{"title":"Zion Band","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"freedom-city","title":"Freedom City","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe beginning of the 1980s wasn't a great time to be young, between \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e1979 and 1981 youth unemployment more than doubled to over 900,000. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMany approaches were tried to tackle the problem and one of the more \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003einnovative was the Arts Opportunity Theatre a charity founded in Bristol \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eby Reynold Duncan and Yvonne Deutschman. Financed by assorted public bodies, it aimed to train young people in a range of performing arts as well as the multiple skills needed to produce, organise and put on \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eshows.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOver a seven year period the Arts Opportunity Theatre put on a \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003esuccession of shows not only locally, but travelling as far as the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eContinent and trained hundreds of young people in everything from \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003emusic to book keeping. People who passed through the\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e collective would go on to form the core of many local bands and be involved in a large proportion of Bristol music releases, especially reggae.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe first show put on in 1981 and 1982 was “Freedom City” which prominently featured Zion Band. In May 1982 the Zion Band musicians from the show went into Right Track Studio in Bristol and recorded four vocals and two dubs that would be released the following January on a 12” single.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBack in 2011 Bristol Archive Records included “Twelve Tribes” on a compilation and would later also compile “Babylon Fire\/Babylon Dub”, but the other three tracks could only be found on the scarce original 12” which in recent years has rocketed in price fetching in excess of £150. We believe music should be affordable and available so 2026 sees Bristol Archive Records reissue the Zion Band “Freedom City” 12” in it's\u003cbr\u003eEntirety, complete with its original picture sleeve and insert with a limited pressing of 300 copies on black vinyl.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bristol Archive","offers":[{"title":"12\" - Black","offer_id":56295974306123,"sku":"R1003-8410","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/a0114849305_16.jpg?v=1768302322"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/fr\/collections\/zion-band.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}