One of the biggest Reggae music festivals in the world, Reggae Sumfest, takes place over a week full of events in Montego Bay, Jamaica.  The first evening for most of us arriving mid-week was Bunji Garlin’s Birthday Celebration, Bunji was in attendance, cake and all. The following evening Global Sound Clash came through fast and furious with bangs and horns. But the main celebrations for the week are two nights of full festival showcases featuring the world’s best established and up-and-coming reggae and dancehall talent.

At this time of year, all roads lead to Catherine Hall, the traffic is ridiculous and people spend on average over an hour inching into the festival grounds. But once you enter, the love that vibrates throughout the park is unmatched. After all, this is the land of one love and the home of reggae.

The festival grounds have a pocket kind of set up: stage at the top, trimmed by a VIP area, party crowd in the middle, various vendors, and sponsor booths wrapping it around the edges. Getting from one side to the other is a mission so most people find a comfortable spot and post up there for a few hours. From the back of the park, sitting on the Island Strains balcony the view is astonishing: thousands of people, tightly packed, spread out as far as the eye can see.

The lineup was a treat in many ways. Many performers bring out up-and-coming talent to give them a chance at the stardom. This year the biggest surprise was from Romain Virgo, but more on that later.

The first standout set on Saturday night was Agent Sasco, a.k.a. Assassin. Over his 18-odd years of music making Sasco has built a loyal following of fans in Jamaica. Here, people truly know him for who he is and not just as a collaborator of Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar. As one of the most recognizable and respected voices in dancehall today, with two strong albums released within the last 3 years (Hope River and Theory of Reggaetivity) Assassin gathered quite a crowd. Throughout his set, Sasco was dancing, covering his face to match the dramatic notes of the lyrics, telling stories, and inviting the audience to participate. Backed up by two singers and a five-piece band, picking out tracks from across his repertoire, Sasko illustrated his full musical diversity. As a true gentleman, he naturally sang “Slow Down” as that one special track for the ladies.

One of the most anticipated sets for the weekend was a collaboration between Beenie Man and Bounty Killer. The two dancehall legends have been on competing paths since their first clash in 1993. Over the years this rivalry in “some cases saw a polarization of the dancehall,” pointed out Urban Islandz. But with a few social media announcements pre-Sumfest the excitement for this reunion caused quite a stir. The two artists came together on the Sumfest Stage for a joint performance and it was one for the books. Beenie Man and Bounty Killer went back and forth, riffing off of each other, giving one another room to highlight their own songs, and even bringing out Aisha Davis on stage to do a few pop covers together. The two legends, in applause-worthy stage attire, accompanied by Aisha in her bright pink catsuit, made people sing, laugh, and take a trip down memory lane. After a bit of No Doubt and a few lines of “I’m drinking Rum & Red Bull” Beenie Man mischievously, and quite literally, ran Bounty Killer off stage.

Mikayla Simpson, better known as Koffee, was a late but welcome addition to the festival lineup. Born in Spanish Town, just outside of Kingston, Jamaica, Koffee is a product of a single-parent household on a mission to “genuinely make the world a better place.” Over the last couple of years, since a school talent show, Mikayla caught a lot of attention from the likes of Coco Tea, Protoje, and Chronixx, who all brought her out on stage on various occasions. Her first original tracks “Burning,” “Raggamuffin”, and “Toast” skyrocketed Koffee to the high tops of the music industry and even to Jimmy Kimmel Live! stage. Miss Kitty, a local celebrity radio talk show host and emcee, introduced Koffee as a “young woman no one thought would gain such heights”. Small but mighty, packed with rhythm and vocal power Koffee stormed the Sumfest stage like a tornado. Mikayla quickly paced from left to right as she worked her way through Rapture EP, backed by two singers in matching outfits. As she ran out of songs Koffee promptly left the stage while we were all left wishing for more.

But the show must go on. The stage crew was hard at work swapping equipment while Miss Kitty laboriously worked on entertaining the crowd during the delay. The sun was starting to show and the anticipation was beginning to heat up the crowd who were anxiously waiting for Chronixx. The band entered the stage beginning to play the first notes of “Jah is There”. Chronixx, nowhere to be seen began to sing the song. A group of people with video cameras were gathered on the side of the stage as Chronixx continued to sing a good third of the song in the shadow of the backstage. As he slowly entered the stage the crowd went wild.

“This is rasta music,” Chronixx declared. Born Jamar McNaughton in Spanish Town Chronixx is an ambassador for the reggae genre, and rasta culture, and had a big influence on the reggae revival over the few recent years. During “Spanish Town rockin’ ” – which everyone was singing along to – the video in the background showed the simple life in the neighbourhood, innocent and welcoming, a great segue into the rest of his set. In the meanwhile, the crowd in the photo/VIP pit redirected their attention to Koffee who made her way out to the front of the stage to watch her idol perform. Over the next hour Jamar, subtly and in a relaxed attitude, played a variety of songs from Dread & Terrible and the newer album Chronology. A few of the tracks naturally involved special guests: his father Chronicle for “Big Bad Sound” and his “brother from Nigeria” Mr Eazi for “She Loves Me”.

Surveying the crowd it was obvious Chronixx has changed a bit over the years. His performance was a little bit more controlled and subdued but the passion and emotion were all there, so much so, there was enough of it to go around for everyone in the park. And this was just night one! The following night, into another sunrise, we saw performances by Beres Hammond, Jah9, Christoper Martin, Proteje, Romain Virgo, and of course, Buju Banton. Check out our Saturday night post for more.

