There’s a neighbourhood in Toronto that stretches along Eglinton Ave, just north of the downtown core. For years, it’s been buried under construction as the city builds the Crosstown LRT, but under all that is a rich musical history which is under threat.

Little Jamaica, as the neighbourhood is known, was one of the largest producers of reggae music in the world outside of Kingston, Jamaica. In the 1960s and ’70s, Jamaicans moving to Toronto helped to create a vibrant music industry, complete with clubs, record shops, recording studios, all with a connection back to Jamaica. Artists like Jackie Mittoo and Leroy Sibbles recorded their music there, and the famous reggae group Black Uhuru immortalized the strip with their song “Youth of Eglinton.”

Producing: Vivian Tabar, Jesse Kinos-Goodin
Editing: Krzysztof Pospieszynski, Vivian Tabar
Research, interviews: Vivian Tabar
Graphics: Theo Kapodistrias
Archival Photographs: Beth Lesser

Interviewees: Romain Baker, Klive Walker, Cadence Weapon, Dave Kingston, Kevin Howes, Beth Lesser

If you'd like to learn more about recent developments in Little Jamaica, visit [ Ссылка ]. There's also a fundraising initiative to build the first multi-disciplinary centre for Afro-diasporic art in Canada. [ Ссылка ]
Little Jamaica receives $1M federal grant to help it sustain Black-owned businesses: [ Ссылка ]


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