Issential Knowledge

Greetings Reggae Massive,

I & I have been faulty on my promise to keep you up to date on the happenings in the Reggae world, but no more.  The latest and greatest in Reggae news was the 2nd annual Reggae Rising Music festival in Humbolt country California.  This festival has actually taken place for 25 years, but last year a legal dispute between producer People’s Production and host Mateel Community Center that lead to the Reggae Rising.  I have been fortunate enough to have been present for 18 of those 25 years.  Though many fans were sceptical of the”Irie-ness” of the festival following the dispute, no one can deny that the line ups and special guests the last two years has erased any doubt about the greatest Reggae Festival in the world.  At Reggae Rising 2007 the The Marley’s performed with special guests Mr. Cheeks from Lost Boys and Chali-2na formally of Jurassic 5, but in 2008 they stepped it up another notch by reuniting Black Uhuru for a special performance to highlight Saturday night.

Following a mind blowing performance by Jr. Ried featuring Sly & Robbie, Ried and the rhythm twins were joined on stage by Don Carlos and Garth Dennis to perform classic anthems by Black Uhuru.  It was clear they hadn’t performed together recently due to the chemistry on stage, but I am so thankful to have witnessed such a momentous event.  And of course Sly & Robbie was the familiar rock playing for at least 2 straight hours with three different artists (Reggae Angels, Jr. Ried, and Black Uhuru).  The performance even carried on the the next night when Don Carlos brought Jr. Ried back on stage during his solo performance to play more Black Uhuru classics.  I can only hope this leads to a reunion record.

I felt somewhat bad for Turbulence and Sizzla who had to follow this historic performance, but they must have been inspired because they were the best live performances from dancehall artists that I have ever seen.  It was my first time seeing Turbulence who was surprisingly melodic and extremely dynamic on stage while commanded the crowd.  I will not miss another performance by this talented young artist.  Sizzla closed Saturday night and did not hold back.  For those of you who don’t know about the tension there can be at a Sizzla show let me just outline a few things that could go wrong.  First of all, Sizzla has such a large body of work, that the set list might miss fan favorites in favor of songs on the current album.  Sizzla also is known to use profanity and derogatory remarks against homosexuals which can seriously damage the vibe of a roots Reggae show.  But at Reggae rising 2008, none of these things happened (to his credit he also did a very good performance in 2006).  He was dynamic on stage and seemed to feed of of the energy of the night keeping it positive till the last beat.  Much respect bredren.

Before we go on to Sunday’s highlights I would be wrong not to mention the performances that Tanya Stephens and Beres Hammond threw down on Friday.  I overheard many people saying that Tanya was the reason they came to the festival this year.  She blew away many people in 2007 and she s did not disappoint in 08 with a great performance showing the strength and command that only a woman can.  Personally, Beres Hammond was 1/3 of the reason I was especially excited about this years lineup. He has one of the purest and cleanest voices in Reggae music and is known for putting on a spectacular show.  He was extremely humble and grateful for the honor of being featured and seemed to have the most fun on stage out of anyone that performed all weekend.

Sunday was great finish to the weekend and featured performances by Collie Buddz, Gentlemen, and Don Carlos. Collie Buddz performed a lot of the remixes and news tracks that he released since performing in 2007, but lack of a studio release limited the potential of the show.  Don Carlos capped off the entire festival with a one of the Irie-est roots performances that I have ever seen and brought Jr. Ried back for a second Black Uhuru jam session.  Don is the godfather of Reggae and he embodied the spirit of the music that night with humility and graciousness.  Few things can upstage a Don Carlos performance in my mind but Gentleman made quite an impression on me.  For those of you who are not familiar with Gentleman, he is a German Reggae star that has collaborations with pretty much every major Reggae Artist in the world.  His appearance is very unassuming but his performance was the highlight of the weekend for me.  He was the guy that I went and looked for at the record store on Monday.  His crowd control was fantastic and his voice was surprisingly rich for a man of such small stature.  He performed hits from his various albums released over the past decade including several collaboration tracks such as Fire A Go Bun Dem featuring Capelton and his latest hot Celebration featuring Alborosie.  I will definitely be keeping an eye on the Gentleman US tour schedule.

The only problem with Reggae Rising 2008 is that fans will have too high of expectations for 2009!  Peoples Productions has a serious task ahead of them to live up to this year.  Nuff respect to all the organizers, Volunteer and of course the Musicians for making it an experience that I will not forget.

Bless-sed Love

-One Lovell

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