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BBC Radio 2 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Light Programme.

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Levi Roots: 50 years of Trojan Records

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50 years of Trojan Records

BBC Radio 2 - Levi Roots, 50 years of Trojan Records

Levi celebrates 50 years of Trojan Records with "Rudeboy" director Nick Davies

Joining Levi in the studio is Nick Davies, the director of "Rudeboy", a new documentary telling the story of Trojan Records on its 50th anniversary.

In the last of the current series, Levi is joined in the studio by Nick Davies, the director of "Rudeboy" a new film about the iconic Trojan label which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Levi will be delving into the history of the label, playing hits and rare sides from the legendary Trojan catalogue.

On July 28th 1967, British-based Jamaican music company, Island Records launched a label to showcase the output of one of the most popular and successful producers of the ska and rock steady eras – Arthur ‘Duke’ Reid.

The imprint, called ‘Trojan’ after the title Mr. Reid had acquired during his early days in the music business, surprisingly  folded after a matter of months. And this may well have been the end of the Trojan story had it not been for the creation of a new Jamaican music company, launched in the summer of ’68, which was in need of a suitably dynamic name.

Trojan Records promptly launched an ambitious programme of issuing singles on a variety of labels that highlighted music from every producer of note, ranging from British-based music makers such as Robert ‘Dandy’ Thompson, to such esteemed Jamaican operators as Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Edward ‘Bunny’ Lee and, of course, Duke Reid himself.

Aside from their overtly commercial output, the company also highlighted music by artists largely unknown outside Jamaica, many of which would later become major international recording stars – Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs and a Kingston-based vocal trio called Bob Marley & the Wailers.

"Rudeboy" itself is a film about the origins and ongoing love affair between Jamaican and British youth culture and explores the power of music to break down cultural barriers and change lives and the eventual birth of a modern multicultural society.

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