- Microphone check one, two.

- [Camera Operator] Okay, let's go.

- Ready to go.

Ready to go.

- Ready?

- Ready to go.

Ready, we ready, boss.

Roll the camera there.

(chuckles) (upbeat music) - In the world of music, there are many paths.

Now this week, "The Roadshow" is flying all the way to the Caribbean.

We've touched down in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica and the home of reggae.

A place with a worldwide reputation when it comes to sound, or as the title of Damien Marley's biggest hit song says, "Welcome to Jamdown."

(upbeat music continues) Reggae is the sound, Kingston's the town, and right now we are at Tuff Gong Studios with the manager in charge, Mr.

Odain Palmer.

And are you having a musical day?

- Of course, definitely.

(cool music) - Very impressive state-of-the-art recording studio you have here, and I understand that you also have the physical recording studio that is the most impressive I've seen in Jamaica, as well as the manufacturer of vinyl products to be sold all over the world from the Tuff Gong family.

- Our vision is really to have a space where artists from all over the world, when they come, not just to record, but to be able to enter a space where, so we want persons to experience what Bob experienced then.

We're able to do both types of recording, analog recording and digital recording.

And that's one of the things I wanted to highlight, as a team, we're able to allow Bob's vision to live on through recording at Tuff Gong Studio.

- One, two, one.

(lively music) - Well, you know, for myself, I like seeing somebody of your generation that is involved, not in downloads, but real music by real musicians.

- That's correct.

To be able to see them firsthand.

But you get to see musicians coming in, making tracks, the drummer, the keyboard player, the bass player, the guitar player, putting all those components together to form your nice track, mixed, mastered, finished product.

- Through the decades, some really astounding music has come out of Jamaica, but it came out of studios that simply were not on the level, not as, you know, state of the art as here.

It was almost like the music that was coming out of Jamaica was excellent, despite the limitations.

- That's correct.

- I am fond of saying that, culturally and musically, Jamaica always punches above its weight.

(bright music) - All right, Tom, so when you just arrived at Tuff Gong, I was honored to show you the pressing plant, the vinyl pressing plant.

And you're a man that knows about vinyl, right?

You have record shops.

- Well, what I saw was the original pressing equipment.

- Yes.

- [Tom] In Jamaica from Ska days.

- [Odain] Yes.

- [Tom] And next to it is contemporary equipment.

- That's correct.

- That allows you to continue doing vinyl in a state-of-the-art way.

- That's correct because what we do, keep the old section so you can see where it's coming from.

There's a 45 pressing machine, there's a LP pressing machine, both SMTs, but we want you to see the journey where it's coming from, the history of vinyl pressing to where it is now, contemporary, but it's the same process where you get, you start from acetate, to that chemical part, to getting stampers, and then, from stampers to pressing your record.

Simply the fact that labels are stamped on both sides.

Getting that quality control and sleeve and jacket and you have a finished product.

Simply amazing.

We are the only pressing plant in Jamaica in the Caribbean.

You're an artist, if you are a musician, you want your music to be on vinyl, Tuff Gong is the place to be to get that done.

- Give thanks.

- Definitely.

- Visiting Tuff Gong allowed me to sit down and chat with musicians who happened to be that day cutting records in the studio.

They now host everyone, from established names, such as Mikey Spice, to upcoming voices such as Jaz Elise.

I know that you have a background in music more than just a singer.

- Mm-hm.

- You play instruments, you've toured with some of the big names.

- Oh yeah.

- In Jamaican music, - I play in the background.

A lot of people that hear about it, a few who know, like musicians who know, but the public have never seen me show up on a stage with a guitar jumping around, "Look, that's Bob Marley."

So I just decided not to take the Bob Marley role.

- Who was the vocalist that really, really, like, you listened to and went, "Oh yeah."

- (laughs) I wish you didn't ask me that.

Oh my God, that's a funny one.

- Which vocalist held the handle as far as you were concerned?

- Now we're gonna go to some names that I raised on, we're talking about what we all know, the Barry White, but Lou Rawls was one of my favorites.

- You know what I like about those vocalists?

They didn't need autotune.

- You know what?

I'm just gonna let you talk because you got everything that you want, I wanna say, you saying.

It's true.

Those were real singers.

- [Tom] I remember once asking Leonard Dillon, "The Ethiopian."

- [Mikey] Oh yeah.

