Roots & Soul

Roots & Soul is a Birmingham concert bringing together several acts across R&B, soul, funk, gospel and reggae. The bill is headed by Aswad and includes The Real Thing and The Marley Experience.

Aswad are a reggae band formed in West London in 1975, with Brinsley Forde and Angus Gaye among their key members. Their 1988 single "Don't Turn Around" is among their best-known recordings. The bill also features The Real Thing, a Norwegian jazz band from Oslo formed in 1992, whose first album, "Deluxe", was released in 2000 within the Norwegian jazz scene. Mi-Soul, The Marley Experience, Roots and ROOTS & SOUL complete the line-up named for the night.

The programme spans the soul, funk and gospel traditions alongside reggae, so the evening suits listeners who follow those genres across several acts rather than a single artist. The combination of R&B, soul and reggae on one bill gives the night a broad musical range.

O2 Academy Birmingham, at Horsefair in the city centre, is a venue that mainly hosts concerts, with a focus on pop, rock and indie music. Its programming here presents the soul and reggae acts within its regular concert schedule.