From the Jamaican dancehalls to Chicago’s electric blues clubs, this powerful strand celebrates landmark artists whose voices redefined music history. These films spotlight two legends. Sister Nancy and Muddy Waters’ rhythms, broke barriers, moved generations, and continue to echo across reggae, hip hop, rock, and soul. These are the untold stories behind the sounds that shaped the world.

This Strand contains the films:

Roots and Blues: The Muddy Waters MOJO Museum

Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story

Date: Thu 20 Nov 2025

Time: 6pm

Venue: The Garden Cinema

When Sister Nancy recorded ‘Bam Bam’ in 1982, she couldn’t have known the track would become the most sampled reggae song, a rhythm that would ripple far beyond Jamaican shores. More than just a dancehall anthem, Bam Bam is a cultural time capsule, carrying with it the story of migration, resilience (if only because Sister Nancy still tours) and identity. For many in the UK, especially those from the Windrush Generation and their descendants, the song’s journey on some levels, mirrors their own, travelling across oceans and finding new roots in other countries. 

The significance of and value of the film Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story (director, Alison Duke) cannot be understated. It is the first major film documenting the life of a woman making her mark in a male-dominated industry, which is often cut-throat to women in its ranks – even today. Sister Nancy and her legacy is water-tight, if only because her song ‘Bam Bam’ is the most sampled reggae song in music history. However, it’s important to remember that the song is a reinterpretation of classic Jamaican songs from Toots and the Maytals of the same name in 1966. 

Images from Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story

When one thinks about colonialism and mid-20th century migration, the film takes on an additional historical importance. Outside of Jamaica, the United Kingdom was the main migratory stop for Jamaicans, as the UK was viewed as the ‘Mother Country’. In the aftermath of WWII, the UK called on its colonies to rebuild Britain after it had been ravaged by war. Jamaicans answered the call in earnest, providing the most migrants between the 1940s and 1960s. It wasn’t until the late 1960s/70s, when UK immigration laws changed (by the then Labour government), that Jamaicans migrated to other countries to include Canada etc. 

These Jamaicans to the UK, settled primarily in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds. Whilst they also settled in Bristol and Liverpool for example, these cities have additional layers to migration, as these cities were directly involved in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. 

During these 20th Century times, Jamaicans brought their food, fashion, and of course, music and all that those cultural cues entailed. They have now become known as the ‘Windrush Generation’ (after the ship, which brought some of the first servicemen to the UK in 1948, the Empire Windrush). So creative and influential was this generation, a unique musical genre was created by the first-generation children of these migrants called Lovers Rock.  

Blud Ah Guh Run (1982), film still. Director, Menelik Shabazz

The children of these migrants, influenced by cultural references from the Caribbean and North America and expressing their frustration from institutions, which discriminated against them, developed their own twist on reggae. It was music to voice another level of resistance against oppressive education, employment, policing and housing monoliths that tried to stifle possibilities of socio-economic progression.  

These oppresive tactics contributed to the 1981 Brixton Riots. Riots that came out of the discrimintory use of the then SUS laws by police and this included smouldering tensions. Tensions were also rising over the suspicious circumstances of the New Cross (south east London) house fire, where 13 black teenagers had died.

One such branch of music that developed out of the turmoil, was the Sound Systems and these were to be found almost wherever there was a Caribbean community. Bristol’s St Paul’s and Easton. Liverpool’s Toxteth. Birmingham’s Handsworth and Balsall Heath. London’s Hackney, Lewisham, Lambeth and Notting Hill, for example. These locations birthed legendary Sound Systems such as Jah Shaka, Saxon, Wassifa, Megatone, Mackabee, Coxsone and King Tubby. These Sound Systems and accompanying styles went on to influence soul, dance, jungle, pop and more.

There’s no denying the influence of this sound, from which Sister Nancy navigated and its impact on music today. If you listen carefully enough you’ll hear it.  

We’re really happy to announce that we’ll be joined on a panel by Keecia Ellis of Rekodimusic and Linett Kamala, DJ, Artist, Academic (and more!). Find our more about them, then book your tickets to join the conversation! You don’t want to miss out. 

Join us as we immerse ourselves into music history, reminisce and pay homage to a bygone era and honor those who’ve contributed to the cultural fabric of the UK.    

We’re pleased to be welcoming back Alison Duke since her film Promise Me was featured in our 2020 programming.   

Roots and Blues: The Muddy Waters MOJO Museum and Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story films form part of our Voices of Power: Icons Who Changed Sound Film Strand.

After the films screening, we’ll have a panel discussion with filmmakers and other, soon to be announced guests.