Reggae Strong—Judy Mowatt, 1987

This is one of our early programs from out very first broadcast season of which aired via satellite and cable on Tempo Television in 1987. To the best of my knowledge, Reggae Strong was the first reggae tv series to be broadcast internationally.

The concert took place at SOB's in Manhattan that June, and as you will see, it featured Judy was at her gorgeous best, backed by the A-Team. Songs included here are "Hold Dem Jah", "Sisters' Chant" and a little bit of "Rock Me".

I have left the original ads, graphics and news segment in this episode, so you can get a little flavor of those great 80s days in NYC's reggae community. Night Nurse, Amy Wachtel, does her news segment at Jah Life International Records (vinyl!) on Utica Avenue in Brooklyn, and she sets the scene there very nicely for you reggae historians. We also shot a cultural segment with Henry Shillingford (remember Rocket Studios?) at Tower Records at 4th and Broadway. That was also a memorable shoot, and I remember the management gave us free reign.

I didn't touch much of the analog editing here, and there are a couple of glitches I couldn't fix. I so remember that it was a very big deal for us to be able to go into an outside studio to get that a credit roll. :)

As it is written: do not ask why the old days were better than this.