Building a reggae library

Start with reggae films, new and old

* “The Harder They Come”

(the Jimmy Cliff classic, newly released on DVD)

* “Rockers” (1977 reggae indie featuring roots legend Burning Spear)

* “Dance-

hall Queen” (1997’s dancehall Cinderella)

* “Life and Debt” (stunning, reggae-inflected documentary to be released on DVD this month)

* “Studio One Story” (new Soul Jazz DVD spotlighting the pioneer reggae record label)

Add crucial books on reggae culture

* “Catch a Fire,” by Timothy White (definitive Marley bio)

* “This is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica’s Music,” by Lloyd Bradley

* “Wake the Town and Tell the People: Dancehall Culture in Jamaica,” by Norman Stolzoff * “Rastafari: Roots and Ideology,” by Barry Chevannes (a detailed history of the movement)

Finish with Dub Asher’s pick of the top 8 reggae albums of the last 8 years

* Capleton, “More Fire”

* Buju Banton, “ ‘Til Shiloh”

* T.O.K., “My Crew, My Dawgs”

* Ward 21, “Mentally Disturbed”

* Sean Paul, “Dutty Rock”

* Sizzla, “Black Woman and Child”

* Luciano, “Where There is Life”

* Bounty Killer, “My Xperience”

-- Baz Dreisinger