Catalogue Number
NMLH.2024.6
Object Name
Poster
Title
Rockas House
Place
London
People
Martin Stellman
Date
1976
Description
Paddington Printshop was a graphic art and printmaking centre active in west London between 1975 and 1989. The Printshop worked collaboratively with members of local organisations and campaigns to create over 400 poster designs, and thousands of leaflets. The printshop was active in the 70's and 80's, producing posters on a wide range of political issues, including for educational purposes. The group was not-for-profit and used a variety of hand-printing techniques to create their posters. This is a green, red, black and yellow screenprinted poster. The colours of the poster are the Rastafari colours. The poster shows 6 pople sat in front of some speakers. The text reads "Rockas house, St Nicholas Hall Macmillan rd Deptford. Ital Rocka's Sound. Guest sounds, Jah Shaka, Ital, Youth & Small Axe. Every Tues Night 7.30-10.30. Prizes, every other week, 10 person free, refreshments etc.., buses 1.47.70.188. Adm 30p." This poster is advertising a music event, playing dub and reggae. The
list of artists include Jah Shaka, also known as the Zulu Warrior, who was a Jamaican reggae/dub sound system operator who operated a South East London-based, roots reggae Jamaican sound system since the early 1970s. Rocksteady is a music genre established in Jamaica, around 1966. This poster was created by Ital Rockas Sound with Martin Stellman. Martin Stellman is a screenwriter, who co-wrote 'Babylon', a 1980s film about a DJ of the Ital Lion 1 soundsystem, amidst a context of rising racism, class tensions and the brutality of the national front. He based the script of Babylon on his work with young peopleand sound systems in Lewisham. This poster also pertains to sound system culture, and music influences from Jamaica.