- I said, you know, that music that you were making was so sweet.

Why is the Jamaican music that I like so sweet?

And he didn't even hesitate, he said, "Because the people are sweet."

(relaxed music) - Coming from being just a girl in Harbour View that loved singing and loved music, to being able to even just record in a place like this, it's just a dream come true, you can say, to be able to stand here on this sacred ground, I call it, 'cause the energy, the professionalism, the sound, the history, what this place means to voice in the same place that so many greats have voiced, you know, what more could a artist want?

Where that is concerned, if you have that opportunity.

- In the history of the music, as far as the women that inspired you, whose voice and whose works made you compelled to find out if you too could do such things?

- I mean, there's a lot of women.

First, every woman in Jamaican music has inspired me personally, literally every single woman.

And it has to, because it's so difficult that, from the name of a woman has been able to resonate through the decades, through the years, and the music and the sound of that artist being able to resonate, it's powerful and it's a tough road.

So I have to respect that.

- I wanna thank you for your time and may you have a musical life.

- Yes, thank you, I really appreciate you forwarding here to have a conversation with an upcoming Jamaican artist who just loves music and loves the legacy of music and what music means to us as a Jamaican people.

And for you to listen and hear that out, I appreciate it.

(cool music) - We're here at the Mixing Lab Studios on Dunbarton Avenue in Kingston, Jamaica with the man I call the Ace of Reggae Bass, Mr.

Errol Carter, AKA Flabba Holt.

Flabba, what go on?

- But they are calm, everything goes there, man.

- So really you have been on more records I bet than you know, but I know, at one time.

- [Flabba] Yeah.

- [Tom] Almost every record on Jamaica's Radio.

- [Flabba] Yeah.

- [Tom] Had the Roots Radics backing up, whoever the singer, whoever the DJ was.

- Too much singer, Mikey Dread, Michael Prophet, Yellowman, Barrington Levy and Gregory Isaacs, Bunny Wailer, I cannot, I can't name them.

- Level vibes every time.

- Yeah, man.

Tom, my badman, very, very good person.

Big up every time, Tom Papa Ray, pom pom pom, vinyl every time.

Errol Flabba Holt.

(chuckles) Big up Tom, every time.

- You know why he talks about me like this?

'Cause I'll send him auto parts from America.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(laughs) - There's no way to mention the many talented souls that have come from this island.

From the 1950s onward, a wealth of Jamaican artists emerged to go on to international acclaim, creating an astounding list of names.

From an island less than 150 miles long and 50 miles wide, this dynamic is unheard of from such a relatively small nation.

One of the foundation names of Jamaican music is Derrick Harriott, a great singer, songwriter, producer, who is responsible for the long established record store.

Derrick Harriott's Music Shop in the heart of Uptown Kingston.

(joyful music) (pleasant music) You know, every now and then, I get to meet someone, who is considered by their peers to be an absolute master in the works they do.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is my good friend Ms.

Lee Abel, who, in my estimation, is as fine a photographer in the world of reggae music that exists.

Lee, give me a little bit of background about what brought you to this status.

- I went to UC Davis.

I didn't have a lot of money and I got a work study grant and I became the photographer for the student union.

And I went to Jamaica to do my final project and I fell in love with Jamaica.

And while I was there, of course, I was hearing reggae, it was just my heartbeat, reggae became my heartbeat.

So I already had the camera, then I was into reggae and that was pretty much my history.

- And since then, you've chronicled every era of Jamaican music.

Your photography's very, very well known.

I got used to seeing you at Jamaican shows and festivals, basically hanging from a piece of equipment with one hand and getting a photo, you know, with the other.

And I'm thinking, "Gods, I hope she doesn't fall."

- For me to have a good photograph, I want people to feel it.

I don't want them to just see it, I want them to see it, but I want them to feel it.

And if they something from it, that would be great.

And if they don't know reggae and they see one of these pictures and it inspires them to listen to reggae, that's great because reggae is my music.

It's like, it's my passion, I'm so passionate about reggae music, like, that is my passion.

The culture here, it's just something that's part of me.

I'd like people to experience it or to come back to it.

The music changes, it's like a river, it's flowing, it's not always the same kind of music.

I want people to also just look at my images and see from the image, the movement of the person, the intensity of the person, the quietness of the person, the unusualness.

I'm also very shy.

So for many, many, many, many years, I just was there as a fly on the wall in the backstage room or whatever.

