This double CD plus DVD and book combo offers a fascinating glimpse into pan-Caribbean music and culture from the 1920s to the 1970s, with the archive collection of original Pathé newsreels on the DVD particularly resonant, but there’s a seeming randomness to the project that irks.

Francisco "el Gran" Fellove, who died in Mexico on 15 February at the age of 89, was a Cuban soul star regarded as one of the pioneers of the genre known as "filin". One of Cuba's most charismatic performers, he was celebrated for his tropical music on songs like "El Jamaiquino" and "Mango Mangue" – which he wrote when he was 16 or 17 and was recorded by Celia Cruz, Tito Puente and the flautist Johnny Pacheco, among others.

Bunny Wailer accuses Snoop Lion of embracing Rastafarianism simply to publicise his new reggae album. Tim Walker reports

Not exactly a dub version of last year's Corner of the World. More a dub sidestep, perhaps. But then what would you expect of a combo which comprises bass, drums and harp, plus voices/samples? Only asking.

Although this London band have shifted focus towards a more roots reggae vibe, the emphasis is still on capturing the spirit of the 1970s Jamaican and Nigerian music that inspires them.

"Hearing is a feeling," sings Lee Scratch Perry on "Ball of Fire", "I am the maddest, scooby-dooby-doo" – and who would gainsay either claim?

Legend and fallible memory suggest that the extended 12-inch mixes from Perry's Black Ark studio are the holy grail of late-1970s reggae.

Even deprived of a cooking Jamaican band, Toots Hibbert can still rouse the spirit thanks mainly to the possession of the most soulful voice in reggae.

The imminent 50th anniversary of Jamaican independence has prompted a rash of exhaustive reggae retrospectives, the best being this 4 x 2CD series.

Soul Jazz continues its unending commitment to the recesses of CS Dodd's back catalogue.

The underwater films of the late Jacques Cousteau enchanted and entranced several generations of cinema-goers and TV viewers throughout the 1950s, '60s and '70s and played an important part in raising environmental awareness. The diver, Albert Falco, was Cousteau's right-hand man for 37 years and helped make the Oscar-winning documentaries The Silent World in 1956 and World Without Sun in 1964, as well as the celebrated television series The Undersea World Of Jacques Cousteau.

Whistle stop

Michael Kiwanuka continues the folk-soul tradition of Bill Withers and Terry Callier on this debut album. Sensitively produced by The Bees' Paul Butler, it's a pleasant enough handful of easy-going songs, in which the focus on warmth has left them lacking bite.

Listeners to BBC Radio 2 are to sample the ganja-scented atmosphere of the reggae dancehall for the first time when the station launches a late-night, weekly "spliff hour".