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Japanese dancehall duo of two brothers who moved to Jamaica in the 1990s and worked with producer King Jammy before returning home to become concert promoters and recording artists, performing internationally including at Jamaica’s Rebel Salute.

Italian reggae band formed in Turin in 1981, the year of Bob Marley's death, taking its name from his song "Africa Unite"; led by Bunna and Madaski, the band has released more than a dozen albums over four decades and produced records for much of Italy's reggae scene.

Kingston vocal trio formed in 1969 by teenagers Lincoln "Sugar" Minott, Winston "Tony Tuff" Morris and Derrick "Bubbles" Howard, whose Rastafari- and Africa-themed harmony singles became foundational roots recordings before the group split in the mid-1970s and each member pursued a solo career.

Psychedelic dub ensemble formed in 1981 by percussionist Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah with producer Adrian Sherwood on the On-U Sound label, fusing Nyabinghi-rooted drumming with dub studio techniques into a globally influential body of work.

Althea & Donna were Althea Rose Forrest and Donna Marie Reid, seventeen and eighteen years old and still at school — Queens and St Andrew High School for Girls — when "Uptown Top Ranking" was cut for Joe Gibbs in 1977. The song is the two of them ad-libbing over the rhythm from Trinity's deejay record "Three Piece Suit", and it went to number one in Britain in January 1978, making them the first Jamaican female duo to top the UK singles chart and the first signed to a major. It is usually filed as a one-hit wonder, which undersells what the record actually demonstrates: that the patois of a Kingston schoolyard could go to number one in a country that could not follow half the words.

1990s Jamaican R&B-influenced vocal group — the name stood for A Raw Perspective, also styled Always Ready to Perform — built around lead singer Orville Thomas, later known solo as Da'Ville, alongside Patrick Hylton, Leon Gilbert, Roger Mitchell and Orand Rose-Green. Da'Ville, drawn to the style of Boyz II Men, Silk, Shai and Jodeci, developed his craft inside the group before it took its ARP name; Mitchell and Gilbert's close harmonies, both gleaned from church singing, completed the line-up. Their debut release was a cover of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" cut at Cell Block Studio, performed over dancehall rhythms in an R&B style that had the group tipped by the media as the next big thing by the mid-1990s. Da'Ville left for a solo career in 2001, signing to Penthouse Records.

Jamaican 'edutainment' performing-arts company founded in 1993 by Paulette Bellamy and Joseph Robinson, blending dance, drumming, drama and song for youth empowerment and cultural education at home and abroad.

Aswad formed in Ladbroke Grove in 1975 — Brinsley Forde, Angus "Drummie Zeb" Gaye and Tony "Gad" Robinson — and were the band that proved British reggae did not have to be an imitation of Jamaican reggae. Their early work is heavy roots made by the children of Caribbean migrants about London rather than Kingston, and the instrumental "Warrior Charge" became a standard of the British sound. Forde was already a familiar face from the children's series Here Come the Double Deckers and the film Babylon, which the archive catalogues separately. The band moved steadily toward pop, and in March 1988 "Don't Turn Around" — a Diane Warren song first cut by Tina Turner as a B-side — took them to number one in Britain, the point at which a roots band from west London became a chart act. Rise and Shine followed in 1994 with "Shine" and "Warriors".

Big Mountain formed in San Diego around the singer and guitarist Joaquin "Quino" McWhinney, and in early 1994 their cover of Peter Frampton's "Baby, I Love Your Way" reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100, number one on Mainstream Top 40 and number two in Britain, carried further by the Reality Bites soundtrack. The album Unity sold over a million. They matter to this archive as evidence of how far the form had travelled by the 1990s: a Mexican-American band from southern California, playing reggae well enough to outsell most of what Kingston released that year, and doing it with a soft-rock cover rather than an original — which is either the music's reach or its dilution depending on who is asked, and the archive holds the question open. The line-up around Quino included Jerome Cruz, Gregory Blakney, Lance Rhodes, Manfred Reinke and Lynn Copeland. No embed: the surviving video upload is a reupload on a nostalgia channel with no identified rights holder.

Late-1990s Kingston dance crew (founded c.1998; members Chris, Marlon, Migz, German Bling and TwoLife) credited with moves such as Tek Weh Yuself (popularised by Mr Vegas), Eva Fresh Eva Clean, Red Carpet and My Space; toured as far as Japan and reunited in 2025.

Roots reggae band formed in 1979 in the St Paul's district of Bristol, celebrated in 1981 when John Peel showcased their debut EP on BBC Radio 1 as one of the best new British reggae releases; they toured the UK and Europe through the 1980s before a 2000s comeback via reissues on a French label.

The Kingston corner crew that ruled 1990s dancehall style, led by William "Willie Haggart" Moore with Gerald "Bogle" Levy as its lead dancer and dance-maker. Black Roses set the pattern the video-light era ran on — a move invented in the dance, named, spread by the crew, then answered by a record — and its Arnett Gardens corner functioned as court, stage and atelier for the scene. Haggart was killed in 2001 and Bogle in 2005; the crew's dances and its name run on through tributes.

British reggae band formed in 1974 with musicians from England, Jamaica and Anguilla, best known for the single "Amigo" (1980), which reached UK #9 and became one of the biggest chart hits by a UK-grown reggae act; the band also backed touring Jamaican stars such as Dennis Brown, Delroy Wilson and Ken Boothe.

Black Uhuru are a Jamaican roots-reggae group formed in the early 1970s, with Derrick "Duckie" Simpson as the constant founding member, joined during their classic era by singer Michael Rose and American-born harmony vocalist Sandra "Puma" Jones. Backed by the rhythm section of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, they released acclaimed albums such as "Sinsemilla," "Red" and "Chill Out." Their 1984 album "Anthem" won the first-ever Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 1985.

Bob & Marcia paired singers Bob Andy and Marcia Griffiths for a run of Jamaican hits in the early 1970s, produced by Harry J; their 1970 cover of Nina Simone's 'Young, Gifted and Black' reached number 5 on the UK Singles Chart and became an anthem of Black pride.