Ska
Michael Smiley’s teenage obsessions: ‘I heard the Beat and came back to Belfast a rude boy’
The comedian and actor on dancing with his mother to Ray Charles, the power of Seamus Heaney’s poetry and how Richard Pryor showed him his future
As told to Tom Seymour
19, Aug, 2021 @1:09 PM
The return of Jimmy Cliff: ‘Rebel spirit is still in the Jamaican people’
As he releases new music at the age of 77, one of reggae’s foundational figures charts his astonishing life in music, via swinging London, Brazilian samba and the chaotic bravado of The Harder They Come
Lloyd Bradley
06, Aug, 2021 @5:00 AM
David Arquette: ‘Marlon Brando thought I was going to give him a cold’
The actor recalls how he got into graffiti, his love of punk and sitting in the back of his teenage idol’s car
As told to Rich Pelley
24, Jun, 2021 @3:00 PM
Cars, bicycles … and 14 Lady Godivas: Coventry kicks off year of culture
‘We are a city built on ashes, this is our chance to rebuild again,’ say organisers as celebrations get under way
Jessica Murray Midlands correspondent
06, Jun, 2021 @7:45 AM
Coventry, from Ghost Town to City of Culture
As it starts its reign as UK City of Culture, two new exhibitions celebrate the groundbreaking multicultural music born in the Midlands that became the soundtrack for a generation
Gavin McOwan
28, May, 2021 @1:10 PM
Pork pie hats and politics: Coventry pays tribute to 2 Tone legacy
Major exhibition charts rise of record label that spawned musical and cultural movement in late 1970s
Jessica Murray Midlands correspondent
26, May, 2021 @1:45 PM
‘A blur of legs, arms and adrenaline’: the astonishing history of two-tone
As a new exhibition documents the UK ska-pop sound, stars including the Specials, Elvis Costello and Pauline Black recall how it opened up music, fashion and racial understanding
Dave Simpson
30, Apr, 2021 @5:00 AM
On the road with the trailblazing record label 2 Tone
Chalkie Davies’s 1979 shot of musicians from Madness, the Specials and the Selecter captures the cultural power of the emerging ska scene
Killian Fox
25, Apr, 2021 @6:00 AM
Bunny Wailer obituary
Founder member of the Wailers whose debut solo album Blackheart Man is regarded as one of reggae’s finest
Peter Mason
04, Mar, 2021 @12:56 PM
The Guardian view on two-tone nostalgia: the pride of Coventry | Editorial
Editorial: Britain’s city of culture for 2021 is rightly celebrating a musical movement that still carries a potent message
Editorial
11, Feb, 2021 @6:38 PM
Bob Marley's 30 greatest songs – ranked!
As Tuff Gong releases a limited edition series of Marley albums, we pick the greatest work of reggae’s biggest star
Alexis Petridis
19, Nov, 2020 @12:00 PM
A thousand teardrops: how doo-wop kickstarted Jamaica's pop revolution
A pair of new compilations trace the roots of reggae’s sublime songcraft back to the influence of 1950s crooners, with their close harmonies and swooning romance
Sean O’Hagan
12, Oct, 2020 @2:44 PM
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