In 48 hours the ‘United for Peace’ edition of the International Reggae Festival Rototom Sunsplash starts. We have ahead seven days, from August 16 to 22, of an artistic display that includes more than ten hours a day of music on six stages and 142 concerts. A sound lure with Jamaican music as the axis that surrounds an experience that exceeds the musical and nocturnal, and that will be projected to the world also via streaming through the festival’s Youtube channel. Debates, areas for children, youth and family audiences, sustainability, social commitment, coexistence and interculturalism (the festival expects more than 200,000 attendees from up to 70 countries), African dance sessions, world gastronomy and art, give pulse to the daytime agenda of the festival. Rototom Sunsplash takes off with this amazing mix. These are the reasons not to miss it. To join its more global roar.
Capital YES to peace
To become a collective path to peace. This is the challenge of the festival, which kicks off under the ‘United for peace’ slogan. In addition to the opportunity offered each year by this international and intercultural meeting, “we want to share our experience of peace, project to the world that it is possible and necessary, and encourage a global peace movement,” the organization declares. The slogan inspires the different actions and activities promoted in the different cultural areas. This is the case of the Social Forum, with several of its sessions focusing on peace.
A variety of scenarios for every sunset
Six stages are activated after each sunset in this reggae city to give way to a parade of sounds as eclectic as the Jamaican music on which it revolves. After the start of the concerts every evening at the Main Stagethe audience will be able to discover the emerging talent that brings the Lion Stage, dance to the rhythm of black roots music on the Jumping stage and with the afrobeats universe in the new Jamkunda Stage, as well as to vibrate in the early morning at the Dub Academy and the Dance Hall areawith a renovated scenography.
A privileged location
Between the Mediterranean Sea and the natural park of the Desert de les Palmes. Here stands the reggae city of Rototom Sunsplash. An accessible, extensive and uncrowded site, with green and relaxation areas, a flea market, restaurants and an open-air museum, and dozens of activities every day. The campsite is also attractive: with a capacity for 9,000 people and 194,000 square meters, it has a large shaded area – more than 600 trees planted in recent years – and has plots for families and groups, camper area, glamping and multiple services: toilets, showers, kitchens, water fountains, market and health care service.
The line-up: a high artistic parade
From the legendary Jamaican roots reggae exponent Burning Spear and other mythical reggae bands such as UB40 direct from Birmingham or The Pioneers, to the younger generation of Jamaican music, with Kabaka Pyramid, Protoje & The Indiggnation and Lila Iké. The Rototom Sunsplash line-up goes on and on: Barrington Levy; Capleton; Don Carlos, Anthony B or Junior Marvin, guitarist of Bob Marley’s The Wailers; Steel Pulse; L’Entourloop and Biga Ranx from France; the Argentinian rapper Trueno; the Ivorian Tiken Jah Fakoly or the queen of afrobeat: the Nigerian singer Yemi Alade, join the Main Stage. The Lion Stage will host the premiere of the Australian Dub FX with Woodnote, along with Pongo and his Angolan roots kuduro; the Tunisian reggae band Gultrah Sound System; the British Vandal and his jungle, the Jamaican Jaz Elise; Nonpalidece, Hollie Cook, The Cimarons or Miss Bolivia. The Dancehall area will welcome Chi Ching Ching and Lady Lykez, along with big international sounds such as Bass Odyssey; King Addies, celebrating its 40th anniversary; Code Red Sound, winners of the World Clash Sound in 2022 in Birmingham, and South Sudan’s Dynamq. The Dub Academy will be soundtracked by Sinai and Greenlight Sound Systems and will feature, amongst others, the legendary London sound system Channel One and Raggattack celebrating its 20th anniversary with Supah Bassie. The new Jamkunda Stage will have the Afrobeats universe as a backdrop, with the Afrobrunch collective – together with internationally renowned DJs such as dj Karaba or Dj Shoopsydo – and The Voodoo Club directly from Barcelona, and Follow The Party from Bilbao.
The Valencian and national music scene ask for a step forward
The line-up has Valencian weight. On August 21, Zoo and their irreverent rap in Valencian will jump to the Main Stage and on the Lion Stage the ska group La Fricativa Sonora will do the same, with the bassist of Zoo. There will be also a Valencian doublet on the 22nd with La Fúmiga and its transformation of festive music vibrating on the Main Stage and with the eclectic talent of Nativa conquering the Lion Stage. Maluks (August 20), and their diverse sound trajectory, from dancehall to reggae, cumbia or drum and bass, completes the circle.
On the other hand, the national scene is also strong with the Navarre-based Juantxo Skalari & La Rude Band; or the rappers Lia Kali and Las Ninyas del Corro from Catalonia, origin also of Adala, Boom Boom Fighters and the ska band Drop Collective. Lone Ark, the stage name of Cantabrian producer Roberto Sánchez, will accompany Willi Williams and Linval Thompson‘s show.
Exploring flamenco-reggae fusion
The musical fusion of Rototom Sunsplash goes a step further, and the usual mix of black roots rhythms and the remarkable weight of Afrobeats wrapping reggae as the main thematic axis, explores in this edition the symbiosis of Jamaican music with the sound universe of ‘cante jondo’. It will do so with a unique and unprecedented show in the history of the reggae meeting of reference in Europe:‘Flamenco salutes Bob Marley’which will have its world premiere on the Main Stage on August 22, on the closing day of the festival, and will bring together figures from the flamenco world such as Josemi and Juan Carmona, or Kiki Morente as a special guest.
Afternoons with a lot of life
A festival party with no age limit and at any time is possible at Rototom Sunsplash. The most familiar spaces of the festival add novelties. The Teen Yard opens next to its skate park a parkour area with high level guests and Magico Mundo inaugurates its climbing wall and connects with the musical universe of Zoo, the band of the moment. Between activities there is a flea market with a wide variety of proposals, an open-air restaurant rich in world flavours, time for collective reflection in the talks of the Social Forumthe Reggae University and Jamkundawhich will complete its evenings with Afro-modern dance, from 6:00 p.m..
Influencer activism in Pachamama and Jamkunda
Two of the most idiosyncratic cultural spaces of the international reggae festival, Pachamama and Jamkundawill awaken the social and environmental conscience together with I am Tribethe youtuber with 4.8 million followers who documents native tribes on his motorcycle (Aug. 19); and the writer and anti-racist activist Sani Ladanwho will share a session at Jamkunda on August 17 with fellow activist Viviane Ogoufounder and president of Puerta de África.
Savouring the world without leaving the concert venue
Smoked meat with Peruvian cylinders, artisan hot dogs, kebabs and falafel made with great care, 100% corn dishes, ‘espetos’ from Ibiza, Senegalese gluten-free cuisine, creative crepes and Breton ‘galettes’ and more Jamaican gastronomy make up the novelties of the diverse restaurant of the Rototom Sunsplash, which adds 40 proposals for catering and pastries.
Plastic free with social impact: ties with l’Aurora Grup de Suport
Once again this year, the festival fuses its ‘plastic free’ seal through the reusable cup system with the social impact derived from its environmental actions. This year, all proceeds from the cups will go to the non-profit organization L’Aurora-Grup de Suport which, from its base in the port of Borriana (Castelló), provides support to NGO boats rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean.