Review movies: Pick of the Indies | Duke Vin | Jamaican sound engineer | Sound system | ska | Portobello Film Festival | Count Suckle | Kingston

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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with DAN CARRIER
Published: 3 September 2009

Pick of the Indies

HAVING spent a fair amount of my spare time this summer dancing to large sound systems, it is with great interest that I see the Portobello Film Festival is premiering a documentary about Duke Vin, a Jamaican sound engineer who arrived in west London in 1954 and whose arrival on these shores changed the face of the British music scene forever.
He’d stowed away on a boat from Kingston with his good mate Count Suckle and, as this film explains, the pair built the very first sound system in London and introduced London to the sound of ska.
Director Gus Berger explains how his work helped popularise ska and also shows the rise of this unique music.
“It evolved from speeded up American RnB covers to brass heavy sings that spoke of freedom and independence,” he says.
“After branching out to reggae and dub, ska was revived in the 90s and noughties.”
The Portobello Film Festival runs from tonight (Thursday) to the 20th September at venues in Notting Hill including the Westbourne Studios, the Tabernacle and The Inn on the Green.

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