See Hear Podcast

Welcome to Episode 4 of See Hear podcast, the show dedicated to music-related film Bernie Sticky chose this month’s film, Franco Rosso’s “Babylon” (1981). Blue (Brinsley Forde from reggae band, Aswad) is a second-generation Jamaican living in Britain. Like Jimmy the mod in Quadrophenia, he’s surrounded by circumstances that make him question where he belongs. Like any teenager he wants to break away from his parents’ values and who appear to have forsaken their own identity to assimilate in Margaret Thatcher's England. He lives in a society that is often hostile and racist, either casually or from the organised police or National Front. The one event he can hang his hat on is the Sounds System he has put together with his friends the Ital Lions crew, preparing for a competition against the Shaka crew. There are a lot of serious questions and reflections going on in this film, and yet it never feels oppressive. Blue’s circumstances can be quite dire, yet the buoyancy of the reggae music and the friendship of