About this event
African Night Fever, Ropetackle and Easy Skankin present: Don Letts with Rhoda Dakar
Don Letts’ reputation has been firmly established in both the film and music world by a substantial body of work from the late 70s through the 80s, 90s and well into the millennium. His work has been exhibited in The Kitchen N.Y.C, The Institute of Contemporary Art, The N.F.T in London and was honored at Brooklyn’s BAM festival and The Milan Film festival. In March 2003, he won a Grammy for his documentary ‘Westway To The World’.
He came to notoriety in the late 70s as the DJ that single-handedly turned a whole generation of punks onto reggae. It was whilst as a DJ at the first punk club 'The Roxy' in 1977, that Don adopted the punk D.I.Y ethic and begun to make his first film 'The Punk Rock Movie'.
Shot on Super-8mm, it is the only documentary on the UK punk scene with Sex Pistols, The Clash and many others. This led to a period directing over 300 music videos for an eclectic mix of diverse artists ranging from Public Image to Bob Marley. He then moved into documentary work covering the likes of Gil Scott-Heron, The Jam, Sun Ra, George Clinton and, most recently, Paul McCartney. Dancehall Queen (co-directed by Rick Elgood) shot on location in Jamaica, 1997 was his first feature film.
Rhoda Dakar began her musical career as lead vocalist with all-female 2Tone band The Bodysnatchers in 1979. She went on to record with The Specials, The Special AKA and Madness, along with her solo work. She has 7 gold albums and 1 silver covering these and other recording projects.
Rhoda is also a respected DJ and toured the Americas and Europe as support to The Selecter in 2019 and The Specials in 2016 as special guest.
Delicious Afro-Caribbean food will be available from 6.30pm on the night from the Soul Food Sisters. No pre-booking necessary. Meat and vegetarian options are available.
Please note, this is an all-standing event.
Age Guidance 16+