It’s official. After a 14-year absence, Reggae Sunsplash, the groundbreaking Jamaican music festival, returns November 6-8 next year. The event is being organised and produced by eMedia Interactive Group Ltd, whose CEO Tyrone Wilson is executive director.
Organisers promise two nights of performances at the expansive Grizzly’s Plantation Cove in Priory, St Ann, followed by a wrap party at Puerto Seco Beach in Discovery Bay on the final day.
For Wilson, Reggae Sunsplash 2020 will bring a diverse package to local entertainment.
“We don’t want to separate the reggae from the dancehall, but rather push the era. So on night one, we will feature artistes whose music was popular before the year 2000. We have not finalised the line-up as yet; we’re still working that through. But on that night, you will see people who came through in the late ’80s and early ’90s, up to late ’90s, when dancehall music started to move into the digital era,” he told the Jamaica Observer. “On the second night, we will see the new era, the flavour that we’re listening to now, the people who are pushing the boundaries of our music around the world.”
The Sunsplash 2020 team is deep into preparation for the event. Wilson said he is finalising plans with an unnamed international partner/sponsor and has contracted the services of booking agent Headline Entertainment, whose principal Jerome Hamilton has already begun discussions with artistes who are likely to perform.
While there is no definitive roster of acts for the festival, Wilson and his team have not ruled out the possibility of overseas artistes.
“There are so many new artistes breaking out on the scene who have expanded the appetite for our music; we have some breaking into new markets, and when you look at Reggae Sunsplash historically, it has long been that kind of platform that created a big stage for upcoming acts. So we have a hard task ahead of us, in terms of figuring out what our line-up will be. However, the truth is, we have a really talented pool to choose from,” he said.
The Sunsplash team is not concerned about rival festivals. Wilson believes that because Jamaica is the birthplace of reggae music, there should be more such events and, as a result, he will not be holding acts to exclusive contracts.
“In order for us to constantly get music at the quality to be entertained by and also export, we need to create an environment where artistes can also earn by performing at multiple festivals. Some people might take the direction of exclusivity, and you can’t blame them; that is their business model in order to ensure sustainability of their event,” Wilson said. “For us, we are looking at how does everybody win… promoters, artistes, event producers, vendors, everybody. We want to create the environment where there is a festival industry. If reggae is going to continue to be where it’s at and to churn out more talent, we need for the artistes to be performing and we have a responsibility to create that for them here at home,” he added.
Reggae Sunsplash was first held by promoters Synergy at Jarrett Park, Montego Bay June 23-30 in 1978. It was last held August 3-6, 2006 at Richmond Estate in Priory, St Ann.
Fantastic!
Yep! was there 2 of those nights between the 23rd and the 30th, can’t remember which 2 because it was so long ago! But i remember being there! will never forget! that date, 23rd-30th was the first time and year for that event, it never had an official name yet! it was given the unofficial name of “REGGAE MUDSPLASH” because it had rain about 3 of the nights the event was staged! up until this day, when we tell people we actually seen Bob Marley before, because he performed on one of the nights we were there, nobody believed, only the few in our family who knew, we were kids then! uncle took us there as he had some friends in Mo Bay who worked for a tour company that PJ Patterson owns called JAM Tours(Jamaica American Motors Ltd), and they had links to entertainment in Mo Bay at that time as tourism and entertainment went hand in hand! it was at a moment in time when reggae was at its peak! that tour company had the most luxurious tour buses on the island at the time as PJ Patterson was foreign affairs minister and he had all the links! all the foreign diplomats and dignitaries that come to Jamaica on foreign affairs or business would stay at the INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL and JAM TOURS would be the official transport around the island, if my memory serves me correctly, the company got liquidated sometime in the late 1980’s due to corruption and mismanagement at the company! my uncle friends that worked there was part of the curruption and when that company went under they all ventured off into their own medium and large scale businesses, thats how we know about a lot of the crooked schemes and corruption that take place in corporate JA, public sectors etc. JAM TOURS always comes to mind! even individuals who were in top management positions there are respectable renoun society figures today, when we see some of them featured in the media respectfully and the high praise heaped on some of them? we just shake our heads and chuckle! one of such is at the center of the ATL pension scandal as I speak :travel
Rammy, you not lying cause I was a child living in Mobay at the time and it did rain out fi true. Sunsplash is the original high calibre musical festival that launched all the others. I hope the promoters of this iteration of the show maintains the high quality that made it the premier show of its age.