A man who crosses the divisions between rich and poor, black and white, reggae and punk, Don Letts has stood at the forefront of UK culture for over three decades. He was DJ at legendary punk club The Roxy, directed videos for Public Image Ltd, Elvis Costello and Bob Marley, made the Grammy Award-winning Clash: Westway To The World. In between, Don co-founded Big Audio Dynamite, penned an autobiography and hosts his own radio show. His latest work is a documentary on the history of London’s Notting Hill Carnival, which is held this weekend...
I enjoyed your documentary Carnival. Can you tell us about it?
Thanks. Yeah, I started shooting the carnival myself in 1975 and I’ve used some great archive material going all the way back to 1958 until today. I’ve also got interviews with (newsreader) Sir Trevor Macdonald, who had a interesting overview, DJ Norman Jay, Jazzy B, Andrea and Miquita Oliver [Andrea was the singer in post-punk band Rip, Pig And Panic, her daughter Miquita is a TV presenter), actor Rudolph Walker, old school/new school, a good mix. I’m very pleased with it
How did the Carnival begin?
The first carnival was in 1959 and was a direct response to the Notting Hill Race riots of 1958 that continued for two weeks, saw 140 arrests and saw Teddy Boys attack the Caribbean community. The Carnival began as an indoor event held in St Pancras town hall. It was organised by Claudia Jones – she was an interesting character – a feminist, black activist and community leader who had moved to Harlem aged eight, became a member of the American Communist Party, was imprisoned four times and deported. She found refuge in London in 1955. She’s buried in Highgate Cemetery next to Karl Marx and there’s a commemorative plaque to her in the Tabernacle.
How did the Carnival go from being a small Caribbean community event to the multi-cultural experience of today?
In 1964 it moved to Notting Hill. That was via the efforts of one Rhaune Laslett who wanted a street festival that would unite the fractured community that lived here – not just the black people, but also the Irish, Spanish, Polish, Greeks… and she conceived it as something different from Claudia’s event. So it wasn’t just a big street party, there was some conscience there and that is what my movie looks at.
What was your aim with the film?
I wanted to remind people that it came out of a struggle and conflict which is still happening today. Immigrants are still getting stick. We’ve just got two BNP members in the European parliament, the Irish are burning out the Romanians, you even hear brothers complaining today about “bloody Poles stealing their jobs”.
It hasn’t always been peace, love and community at the Carnival, has it? You’re pictured on the cover of Super Black Market Clash striding towards a vast phalanx of policeman during the Notting Hill Carnival riots of 1976…
Yeah, but I was trying to calm down all the youth that were throwing stones at the cops. In the picture it looks the opposite.
How do you view the riots now ?
It wasn’t a black and white thing, it was a wrong and right thing. At the time there was vast unemployment, National Front on the rise and the police’s use of the SUS laws – which allowed them to stop and search anyone they thought looked dodgy, turn them over and give them a kicking. They mostly targeted young black males. We’d had enough which manifested itself in this eruption of violence on the street. It was a political uprising. Luckily it hasn’t happened since but there are many similarities with our current social climate. I am not advocating violence – there are many more powerful ways to voice our dissatisfaction – like VOTING and using your consumer powers.
Ladbroke Grove (the area of London that includes Notting Hill) has always been close to your heart.
The Grove has one of the world’s great musical and cultural heritages. We have all tribes here – Spanish, Moroccan, Portuguese, African, rich, poor, black, white – and not in a very big space. One of its great attributes is that it has a history of the hoi polloi, intellectual, bohemian rock n’ rollers hanging out in the Jamaican shebeens back in the day.
Your history has been about mixing it up; introducing punks to reggae and vice versa…
We were perfect bedfellows. We both sloganeered, we both did it homemade, we were both excluded. People credit me with introducing a lot of people to reggae in England but a lot of the hipper guys were into it already. People like Paul Simonon, Joe Strummer and John Lydon. And credit where its due, it was The Clash who pushed it as well by taking me out on the road with them as a DJ which helped me introduce reggae to the suburbs.
And these days you have a radio show to help you bring new music to people…
Yeah. It’s on BBC 6 music and it’s called Culture Clash radio. They asked me to do a reggae show but I said no. I like to cross time, space and genres. I might play anything from Bob Marley to Patsy Cline. But mixing it up musically, culturally and ideologically has always been high on my agenda. I believe that this cross-pollination is where all great music and art comes from. I still find it amazing that Kraftwerk heavily influenced Afrika Bambaata. Think about it: Aryan Germanic music that becomes the heart and soul of the new Black urban dance music – talk about Culture Clash. My radio show is one off the most honest things I have ever done because it is truly me.
Watch the trailer for Superstonic Sound, a documentary on the life of Don Letts.
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