I would ask for permission to photograph and then that was it.

Now I have more interaction with the artists, I've known a lot of them for years.

(pleasant music continues) - Of course "The Roadshow" would not be complete without us visiting some record stores.

We're driving to a place with a long musical history in Kingston.

We're gonna go to Orange Street.

Right now, we are at Rockers International on Orange Street.

And as the great Prince Buster once said, Orange Street is the street that sell the beat.

I am here with the son of Augustus Pablo, Mr.

Addis Swaby, and we're very happy to be with you today.

- How you doing?

- So even though Jamaican music changes and is often quite different from one era to the next.

- Very different, yeah.

- [Tom] Here you have what I would call a continuity of roots reggae.

- [Addis] For sure.

- [Tom] So how long has the shop been in operation when your dad was still with us?

- [Addis] He passed in '99 and we're celebrating 50 years at this point.

So he would've been here something like 24 years or something, 25 years.

- [Tom] Some people may not know this, but Augustus Pablo made a very unique sound in reggae with an instrument that has often been considered a child's toy, but he elevated it - [Addis] For sure.

- [Tom] And had, with the melodica, a series of instrumental records that were what I would call Rasta mysticism, Rasta meditation.

- [Addis] Yes, brother.

- [Tom] And also produced quite a number of Jamaican artists and brought them into the front light.

- Well, as you said, it's a continuity, meaning that we are pursuing a lot of the same aims from then.

Of course, it's a place for Rockers International distribution, for my dad's records, for my records now, as well as our artists.

So outside of that, we also supply various genres, and this is one of the last remaining shops in Jamaica.

So to continue the vinyl culture, which my dad helped establish from that time with the fellow musicians, in terms of sound systems, sending the music out abroad, playing it on his own Rockers hi-fi, and, yeah, the whole culture of roots music specifically.

(gentle music) - Well, you know, reggae can cover all the bases as far as tone and mood.

I mean, there's reggae that's very, very real.

- For the occasion, yeah.

- There's reggae that is some of the most romantic music I've ever heard.

- Loving, yeah.

- And with Augustus Pablo, as I was saying, there was such a meditative, thoughtful tone in the music he created.

The man was quite the composer.

- I think that reflects in the person he was and his persona.

So I would say he reflected himself in his music.

So that is how you describe his music is similar to his character.

So saying that to say this, he put himself in his music and honestly that's the way that I'm able to still have his presence, because I said he passed quite some time ago, I was nine years old.

(gentle music continues) - [Tom] There's a term that so well describes your father's music, "Music is the healing force."

- [Addis] True.

- It just was music that had this positive tone.

One that very, very much reflected the history and the reality of the African diaspora.

- Yes.

My dad went through a lot of challenges physically from early, you know, health and all type of things, as well as being in the '70s, growing up in Jamaica through the post-colonial era, which was very tumultuous, politics, violence, a lot of tragic things, so, to me, his music was a form of healing for himself also, like physically, mentally, spiritually.

And his gift was spreading that to the world because he didn't keep it to himself.

As much as it was challenging for him 'cause it took a great toll on him, 'cause obviously he passed at 46 years old, and that was mainly due to physical ailments, as well as the pressure and stress from being in the environment we mentioned earlier, which a lot of our forefathers, like Dennis Brown, you know, men that we can list that passed quite early and it's pretty much due to the same struggle.

And yet still, they're able to heal others through their struggle.

In the immediate future, it's up to people like myself and others like-minded to make the effort 'cause that's what my dad had to do.

Because if he was to depend on the government then to have supported it, we wouldn't have Augustus Pablo, you wouldn't be in here today, because the music that he made, as much as it was peaceful, it was still seen as a bit Rasta, you know?

Which Rasta was always anti-status quo.

So like I said, it represents Rasta.

And if Rasta is seen as anti-status quo, that message will be as peaceful as it is and as loving as it is to see a bit of a resistance.

- Well, Augustus Pablo's music reminds me of the fact that there are many, many Jamaican artists who I would say talk the Rasta talk, but Augustus Pablo- - Walked the walk.

- Walked it, lived it, created it.

- Oh yes, I can say, I didn't wanna cut it, that's why we're able to be here where we are right now, because of his energy and work, because it's not easy to be doing this in the location we're at.

