Extravagant, entertaining, exciting are just a few words used by patrons to describe the atmosphere upon entering the gates of the premier music festival in the West Indies known to all as Reggae Sumfest. Birthed in Jamaica, in 1993 the show has been a platform for showcasing reggae music amongst many other musical genres that many have come from far and wide to witness. Entering its 27th-year Reggae Sumfest still remains the greatest reggae music festival hosted every summer and with its partnership with Downsound Entertainment, there is no sign of slowing down.
CARIB VOXX sat down with the ever so fashionable theologian, songwriter, promoter and the ‘Conquering Lion’ producer Cordell “Skatta” Burrell to speak on the relationship between Downsound Entertainment and Reggae Sumfest.
Downsound Entertainment has been an integral part of Reggae Sumfest for about 4 years. The Joe Bogdanovich led group originally took control in 2016. Burrell states “we didn’t fully undertake everything, we still had the outgoing partners onboard just to guide us for the first year, so we played a supporting role in 2016 and we learnt a lot. It was very good, it showed us how to work with people who understood the game and understand what the festival is all about, I mean they’ve been doing it for twenty-odd years, so it only made sense that we learn from them in order to keep this thing going and take it up a notch”.
With 2017 being the first year Downsound took over a 100%, they managed to increase the attendance by at least 40%, which Skatta owes to the gaining of knowledge from the previous year, in addition, the aspirations and plans they had for the festival, “In 2016 we decided to cut down show nights from three to two nights and it works fairly well, but in 2017 we saw a surplus in attendance from the attendees and it was very warm and well-received and under the banner of our music, our festival, we try to channel Jamaicans to fall in love with their culture once again because Reggae Sumfest has always been the type of festival that brought international performers and popstars to our shores, but we’ve thrived to change that protocol a bit because we want Jamaicans to fall in love with their culture, their music, their artists once again”.
Burrell goes to point out that Reggae Sumfest’s growth has surpassed expectations and silenced the naysayers. “We grew the attendance by at least 30-40% and it was a great look, that year I think we had Alkaline for his very first huge performance outside of his own show. 2018 was the year we brought Beres and that was fabulous, the attendance was great, we had seats for $600US and they were all sold out on each night and that was in the middle of a state of emergency in the city of Montego Bay and we managed to full that the stadium.”
With Reggae Sumfest 2019 now approaching it’s 2019 staging it is expected that the turnout will be even greater than before. Already, VIP tickets have been sold out and plans are afoot with the fire department to make room to supply the demand of more attendees. “We have to ensure people’s safety, we have to ensure the proper measures are in place to deal with whatever because the magnitude of the crowd that we are expecting this year is just enormous.”
With such a big brand and other entities competing, comes the task of marketing.“Even though it is a competitive market, we have to just think about doing the best we can and keeping it as a 100% pure as possible and trying to do what works for the patrons and the music and the culture”.
“This festival, when we got it, it was already into its 24th year so how can we now just plan for today or next two years?” We can’t come with a two or a three-year plan, we have to think for the next twenty-five years, so we have to implement measures that are gonna be a long term satisfaction to the whole diaspora and the world.”
Reggae Sumfest in recent years has also welcomed various young acts to their stage, representatives of millennials. When asked about this move Skatta states that as gatekeepers and influencers, there is a duty to think about the next generations to come, “these are the folks that are going to be creating the type of identity that our music portrays to the world. It is important to support them not only book and capitalize on getting them early but to assist them to be better performers, better entertainers to respect the culture more and to learn about the predecessors”.
With the high calibre this year’s lineup of artists, patron expectations are high. Set to grace this year’s stage are the likes of Chronixx, Koffee, Protoje, Beres Hammond and Buju Banton who is coming of his highly anticipated Long Walk to Freedom tour. Also set to perform are Dancehall giants Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Spragga Benz and Elephant Man whom we have not seen at Sumfest in five years.
We asked Skatta, who are some younger artists he believes has what it takes to do well in the industry, he responded by saying “there’s a lot of talents I have high hopes for. Look at a Koffee who has gotten such a great start on her first major single, there is no doubt about her. When you have your ears to the ground and to the streets you understand the guys who are making a lot of noise, you have guys like Iwaata, Intence and Govana.” He goes on to make mention of the current trend of Montego Bay artists, singling out the prominent 6ix movement, “when you have a hype going like Montego Bay guys coming up now and dem a run di place sooner or later the hype will disappear and so will the substance. There’s Rygin King, Teejay, Squash and Daddy 1 and all of these guys coming up.”
Proving growth for economic development through cultural experience is something Reggae Sumfest does best. When asked about what he feels the government and general public can show more support for homegrown festivals, Skatta had this to say, “I don’t think government support for festivals are an issue, what I think they need to do is provide better venues situated in areas where they cause no disturbance to anyone. The government is fine, the general public needs to support and embrace the culture more.”
