4 months ago
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Forty-two years after Jamaican dancehall deejay and singer Ophlin Russell, better known as Sister Nancy and Muma Nancy, did the iconic song Bam Bam on the Stalag 17 riddim, Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story, a documentary about her life and what is considered “one of the most-sampled reggae songs” had its world première at the Tribeca Festival in New York in June 2024. It opened in cinemas in Toronto last Friday after an exclusive free screening at the TIFF Lightbox on Thursday.
Toronto-based award-winning filmmaker Alison Duke and co-producer Ngardy Conteh George, founders of OYA Media Group, were instrumental in bringing to light the lesser-known story behind the song, even the woman behind the voice.
Duke said, Moss Raxlen, one of Sister Nancy’s deejays, who is Canadian, reached out to her because he knew her history of making documentaries on music and wanted her to do the film about the reggae pioneer. The next step was to see if Sister Nancy liked Duke. He called her one day from Duke’s office and they agreed to do it. Raxlen is an associate producer on the film.
The filmmaker has fond memories from her youth of going to basement parties in Scarborough and, when the reggae set was played, only hearing men on the records.
“I just remember, whenever they would drop Sister Nancy, all the women would just go crazy because it was a voice that represented us. And she was badass, and she was competitive, and she sounded good; they wanted to play her over and over again,” said Duke about wanting to celebrate the fierceness of Sister Nancy being an older woman and still performing.
The writer, director and producer combines dynamic tour performances; insightful interviews with industry figures like Janelle Monae, Young Guru, and Pete Rock; and archival footage of the early dancehall scene illustrating Sister Nancy’s enduring prominence in reggae and hip hop. There are also interviews with Sister Carol, Herbie Miller, Queen Ifrica, Tony Rebel, DJ Kool Herc, Michie Mee, and others.
“Entertaining and empowering, Sister Nancy’s story proves that great music overcomes obstacles, and staying true to oneself is the key to success – both in the music industry and in life”, notes a synopsis of the film.
Since recording the song in 1982 in Winston Riley’s studio in Kingston, Jamaica, Sister Nancy had no idea of its success because she never heard it being played on radio there. Her other songs were heard on the airwaves but not Bam Bam, Duke said the artiste told her.
Sister Nancy toured England and Canada shortly after the song was produced and people loved it. “It’s almost like the hugeness of the song was kind of hidden from her,” said Duke. For 32 years, she received no royalties from all the sampling that happened with Bam Bam, and the original master tapes have still not been found.
Bam Bam was included in the 1998 American crime drama film, Belly, written and directed by music video director Hype Williams. That alerted the New Jersey-based Sister Nancy to the popularity of her song.
Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story references her lawsuit against producer, Winston Riley, after her daughter noticed that the song appeared in a Reebok commercial in 2014 and encouraged her to take legal action. They settled with her being compensated for the last 10 years and 50 per cent of the song’s rights. She was unable to receive royalties for all 32 years but eventually left her banking career and now lives off the song’s royalties.
Describing the world première of the film at the Tribeca Festival as amazing, Duke said there were about 500 people at the screening and “hip hop royalty” came out, including Pete Rock, Smif-N-Wessun, Renee Neufville from the group Zhane, and others.
It was Sister Nancy’s first time seeing the film because she wanted to watch it with an audience, said Duke, noting that the reggae artiste was pleased with it.
“I can tell she’s happy with it; I think she loves it because the people love it,” said Duke, who talks to Sister Nancy weekly.
Duke and her team are in talks with a streaming service in Jamaica about the film which would be seen in Jamaica and maybe the rest of the Caribbean.
“It’s slowly touring around the world. After Toronto, it will be in the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, California; the San Diego Black Film Festival; and festivals in Washington and Italy.”
That’s just for February, the filmmaker said, noting that they will do five cities in Australia, possibly Brazil and all the places from which they are getting calls.
English (US) ·