The ‘The Power of Utopia’ edition of the international reggae festival Rototom Sunsplash takes off, which from this Friday until August 21 will share in Benicàssim more than 150 concerts on its seven stages and dozens of activities in their extra-musical areas with its eclectic audience, which now totals more than 60 nationalities, with Spain, France, Italy, UK and Germany at the head.

Audience that has already begun to arrive since Thursday, with the opening of the ticket offices, to the Concert venue and the camping area, and tonight will enjoy a welcome party.

The reggae legend Alpha Blondy and the tribute to the iconic Peter Tosh will inaugurate tomorrow Friday the line-up of the most utopian Rototom Sunsplash. The Jamaican style is represented by the lovers rock of Romain Virgo and the raggamuffin of Skarra Mucci, the global reggae by the strength of the French artist Mo’Kalamity, while Fyahbwoy will bring the excellence of the Spanish scene. Chambao, Los Chikos del Maíz and Lxs Nadie along with Chalart will perform for the prison population Rototom Sunsplash will share its essence once again with the prison population of the penitentiary centers Castellón I of the capital of La Plana and Castellón II (Albocàsser), thanks to several of the artists that make up the line up.

The festival has already announced the musical and extra-musical collaborations with both centers for this 29th edition.

Thus, the cumbia of Lxs Nadie will pulsate with Chalart58 in the Concert that will host Castellón I on August 19.
Meanwhile, on the 20th a yoga session has been organized in Castellón II, and on the 21st, the last day of the festival, Chambao and Los Chikos del Maíz, who will perform on the Main Stage and Lion Stage, respectively, will offer concerts in Castellón I and Castellón II.
Since last July, the essence of the reggae festival shines on a large format mural with the central figure of Bob Marley designed in the penitentiary center of Albocàsser by graffiti artists Rudi Art and Jota. Friday, August 16: the first four proposals of the Main Stage The Ivorian Alpha Blondy enjoys a legendary status and remains the king of African reggae. In his long career he has collaborated with many great Jamaican artists and each Concert is a great festival of good vibrations. His incursion on the Main Stage is the only date in Spain.

Also the first night of the festival will host the tribute to the memory of Peter Tosh, one of the great Jamaican artists and co-founder of Bob Marley’s Wailers: his son Andrew Tosh will sing the immortal songs of his repertoire along with Soul Syndicate, the band formed by musicians who accompanied Peter Tosh on several of his world tours, such as Fully Fulwood, Chinna Smith, Tony Chin, Keith Sterling and Santa David. It will be the only opportunity to enjoy this live performance in Europe. Romain Virgo is one of the outstanding singers of the current Caribbean island scene thanks to the originality of his style and his discography, of which his new album, ‘The Gentleman’, released this 2024, is definitely the flagship. Precisely the Reggae University will open its agenda with the lovers rock style singer and the session ‘The Gentleman’, where he will analyze, in addition to his intense career, issues such as toxic masculinity.

In recent years Fyahbwoy has established himself as the biggest Spanish dancehall artist.Since his debut in 2006 with ‘Ni Chance Ni Try’, with 100,000 views, he has built through his five albums a reputation as a legend of independent urban music in Spain.

Originally from Cape Verde, French-born Mo’Kalamity represents the expressive force of international female reggae. She will share the stage on the Lion Stage at the beginning of the festival with Mr. Wilson one of the most appreciated Spanish vocalists in the international Sound System scene for his versatility, accompanied by hip hop producer Griffi. Also joining the Lion Stage line up, from Reunion Island, will be the young artist Sika Rlion, and the raggamuffin style of Jamaican Skarra Mucci.

The collective Follow the Party, one of those who are promoting Afro-Modern music from Spain, will lead the first evening at Jamkunda Stage with its resident DJs and the dance crew formed by Quinndy, RealKing and Felix Bandeira. Little Lion Sound – with more than three million followers on social networks – will vibrate the first morning of the DanceHall, which will also include TNT Sound, Selecta Empress, Fenshi Sound, and the crew of dancers who will teach a class at 9 pm. Jael, the sets of hypnotic rhythms of King Alpha and El Gran Latido from Colombia will bring the first proposals of the expanded corner of Dub Academy, axis of the planetary meeting of the Sound System culture.

Discovery Lab scientific space takes off The daytime cultural program will also awaken from August 16 in the different extra-musical areas that fill the venue with life before the start of the concerts. Discovery Lab, the new space for scientific dissemination, which the prestigious research center CERN is implementing for the first time in a Spanish festival, will present its first three proposals. The mathematician and presenter of the TVE program ‘Órbita Laika‘, Eduardo Sáenz De Cabezón, who is part of the large team of popularizers who will guide the programming of the area, will be in charge of the scientific monologue show ‘Big Van Show’ together with Manuel González and Alberto Vivo. In addition, the talk ‘Wave or particle’ will approach the microscopic world by Alberto Aparici, head of outreach and dissemination of the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC) of the CSIC and the University of Valencia; and the session ‘From X-rays to cell phones: CERN is not only fundamental physics’, will invite you to discover the science in small everyday objects, such as those technologies that make our lives easier and more fun, and will be given in a story full of anecdotes by the engineer, physicist and part of the CERN team, Isabel Béjar Alonso.

For its part, the first family yoga session will burst into Magicomundo; the Artisan Market will start the workshops to walk towards the utopia that permeates this 29th edition and the dancer Quinndy will make Jamkunda vibrate at the start of the afternoons of Afro-modern dance that will be held every day in the area. The teenage public will be able to enjoy from early afternoon the novelties of Teen Yard, which premieres sports area for basketball tournaments and renews its parkour and skate area.

Follow the festival via streaming

Once again this year, the festival can be followed via streaming through its Youtube channel, which will broadcast all the concerts -previously authorized by each artist- of the Main Stage and Lion Stage, and all the sessions of the Social Forum and Reggae University.