A few years back, I asked dancehall star Beenie Man how a small island like Jamaica could harbor so many of the world’s musical treasures. His answer: “It’s magic!”

Maybe. But a trailer for the documentary Rise Up reveals another secret: “There is a place on earth where music is not just entertainment, but a way of life.”

The doc’s charm is in sharing a slice of that life. While there are appearances by some of the island’s biggest stars — Lee “Scratch” Perry, Sly and Robbie, among others — the most magical moments show music as a part of everyday life: a song to sing while scaling a fish; the inevitable survey of a ganja garden. Mixed in with these little gems are bits and pieces of the history of Jamaican music, a subject clearly familiar and on the minds of the artists here. Me, I’ve fallen in love with Steve Culture, a drummer from Negril with a lively grin, who reviews the entire evolution of Jamaican riddims on his drums in 2 minutes, 49 seconds.

Bob Marley once sang: “In this great future, you can’t forget your past.” Rise Up shows why you’d never want to.

Rise Up screens at 8pm on Friday, August 14; 10:45pm on Saturday, August 15; and 7pm on Sunday, August 16 at the Carnival Studio Theater in the Adrienne Arsht Center, 1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami; (305) 949-6722; www.arshtcenter.org. Free for Adrienne Arsht Center Members, $10 for non-members.