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Sister Nancy Story at Tribeca

We got to watch Sister Nancy, pioneer of Jamaican dancehall music perform at Tribeca for a magnificent performance. We will get to that later but to get there we have to start from the beginning and that's where Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story comes in. The documentary had its world premiere screening at Tribeca and it live up to expectations as we get a insight on how a woman from a parish in Kingston, Jamaica becomes the first female dancehall deejay to becoming a working single mom to becoming a icon to so many women in the music industry. Directed by Alison Duke the journey starts out from humble beginnings. The film starts off with Nancy performing her classic song and the title of the movie: Bam Bam which itself have a colorful history. From there we go to New Jersey where Nancy resides and is working out by power walking a few blocks from her house. She starts talking about touring and how much family means to her. After that we get into the heart of the story which is her career and her fight to claim her fortune from a song that at one point was not hers even though she wrote the lyrics. There is shady music business practice that keeps Nancy in the dark for decades for example Bam Bam was hardly played in her home country of Jamaica but played prominently all over the world and secondly the label which Nancy sign with own the rights of the song where rappers was sampling it and not giving her credit but the label. The movie goes in and out about her signing on stage then greeting fans to staying with family to be active in her community. Behind all of her activity was her signature song in the background generating sales and her not realizing or knowing what a impact it have culturally and financially. This is where the director gives us a tour of Jamaica and the surroundings that birthed Nancy and her roots to create such a song and then you see the record label and businessman behind it who took the song and push it internationally without her knowing.


The documentary discusses many topics but the most important one is a woman's place in the industry and how she must persevere so many obstacles to solidify her status and watch for those who are using her for their own interests. You get that with the Sister Nancy story where everyone had their own interest in mind and it was not until years later that she realized she was missing out on the opportunity that others took from her. Alison Duke have beautifully crafting a dialogue for the people in the US who remember their parents bringing music overseas and hearing the songs play on radios while cleaning or cooking. It showed that no matter how long it took and that timing is everything. We love the scenes where the band that originated the riddim behind got some airtime to explain how they too did not get any compensation from the label. Another significant point is where the owner's family talks about Nancy and what she means to them and their father and anything she wanted to let her have it. It was a poignant point not only in the film but for Nancy's career and family. From there the film shifts to good times for Nancy as she continues to travel and provide for her family knowing that she will be collecting profit off her song. Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy is a great documentary to introduce new fans, people wanting to know the real story of the song and countrymen who love to see one of their own succeed. We are glad that we were able to watch it and highly recommend seeing it when it's available.

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