The Politics of Music: Steel Pulse and Handsworth Revolution
Thursday 20 July, 7.00pm-9.00pm

Steel Pulse is a pioneering and award-winning reggae band that exploded onto the British music scene in the 1970s. Adopting the political messages of Jamaican roots reggae, Steel Pulse helped create a musical platform for British reggae bands to comment on the social conditions that people of African descent experienced in Britain.

Drawing on Jamaican artists such as Bob Marley, Bearning Spear, Heptom and the Abyssians, Steel Pulse were part of a movement of Black musicians that traced the lineage of their cultural roots back to Africa. Cultural heritage formed a key feature within their music and gave rise to the unique sound of British roots reggae bands that would use music as a tool for voice and consciousness raising and the repositioning of a cultural identity.

Find out how this band used music to embed the pan-African aspiration of unity from the roots movement in order to respond to the politics of social exclusion led by government institutions. Join us in conversation with Mykaell Riley, former Steel Pulse band member, Director of Black Music at Westminster University, researcher, producer, and longstanding singer/songwriter.

£7