Burning Spear — Le Zénith, Paris, 1988

A remastered live recording of Burning Spear’s concert at Le Zénith in Paris on 21 May 1988. Behind the name Burning Spear stands Winston Rodney, a singer and one of the towering figures of Jamaican roots reggae, a direct heir to the Rastafari tradition rooted in Marcus Garvey, whom he honours throughout his songs. By the late 1980s Rodney was touring with the Burning Band, a tight ensemble notable for its all-female horn section, a striking visual and sonic element of this footage. Filmed on the large Zénith stage, this full concert captures the depth of the grooves, the hypnotic repetition of the riddims and the almost ceremonial stage presence of a singer devoted to a slow, incantatory trance. The performance became the basis for the live album “Live in Paris Zenith ’88”, nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album. It gathers staples of Spear’s repertoire, carried by a dense rhythm section, deep keyboards and backing vocals. This filmed live concert is a valuable document of late-1980s stage reggae and of a master performer at the peak of his craft.