{"id":347,"date":"2011-12-01T23:16:46","date_gmt":"2011-12-02T05:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blackworldcinema.net\/blog\/?p=347"},"modified":"2025-06-03T00:35:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T05:35:14","slug":"chicago-premierethe-story-of-lovers-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackworldcinema.net\/blog\/2011\/12\/01\/chicago-premierethe-story-of-lovers-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Premiere:The Story of Lover’s Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Story of Lover’s Rock
\nUK 2011, 96 min
\nDirector: Menelik Shabazz<\/p>\n

This is first and foremost a film about Black Social Dance. The US parallel would be the “slow-dance,” the “Bop,” “Sunset Bop.”\u00a0 Under dark blue or red lights in a crowded room young men and women came together to experience the ritual intimacy of dance, flirtation and love to the sound of romantic music.<\/p>\n

Lovers Rock, often dubbed ‘romantic reggae’ is a uniquely black British sound that developed in the late 70s and 80s against a backdrop of riots, racial tension and sound systems. Live performance, comedy sketches, dance, interviews and archive shed light on the music and the generation that embraced it. Lovers Rock allowed young people to experience intimacy and healing through dance- known as ‘scrubbing’- at parties and clubs. This dance provided a coping mechanism for what was happening on the streets. Lovers Rock developed into a successful sound with national UK hits and was influential to British bands (Police, Culture Club, UB40) These influences underline the impact the music was making in bridging the multi-cultural gap that polarized the times. The film sheds light on a forgotten period of British music, social and political history.
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