Director: Horace Ove
Cast includes: Desmond Dekker, Pioneers, Black Faith, the Pyramids, Toots and the Maytals and Millie Small
plus conversation with author Paul 'Smiler' Anderson in conversation with DJ Wendy MaY
50 mins plus Q&A / 1971 / UK

*Please read our important information about our Covid-19 safety precautions before visiting.*

This special book launch of 'Scorcha' will feature a rare screening of Horace Ové’s classic film ‘Reggae’.

The film will be introduced by author Paul 'Smiler' Anderson in conversation with DJ Wendy May to discuss ‘Scorcha!: Skins, Suedes and Style from the Streets 1967-73’

‘Reggae’: In 1968 Toots and the Maytals coined the word reggae with their anthem Do the Reggay, a Jamaican form of music which, drawing upon ska and rocksteady, gave a voice to the poor and dispossessed of the newly independent island.

Three years later the Trinidadian film maker Horace Ové captured this emergent rebel reggae culture in a powerful documentary Reggae that mixed footage of Desmond Dekker, Pioneers, Black Faith, the Pyramids, the Maytals and Millie Small performing at Wembley in 1970 with interviews of Black British youth on their way to the festival.

Includes interviews with DJ Mike Raven and producer Graham Goodall, who review the history and development of reggae.

‘Scorcha!: Skins, Suedes and Style from the Streets 1967-73’ delves into the roots, rise and fall of the Suedeheads and their close companions the Skinheads. Covering topics from fashion and football to the influence of black music and culture, the book draws on first-hand accounts from the original skin-suede generation and later adopters, such as Paul Weller and Norman Jay MBE.

  • ”I thought it was a great cultural movement, the music, the look, they're things that have shaped who I am.” - Paul Weller
  • “The skin-suede era was the most rigorously smart and pedantically correct in the history of working class street style. Levis, Ben Sherman, Crombie. Reggae, rocksteady, soul.” - Robert Elms

How you can support the Electric Palace:

Thank you.