The post Reggae Sumfest Friday: from Beenie Man and Bounty Killer to Chronixx with a splash of Koffee appeared first on Quip Magazine.

The festival brings around 1.5mln visitors to the island annually, and that’s just one way to describe the scale. Sumfest runs for a week with various size events across Montego Bay – a.k.a. paradise beach, a.k.a. rum country, a.k.a. “Imma lay on the beach until my parents don’t recognize me”. The events start out fairly small and scale up as you approach the weekend, culminating on Friday and Saturday nights in an all-out, all-night event.

So, how was it? In simple terms, pretty damn unforgettable, but let’s talk about it in a bit more detail.

Over the years Reggae Sumfest featured global performers but this year big changes swooped the island: Joe Bogdanovich of Downsound Records (DSR) took ownership of the festival and with the warm support of Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) and Sumfest vice-chairman and co-producer Robert Russell opted out of bringing in foreign acts. Jamaica is the birthplace of reggae and home to a multitude of internationally renowned artists so this line up is “as global as it has ever been”, pointed out Miss Kitty during the press conference on Saturday afternoon. While that decision maintained a level of healthy debate among the public, keeping it local also allowed the festival to keep its budget in check and invest more into the setup, the artists, and the program overall.

The biggest event of the week was the Dancehall night. Walking around the resort the friendly staff kept on asking me if I was excited for the night, “Come see me in booth 1, we’ll be serving up some jerk chicken!” Those few who were not going were visibly disappointed and those who came out made no promises for the following day.

At Sumfest there is just one stage, despite the number of performers, it is customary to party all night, past the sunrise, and watch the most prominent acts in the crisp morning sun at 7, 8 am. For real. I was shamed to bits for having a hard time staying up. People come prepared with large pieces of cardboard, a.k.a. Jamaican rugs, to rest and nap on. Some take nap breaks in the cars but most waste no time on such silly things as naps.

Dancehall as a genre originated in the 70s with the likes of Yellowman, Eek-a-Mouse, and Moti Giat. As the digitalization of the music industry began swiping the world it progressed the genre into faster beats and rhythms, influencing artists in the US. You may know one of them as Shabba Ranks and some would argue that even Rihanna and Sean Paul are Dancehall artists.

Today, Dancehall night is the most attended event at Reggae Sumfest, the one for the “young ones” as many people kept calling it but as you entered the festival grounds it was clear that age had no limit here.

People who attend Sumfest come done up: hair did, nails did, everything did, and ready to drop it. Dancehall, and reggae overall really, bring out an incredible rhythm in people. The performers were primarily wearing white, glowing in the stage lights or reflecting morning sun rays. This is a place to dance, drink rum and Ting, sip Red Stripe, sing along, and be happy. Or as they call it – It’s the Home of All Right.

The newly improved two-level Dancehall stage was a surprise to everyone. The band was keeping pace on the top level, floating across the center of the stage, while the performers had room to roam elevated just enough to be seen across the park. A certain level of special access will gain you entry into the VIP area with full access to the front of the stage, some VIP perks come with entry into the media tent where all artists lounging around, taking pictures, and doing interviews.

Smaller artists took the stage early in the evening, the big stars took the stage early in the night but that’s not to say that the acts in between were any less worth watching, there were 25 of them after all. Bounty Killer blew the crowd out of the water, Spice absolutely killed it with her theatrical and memorable performance, Romain Virgo drew the girls closer to the stage while Tanto Blacks showcased their spectacular moves, and Chi Ching Ching and Agent Sasco had everyone singing along. The cream of the crop however, were Popcaan, I-Octane, and the “King of Dancehall” Beenie Man taking the attendees into the Saturday morning and welcoming those who had just finished their nightshifts to Sumfest. Fittingly to his nickname Beenie Man was carried out onto the stage on a throne. Throughout the weekend Beenie Man kept making surprise appearances on the Sumfest stage causing an uproar in the audience with each entrance.

Saturday night was Reggae night featuring some highly anticipated classic acts like Tarrus Riley, Super Cat, Busy Signal, Nature, Christopher Martin, Luciano, and, of course, Barrington Levy. The night had a significantly shorter line up overall, only 12 acts, which gave each artist plenty of stage time.

With each performer coming out on stage the crowd went wild. Everyone’s favourite performed that weekend. Barrington Levy strolled out in a glittering white suit bringing out special guests like Beenie for “Murder” and Shyne later on. No one expected Shyne to be at Sumfest – there may have been tears when the first beats of “Bad Boyz” began to ring across the festival grounds. Super Cat took the stage next spreading nostalgia through the audience, and Tarrus Riley took us into the morning.

Reggae Night was a big day for many: a press conference held earlier that day gave the organizers an opportunity to shed light on their vision and to those of us coming from overseas an opportunity to sit down and pick Beenie Man’s brain. Believe me when I say, there is a lot there for the picking, but more on that later. Joe Bogdanovich took a moment to illustrate his involvement with the festival at midnight to Don Andre “Tom Cruise” while Prime Minister Andrew Holness and other associated governing bodies admired the festival from the balcony in the back. Everyone supports the festival, Jamaican culture and pride is deeply embedded into Sumfest, it is a part of the “all right” in “home of the all right” slogan.

The casualness of the islands is contagious but the energy that Sumfest brings out in people is incredibly engaging. Spending time in Jamaica and getting deeply engaged with the culture is unforgettable on many levels – from the beach to the sunrise shows and, more importantly, to the people – performers and locals alike.

All images are courtesy of Reggae Sumfest

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