The Solidarity Session
Exclusive Mix
Wilkswood Reggae Festival + Countryman Soundsystem produce ‘Solidarity Session’ mix in support of Black Lives Matter.
Producers and selectors from the Wilkswood Family and Countryman Soundsystem have put together an exclusive session mix of reggae protest tracks in support of Blacks Lives Matter. The 50-minute session is available here to listen to and includes some powerful and strident songs depicting the personal experiences of racial prejudice and struggle.
Opening with a recording from a recent American protest rally, the session includes tracks from Aswad, Peter Tosh, Steel Pulse, The Abyssinians, Misty in Roots and Linton Kwesi Johnson.
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The session was produced as a direct response to the current protests across America and around the globe to draw attention to institutionalised racism after the killing of George Floyd. Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25, 2020, after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes while Floyd was handcuffed face down in the street. Floyd’s death, occurring on the back of a spate of deaths of black Americans at the hands of police and white vigilantes, triggered mass protests and riots and has led to widespread criticism and highlighting of an endemic problem.