STORY · GLOBAL
The revival generation finds its voice
Well supported
A 2010s wave of singers reclaimed roots reggae for a new century.
Around the reggae revival, a young generation of singers - many women - put conscious roots and soulful fusion back at the centre of Jamaican music.
Roots, again
In the 2010s a cluster of young Jamaican artists pushed conscious roots and live-band soul back to the front. Grouped loosely under the banner of the reggae revival and led on the deejay side by Chronixx and Protoje, the movement also had a strong melodic wing of singers.
A new generation decided roots singing was theirs to inherit.
The singers of the revival
Samory I, whose "Black Gold" was produced by Rory Stone Love, and Iba Mahr carried the roots torch, while women such as Hempress Sativa and Jaz Elise - the latter part of Protoje's In.Digg.Nation - expanded its palette toward soul and R&B.
Family and collective ties ran through the scene: Runkus, son of a 1990s deejay, and the siblings Keznamdi and Kelissa show how the revival was as much a network as a sound - a generation reclaiming roots singing on its own terms.