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Films Of The Heart
Jeremy Marre has made some of TV’s great roots music documentaries in some of the world’s more difficult places. Elizabeth Kinder gets the philosophy.
I
f you’re reading this it’s an odds on favourite that, like Paul Simon, you’re a fan of the films of Jeremy Marre. Ever since his groundbreak- ing Roots Rock Reggae kicked off
his Beats Of The Heart series for the BBC (and later C4) in 1977 – launching his distinguished career as a TV documen- tary maker – the name Marre has become synonymous with inspiring, thought-provoking music-based pro- grammes. Along with Paul Simon, the world can thank Marre for his next doc- umentary in that series: watching Rhythms Of Resistance (1979) the super- star’s imagination lit up, propelling him to South Africa to record with the church singers and musicians that Marre had so brilliantly captured on film. So even if the telly was only tuned to ITV, South African music and Ladysmith
Black Mambazo arrived via Graceland into sittings rooms across the globe.
Given that Marre’s approach to film making is now basically a template for TV documentaries, it’s funny to think that when he first pitched up at the BBC with Roots Rock Reggae which featured nei- ther a presenter nor any commentary, it was completely different to anything that was being broadcast at the time. He was swiftly shown the door. Marre had made the ‘error’ of locating the music in its cul- tural context so it acted as mouthpiece for the socio-political tensions in Jamaica at the time. The tales of the music and its prime exponents told the wider truth of life in that moment on that island. “It was,” he says, “the right moment to be there. There were political gang wars and lootings and burnings though I was able to film a big cross section of what was
going on in Jamaica.” Despite Marre returning with footage that included the young Sly & Robbie and Marley, the man from Aunty told him: “It all sounds the same, it’s really boring and you can’t mix music with politics.”
Roots Rock Reggae fared no better elsewhere in the UK whilst in America PBS told him it was communist propaganda. “There were shots of poor people by giant tankers, obviously points were being made about the developing world and Jamaica’s resources – including its music – being taken by the whites.” A chance meeting with a Frenchman in the US resulted in the film winning best documentary at Cannes. Marre then received a call from the man he’d met at the BBC. “I hear you have a documentary about reggae music.” He had no recollection of having seen it before and slated it for broadcast.
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