Roots Knotty Roots

The Discography of Jamaican Music

Forum

RKR is an attempt to document more than thirty years of Jamaican musical history. The seeds for this project began on the Internet in the reggae music newsgroup and the database itself was initially built from files created to catalog the collections of RKR founders Michael Turner and Robert Schoenfeld. Thanks to the help and support of many contributors, it has grown to be the most advanced reference work of its kind.

News

Roots Knotty Roots is now online. Read More >>

Featured Profiles

This issue features the Top Deck label discography from the 1960s and a discography for producer Roy Francis' Phase One label from the 1970s.

Matrix Numbers in Depth

Matrix numbers are a simple, coded method used by a pressing plant to identify the records manufactured by that factory. The numbers assigned to a specific title are either hand-etched or die-stamped directly into the metal parts that are used to press the record. A better understanding of the matrix number system used for both Jamaican and UK releases can provide collectors with a more complete picture of the production side of almost any record or series of records. Read More >>

One Matrix Story of Note

The years of 1960-1962 were very important for Jamaican music. In the UK, The Blue Beat and Island labels began releasing relatively large numbers of Jamaican recordings. This gave commercial momentum to a fledgling, perhaps somewhat shaky new music industry in Jamaica by opening a new, wider market abroad. As the UK market begins to respond to these somewhat exotic new records, the producers’ initially tentative approach to this new market gradually develops over time into a virtual dependence on the export business. Matrix numbers sometimes provide clues to how early efforts to expand the market for Jamaican music were first developed. Read More >>