Rhythm of life links Ireland to reggae in Jamaica

REGGAE music has been an important force in the life of the poet and troubadour Gearóid Mac Lochlainn. In next week’s episode of TG4’s Ceolchuairt series, he travels to Jamaica to explore the music’s roots, which played as a soundtrack to his youth.

Mac Lochlainn grew up in the Twinbrook housing estate in west Belfast, about 300 metres from Bobby Sands’ family home. While the city was torn asunder by the Troubles, Bob Marley’s message of ‘One Love’ had particular resonance for the city’s divided communities. Curiously, Marley died within a week of Sands in 1981. Mac Lochlainn was 15 years old at the time.

“Nobody went into the centre of Belfast at night time — apart from young punks and people who were listening to reggae, and covering songs by The Clash, punk and reggae bands,” he says. “Through that I got into reggae, which had universal ideas. There were a lot of parallels with what was going on in Belfast and in Kingston.