lead singer Mason Vincent

• Dub Culture band forms with singers Sonia Alleyne and Michael Skeritt

• the first Boston reggae music video was filmed, to be released sometime in 1985.  Filmed in Paris and Cambridge in spring of 1984, the I-Tones' "Walk On By" video ended up being added to MTV's Boston feed where it was played with fair regularity for around a month.

1985:

• Zion Initation releases the LP Jah Light

• Afrikan Roots forms with lead singer Inando Forde

• Errol Strength & the Conscious Band forms

• Steve Morse does a multi-page long-form article on the Boston Reggae scene in the Boston Globe

1986:

• Mighty Charge forms with lead singer George Eccles

• New Generation Band forms with lead singer Rege Lark

1987

• The I-Tones release the LP Something We Share

• One People releases the cassette One People In Transit

• The first Boston Music Awards takes place, with The I-Tones taking the Best Reggae Band award

1988:

• High Vibes forms with lead singers Natty PA, then Rocky Tracey, and DJ Fidel Cap

1989:

• Ambassa forms with lead singers Journalist Bandoo and Horace Reid

• Hot Like Fire forms with lead singer Toney Smith

• High Vibes becomes I-Vibes with lead singers Heartical B. and Jem-I

• Cecil's Middle East Reggae Jam begins, upstairs at the Middle East (runs until 1994)

1990:

• New Roots forms with lead singer Bigga Reid

• The Tribulations forms  with lead singer Kevin Kinsella

• Motion band forms with lead singer Ras Batch

1991:

• Solid Earth band forms with lead singers Ratchet and Colin Williams

• One World forms with lead singer Inando Forde

• Danny Tucker puts out cassette album Rhythm & Pride

• The I-Tones release the cassette I-Tones Live at the Western Front

1992:

• Danny Tucker Band forms

1993:

• Rockers International forms with musicians Rider McCoy, Kyle Russell, and Charlie Thorpe

1994:

• Rockers International becomes Dub Station

• Cecil's Middle East Reggae Jam comes to a close

1995:

• Chances band forms with singer/DJ Jah Shirt

• Loose Caboose releases LP Caboose Ha Fe Move