And through his persona, his music, his kindness, his characters, why I'm able to, what I'm doing specifically overall across the world where I never have to look across my back or I can live free anyway because of the way he lived.

And I try to follow the same, but definitely coming a lot from that, the greatness.

- Blessings, my man.

- Thank you, man, appreciate it.

Respect.

- Love and music.

- Thank you.

- Whenever I visit Jamaica, I'm uplifted by the spirit of the people, what I get to see and who I get to hear.

(plane whooshing) (upbeat music) Going from Kingston to Miami, there's no better way to reflect how reggae has gone worldwide than our visit to the kingdom of VP Records where we received a warm welcome.

(upbeat music continues) Right now, I have the pleasure of sitting with the Grand Dame of Reggae Music, Miss Pat Chin, who with her husband Vincent, founded the world's largest reggae label, the world's largest reggae distributor, VP Records.

And it is a real pleasure to do so after all the years I've been buying your music.

- Thank you very much.

- So you've been in the business for many, many years.

Your store, your first store was in Jamaica, but then, in 1979, you moved up to the five boroughs of New York City and opened your first store there, and really, over the years, has become the number one source for reggae in the world.

- We're here over 60 years.

We started to develop artists and we continue to do the same thing.

Things that I started 60 years ago, I'm still doing it today, develop artists, spread my culture all over the world and give back 'cause I did a foundation on giving back to my island.

- [Tom] You also have created an audience for Jamaican music, literally from here to Japan.

- Yes.

(laughs) It's funny that, when people see me, how I speak and say I'm a Jamaican and I do reggae music for a woman, because, years ago, women didn't do reggae music and they didn't do business, none at all, but I was behind everything in the music.

My husband had a studio, but I was downstairs in the store, so I met all the musicians and I was very inquisitive, I wanted to know what's the name of the song, who sings it, what label it on, and which version.

I was like an encyclopedia because I spent 20 years on the counter, spinning music.

- As far as being a woman in reggae, I'd also say you've been a role model for other women.

I've seen Jamaican vocalists who are women having more control over their careers.

I mean, it used to be the producer would tell them what to record, and maybe they'd get some money, maybe they wouldn't.

But now, and I would say yours is the first example of somebody in reggae that is a woman that can control and influence and guide their own career.

- It's so true because the first woman that sang was just backup singers, they weren't solo.

When Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt created their own LP and I always encouraged them to be what they love best.

Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it, you can do it.

And then you have so much singers because Jamaica is very gifted for singing, that's one thing we do well, 'cause we sing in church, we sing funerals, we sing at the wedding, we sing when we're sad, we sing when we're happy.

So singing is part of our DNA.

(relaxed music) - [Tom] And as Mr.

Marley once wrote, "One good thing about music."

- "When it hit you, you feel no pain."

- "You feel no pain."

- And that's so true.

Music is such a great equalizer, it brings people together.

- If only for a minute.

- (laughs) Yes.

Because when you go in a dance, you can go in a bad temper or spirit, and when you come out, you feel so much better.

It gives you hope, it brings you to a higher level.

And, you know, it's such a wonderful thing and I realize that, music, when you hear it for the first time, 50 years after, if you hear that music, it brings you right back to the teenager you was when you started to love music.

- Miss Pat, it has been an absolute pleasure and honor and I wanna thank you - And I want to thank you very much, also, thank you very much for the interview and for keeping reggae music to your heart.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- I got one question I ask everybody, everybody.

I'm gonna ask you the penultimate question.

What was your first record?

What was your first record?

What was the first album you bought?

- Okay, my first record was The Guess Who "American Woman."

- Was "Exodus" Bob Marley.

- I did buy a nice Lee "Scratch" Perry, it was like a repress.

- Whoo!

(Flabba vocalizing) That's my first big song, "Ball of Fire."

And when I danced to a song at the dance hall, you know, it's a big song, people stay up and watch me something.

- I'm gonna be at this studio until I left, it was my own.

- Oh!

(both laughing) - There was a record store, well, the name now changed to VP Records.

Here, they were called Randy's, downtown, I was seven years old.

- So you're the only person I've ever asked that question of - That had that answer, so.

- Yes, I bought my own.

- You know, you get that star.

There's a positive vibration in Jamaica, an energy in JA music that has been heard and embraced on every continent of planet Earth.

There is no better example of how a nation's musical culture embodies its spirit.

Need I say more?

(lively music) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) (lively music continues)