With its inception in 1978, Reggae Sunsplash has been lauded as the first festival of its kind to amass a global audience. Created as a means to offset the seasonality of tourism in the Caribbean, the first staging was held in Montego Bay of the same year but failed to reach its goal. In 1979, Bob Marley went against his manager’s wishes and placed himself on the lineup for the second staging, precipitating unprecedented success for a reggae-based event. Reggae Sunsplash became an annual affair, eventually closing in 1998 after 19 shows. An ill-fated attempt was made to rekindle the fire of Reggae Sunsplash in 2006. Since then, the event had been postponed and fallen into the shadows of other local and international reggae festivals.
In 2019, it was announced that Reggae Sunsplash was making a comeback for the following year, with plans well underway to have the festival hosted at Grizzly’s Plantation Cove on November 6-8. However, this agenda was thwarted by the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic. With doubt shrouding the future of creative industries and social gatherings around the planet, the organizers were quoted in May of this year as saying that a staging in November “would not be in everyone’s best interest”. Thankfully, the management team – headed by Tyrone Wilson of eMedia Interactive Group Limited – was resilient and ultimately made the decision to postpone the event a few weeks in order to facilitate its online staging.
Reggae Sunsplash 2020 will be streamed mainly via YouTube, but will be available through other channels, namely Instagram and Facebook. In addition to the convenience afforded by streaming the event in the comfort of your own home, this year’s event is entirely free of cost. Of course, neither of these facts discount the quality of the production; there is an extraordinary lineup scheduled.
Notably, the producers intend to unify the genres of reggae and dancehall for this festival, in lieu of striking a division between the two. To this end, the first night will showcase artists who made their mark on the genre before the 2000’s, featuring acts like Capleton, Ras-I, Richie Spice, and Tanya Stephens. The following night will highlight some of the most prolific performers of the modern era – Romain Virgo, Masicka, Jesse Royal, Dexta Daps, and Agent Sasco. The event will also acknowledge the unequivocal contributions of reggae pioneer Dennis Brown with a special tribute.
Reggae Sunsplash 2020 is presented by VISA and the Jamaica Tourist Board. It boasts an impressive list of main sponsors, namely: KFC, Flow, Rum-Bar Rum, Dragon Stout, iCreate Institute and BetCo Premier Limited. Associate sponsors include: GMAC Construction Limited, Clearsound Production Services, Kaboom Nation, Progressive Grocers, Aba Water and CARIB VOXX. The event will take place from 5:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. each night, and you can access it via their Youtube Channel. To sign up for early access, or discover additional information, click here.
