Culture — The Buttermarket, Shrewsbury, 2003

In 2003, Jamaican group Culture, led by their iconic singer Joseph Hill, performed at The Buttermarket in Shrewsbury, United Kingdom, as part of their ‘Live Roots Tour’. Filmed in concert, this capture conveys the conscious roots reggae that built Culture’s reputation ever since the 1977 classic ‘Two Sevens Clash’. On stage, Joseph Hill — gravelly voice and undimmed charisma — carries songs of Rastafari spirituality and resistance, backed by a roots band faithful to the bass-and-drums foundations of the genre. This live concert film documents an important period in Culture’s career, a few years before Joseph Hill’s passing in 2006, and testifies to the vitality of roots reggae on European stages in the early 2000s. Between deep riddims, harmonies and committed messages, this full concert offers a valuable snapshot of one of roots reggae’s major groups, captured close to the fervour of the British crowd.