The sixth day of the International Reggae Festival Rototom Sunsplash in Benicàssim will bring together this August 21 legendary aces, such as The Pioneers or stars like Gentleman, along with Valencian bands in projection, such as Zoo and La Fricativa Sonora.
Thus, on Monday 21, The Pioneers will burst into the Main Stage at 8.00 pm. A band most closely linked to the roots of the Jamaican sound of the festival, with a career dating back to 1962. Since the 1970s, The Pioneers have been based in England and the current formation, with Jackie Robinson, Sidney Crooks and George Dekker, is the same as in that magical era.
In this penultimate evening of the ‘United for Peace’ edition, the Main Stage will be taken over at 9.30 pm by the project from Barcelona Adala, pseudonym of the musician Guillem Simó, who brings a sound universe strongly accompanied by a message of ethics and social conscience.
From the Valencian city of Gandia lands Zoo (10.45 pm) with their particular style of electronic rhythms fused with breakbeats related to ska, rock and hip hop in Valencian. After taking Madrid and Barcelona by storm, they promise to share with the public the overwhelming energy with which they channel their militant attitude and their lyrics on social and political issues, with which they continue to gain followers.
The Main Stage will bring the curtain down on the day with Germany’s Gentleman, who has become a true superstar in his home country and is highly appreciated throughout the reggae world. He was one of the first European artists to seek inspiration directly while living in Jamaica and was quickly accepted by the island’s reggae community, thanks to his talent.
The Lion Stage also pays a special tribute to the Valencian music scene with the first of the stagings at 8.45 pm by the ska band La Fricativa Sonora, with the bassist of Zoo in front.
They will be followed by the young Joydan (10.15 pm) representing the roots reggae sound from Portugal. The midnight spot will be for the English Vandal, co-founder of the British Drum & Bass Sound System Kaotik, through which over the years he has refined his style between hardcore, jungle and reggae, performing on the rave scene from 2000 to the present day, where his style continues to evolve creatively.
The French band Jahneration, inspired by reggae, but also by hip hop and the impetuousness of the Californian punk sound, will close the artistic parade on the Lion Stage in the early hours.
In the Dancehall a memorable evening will be staged with the celebration of the 30th anniversary of One Love Hi Powa, the Roman crew that has made a name for itself on the international scene thanks to the uniqueness of its dub box, its success in Jamaica and through its numerous dubclashes. It will also add the return to the festival of Bass Odyssey, one of the most legendary Jamaican sounds.
In the Dub Academy, another highlight of the festival will be the return of a classic like Channel One Sound System, which together with the late Jah Shaka represents the tradition of the British dub sound at its best. This legendary sound has been around for more than forty years and has become famous also thanks to its legendary ‘residency’ at Caribbean Notting Hill Carnival in London.
For its part, the festival’sSocial Forum will bid farewell this Monday, August 21st, to its ‘United for Peace’ edition after five consecutive days of debate and collective reflection on peace, climate emergency or human rights.
The defense of the latter is the focus of the double proposal designed for this closing ceremony: ‘The wars that persecute us‘ (4.00 pm), with the migration activist Helena Maleno; and ‘In support of Julian Assange’ (6.00 pm).
Stella Assange, lawyer of the journalist and founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, was scheduled to participate in this second debate, but she will not take part in the end for personal reasons unrelated to the organization.
The Social Forum team is working to have a representative of WikiLeaks, the international organization that disseminates leaked reports and documents with sensitive content on matters of public interest, to participate in her place.
The session ‘In support of Julian Assange’ will present the current situation of the journalist Julian Assangewho is at risk of being extradited to the United States and sentenced to life imprisonment for having done his reporting work by publishing documents proving war crimes by the United States and other countries in the Iraq conflict. For 12 years, the WikiLeaks founder has been deprived of his freedom. Today he is being held in Belmarsh maximum security prison in the UK.
The panel will also include Alessandro Di Battista, co-founder and former deputy of Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S). He has created the play ‘Assange. Colpirne uno per educarne cento’, to highlight the situation experienced by the founder of WikiLeaks. Also joining them will be journalist and M5S MEP Sabrina Pignedoli, whose work in the European Parliament focuses on the fight against mafias and organized crime, and the defense of freedom of the press and the rule of law. In 2022, she nominated Julian Assange as a finalist for the Sakarov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
Helena Maleno will lead the session ‘The wars that haunt us’. Maleno is a human rights defender within the Caminando Fronteras organization, as well as a journalist and researcher specializing in migration and human trafficking.
Maleno represents the voice of those who are on the front line in the struggle to protect the rights of migrants, whether at the border, at sea or involving an entire community. A work for which she was deported from Morocco in 2021. In the session, she will present the latest report of Caminando Fronteras on migration to Spain, which reveals dramatic figures: 951 victims in the first half of 2023.
L’Aurora Grup de Suport from Burriana in support of the humanitarian rescue boats for migrants, to whom all the proceeds from the reusable cup campaign at the festival will be donated, will join this debate.