The rod, the bandwagon and the handshake

Singer-songwriter who brought reggae to a global audience with The Wailers and as a solo artist.

The entanglement of Jamaican popular music, sound systems and artists with the garrison politics of the PNP and JLP from the late 1960s, in which songs were adopted as party anthems and communities were divided along political lines.

The "rod of correction," a staff carried by PNP leader Michael Manley during the 1972 election and popularly linked to a gift from Emperor Haile Selassie I, which became a potent biblical-and-Rastafari political symbol woven through the reggae campaigning of the period.

Delroy Wilson (5 October 1948 - 6 March 1995) was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer often described as Jamaica's first child star, having begun recording for Coxsone Dodd's Studio One at around age 13 in the early 1960s. Among his best-known records is the Lee "Scratch" Perry-associated "Better Must Come" (1971), later adopted as a campaign theme by the People's National Party. He recorded prolifically across three decades before his death in Kingston at 46.

Clancy Eccles (1940-2005) was a Jamaican ska and early-reggae singer, songwriter and producer who brought an overtly political dimension to his music. Recording on labels including Clandisc and New Beat, he produced artists such as Alton Ellis, Joe Higgs, Lord Creator ("Kingston Town") and Larry Marshall, and helped Lee "Scratch" Perry establish the Upsetter label in 1968. A committed socialist, he advised Michael Manley's PNP and organised the musical "Bandwagon" for the 1972 election campaign.

The One Love Peace Concert, held 22 April 1978 at Kingston's National Stadium during a brokered truce in Jamaica's political violence, where Bob Marley joined the hands of rival leaders Michael Manley and Edward Seaga during "Jamming" — a moment remembered both as a peak of reggae's unifying power and, by critics, as a hollow spectacle.

Max Romeo is a Jamaican singer-songwriter best known for his work with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry at the Black Ark studio, including the politically charged 1976 album "War Ina Babylon" - roots reggae that combined social commentary with Perry's dense, experimental production style.

Founding member of The Wailers and influential solo artist.

"Let the Power Fall on I" (1971), Max Romeo's declaration that became one of the PNP's most-used campaign songs in 1972, tying reggae's spiritual language of deliverance to electoral politics.

"Better Must Come" (1971), Delroy Wilson's hopeful reggae hit on Dynamic Sounds, adopted as an anthem of Michael Manley's PNP in the 1972 election and remembered both as a people's cry for change and as a case study in political appropriation.

"Beat Down Babylon" (1972), Junior Byles's fierce Rastafari protest record produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry, capturing the militant, change-is-coming mood of early-1970s Jamaica.

The People's National Party's 1972 Bandwagon, a travelling musical roadshow of reggae stars, with Clancy Eccles among its key organisers, that carried songs like "Better Must Come" and "Let the Power Fall on I" into Michael Manley's election campaign and fused reggae with mass politics.

Reggae's story is usually told through Kingston - but its roots and its stars are scattered across every parish.

How Rastafari belief and Nyabinghi rhythm gave roots reggae its voice.

In the mid-to-late 1970s, international labels started signing Jamaican singles artists as album acts, and a run of records built to be heard start to finish redefined what a reggae release could be.

From mento's bawdy word-play to a BBC-banned reggae hit, Jamaican music kept colliding with the politics of decency.