Congo Beat the Drum follows musicians Ariel Tagar (known as Kalbata) and Uri Wertheim (aka Mixmonster), from Israel to Jamaica, to record an album with some of their favorite singers from the late 1970s and early 1980s. The pair travel from a basement studio in Tel Aviv to Kingston, where they seek out and record with musicians including Mutabaruka, Jah Thomas, Trinity, U Roy, Tullo T, Major Mackerel, Ninja Man, Little John, Puddy Roots — and attempt to recreate the analog sound and feel of reggae’s Rub-A-Dub era.
Since premiering at the Jerusalem Film Festival in 2014, Congo Beat the Drum has screened at film fests around the Caribbean, as well as the Rotterdam Film Festival (Holland), Addis Ababa International Film Festival (Ethiopia) and the Cannes Pan African Film Festival. Now, we present it to you here on LargeUp streaming for free, for a limited time.
Watch the movie below, and listen to the album, one of our favorite releases of 2014, here.