Diaspora & global routes

Signature 1994 hit from Cidade Negra’s album Sobre Todas as Forças, a Brazilian reggae radio staple that helped cement the band’s national mainstream breakthrough.

The best-known song by Gondwana, the Chilean band who did more than anyone to establish reggae in Spanish-speaking South America. It is a good illustration of how far the form travelled and how completely it was absorbed: a Jamaican rhythm, a Chilean band, a Spanish lyric, and an audience that heard it as their own music rather than an import.

Willi Williams's Studio One roots record for Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, cut on the "Real Rock" rhythm (recorded 1977, issued 1979) and famously covered by The Clash - a vivid case of a Studio One riddim reaching global rock audiences.

Lead single from Kardinal Offishall’s major-label debut, articulating Toronto’s West Indian presence in patois-inflected verse and becoming his first Top 20 Canadian solo hit; a remix paired him with Jamaican deejay Bounty Killer.

"Bam Bam" is Sister Nancy's 1982 song, produced by Winston Riley for his Techniques label over the Stalag riddim (built from Ansel Collins's 1974 "Stalag 17"); it is now regarded as one of the most sampled reggae recordings in hip-hop history.

Louisa Mark's mid-1970s record, cut when she was still a teenager, and usually treated as the starting point of lovers rock — the British reggae style that gave second-generation Caribbean Britain a music of its own, sung largely by young Black British women.

Lead single from Collie Buddz’s 2007 self-titled Columbia Records debut, a reggae radio hit that topped charts in Jamaica, the UK and continental Europe and drew a Busta Rhymes remix.

"Everyone Falls in Love" by Tanto Metro & Devonte is a late-1990s dancehall crossover record, using singjay melody and duo interplay in a way that translated strongly to international radio and introduced many listeners to a softer dancehall sound.

"Everything I Own," Ken Boothe's 1974 cover of David Gates's Bread ballad, reached number one on the UK Singles Chart on October 26, 1974, staying there for three weeks - produced by Lloyd Charmers at Federal Records in Kingston, with Lloyd Parks on bass, Willie Lindo on guitar and the Maytals' Paul Douglas on drums.

"Footprints" by T.O.K. is a mid-2000s vocal cut on the Drop Leaf riddim, often cited in the one-drop/dancehall crossover moment when harmony groups, roots themes and polished rhythm production overlapped.