 Long
Beach, California
Saturday, February
19th and Sunday, February 20th
Touted as the ‘Largest
International Food & Crafts Festival’ in the United States, in its
24th year and as part of the ongoing theme of Black History Month, the
Diaspora unravels branches of its own red, gold and green come February
in the Long Beach Arena. The anticipation usually starts to build at the
top of the New Year where typical questions of - “who’s playing in this
year’s Bob Marley Festival?” - arises. Produced by RaggaMuffins Productions’
Barbara Barbino and Moss Jacobs, the President’s Day long weekend kicks
off Saturday, February 19th starring a blend of mostly roots and a sprinkling
of dancehall artists, while the following day, Sunday February 20th features
popular mainstream Soca newcomers alongside more and more roots reggae
artists. “We’ve had artists (in the past) like Taj Majal, Ben Harper,
Lauryn Hill, a number of not really ‘traditional reggae’ artists on the
show,” said Public Relations spokesperson for the festival, Russell Gerlach,
a noted figure in the California Reggae community, in his response to
this year’s inclusion of Kevin Lyttle, Rupee and Ozomatli. “But Kevin
Lyttle of course, he’s on radio stations from KJLH to KISS FM, a number
of stations are still playing “Turn Me On” and with Rupee, who is a good
performer as well, there is an added element to the show.” Although Saturday’s
line up features 2005 Grammy-nominated artist, Jimmy Cliff, the other
buzz for this day will definitely be for St. Croix-based reggae outfit,
Midnite, a band growing a fan base today – especially in California –
probably faster and larger than any of the other acts on this particular
day.
The Festival build-up didn’t
come without its regrets. Dampening fans’ excitement to see the artists
who propelled some of the most popular hits of 2004, the 5th Element Crew
from Jamaica consisting of Richie Spice, Chuck Fenda and Anthony Cruz,
who at one time appeared as part of Saturday’s line-up, all of a sudden
disappeared from it. “Their management said, ‘Yes we have them (5th Element
Crew) for your show,’ while their booking agent said that, ‘No we have
them on the East Coast for a show already,’” says Mr. Gerlach. “We’re
disappointed, definitely. We’d love to have had those artists because
they’ve made their name…we’ll try to get them back for next year.”
The line-up for
Saturday, February 19 in Long Beach Arena is as follows:
Jimmy Cliff
Alpha Blondy
Ozomatli
Tanya
Stephens
Mr.
Vegas
Don Carlos
Midnite
Easy
Star All-Stars
Melodians
Shinehead
Soul Majestic
Prince Rastan
Iva Vybz Band (featuring
Santa Davis)
Jerry Lee &
Friends
Band – Detour Posse
Hosts – DJ Richie
B & Amlak Tafari
 Sunday,
February 20th, the last day of the festival in Long Beach (before it heads
off to San Diego on Monday, February 21st at the San Diego Sports Arena
and then Saturday, February 26 th in San Francisco at the Bill Graham
Civic Auditorium), usually brings in the majority of nearly 30,000 attendees
for the grand finale with headliner Steel Pulse, another 2005 Grammy-Nominated
artist in this year’s line-up, to hopefully close another year of excellent,
uplifting entertainment. This marks Steel Pulse’s 30th anniversary in
the business, an even longer existence than the RaggaMuffins Festival
itself. With a new album just released titled, African Holocaust,
they’re a band who is, like rice is to Asian cuisine, a staple of reggae
music. “It’s not really that much of a significance to me, but it seems
as if it’s more of a significance to everybody else,” says David Hinds,
lead singer of Steel Pulse regarding their 30th Anniversary. “As far as
what we should have achieved, and where reggae is right now in comparison
to other music in the world, I think it’s still not where it deserves
to be. So we’re not saying ‘Wow! It’s 30 years!’ and sort of glorifying
the whole event, it’s not like that with us – it’s never been really in
all honesty.” But as serial headliners, Steel Pulse has performed at this
festival already; however, with a more determined message it seems fans
should consider bracing themselves for the unfamiliar, as well as their
familiar classic hits of yesteryear of course. “All we can do is what
we usually do, what’s gonna be refreshing is that we're gonna be doing
obviously more from the new album, because we're promoting that as well,”
Hinds continues. “Obviously we feel honored to be performing at the Long
Beach Arena. We have a line-up now that has two female backing vocals,
and trust me, Long Beach has not seen this particular line-up.”
 If
you’re a roots fan, both days seem to be a must for considering, but dancehall
fans will continue to hang their heads down, with Tanya Stephens, Mr.
Vegas, the German deejay Gentleman and Barrington Levy carrying the torch
for the dancehall genre for a limited amount of ragga power this year.
Still feeling the aftermath of the effects from various gay activist movements
worldwide targeting 8 dancehall artists: Beenie Man, Capelton, Vybz Kartel,
T.O.K., Sizzla, Spragga Benz, Bounty Killer and Buju Banton - this year’s
line-up carries a theme, all too familiar to the gay community – ‘Play
it safe’. Responding, PR spokesperson for the festival, Russell Gerlach
does confirm these obvious reasons for the absence of dancehall artists.
“Well, Buju unfortunately is not able to travel, but on top of that…it
was a conscious decision with the business sponsors, and in general the
Raggamuffins Festival didn’t want to be included in the controversy,”
Mr. Gerlach confirms. “We’ve had those artists on the show over the years,
and also we’re giving those artists a time to sort out what their reaction
to the protest and outcry from the gay community would be. But we do have
some dancehall of course.”
The line-up for
Sunday, February 20 in Long Beach Arena is as follows:
Steel Pulse
Israel
Vibration
Barrington Levy
Richie
Stephens
Misty in Roots (UK)
Kevin Lyttle
Rupee
Gentleman
(Germany)
Martin Campbell
(UK)
Tribo De Jah (Brazil)
Calibe
Band – Detour Posse
Hosts – DJ Richie
B & Amlak Tafari
The Long Beach
Arena is located at 300 E. Ocean Blvd. Long Beach, California. For ticket
information, visit the official festival websites:
www.raggamuffins.org
or www.bobmarleydayfestival.com.
San Diego--February 21st--San
Diego Sports Arena
San Francisco--February 26th--Bill
Graham Civic Auditorium
Related Articles:
Raggamuffins
Festival 2004
Raggamuffins
Festival 2003
Raggamuffins
2003 Slide Show
Raggamuffins
Festival 2002
Wendy's
Perspective: 2002
2002
Preview
Raggamuffins
Festival 2001
2001
Preview
Bob
Marley Awarded Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
Marlon Regis, "Musical
Murder" columnist of The Beat Magazine, is the dancehall reviews
selector, as well as the annual guest editor for The Beat's dancehall
issue. He's occasionally the digi DJ under another alias, DJ Pelau, and
he's been a music consultant for DMX Music's reggae format for the past
five years. Outside of the reggae world, he's a staff writer for hiphopsite.com,
and contributing writer to magazines such as The Source, Complex, Upscale
and other web sites such as Earplug.cc, HipHopdx.com and more if you can
catch him!
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