We continue to dive into the sound journey that fuels the 73 hours of music and more than 80 concerts and sessions on its six stages that give pulse to our 27th edition. We reaches our halfway point this Friday 19th August with figures that show how much we all want to meet up again here.
More than 28,000 people attended our opening on Tuesday 16th, a day that vibrated musically with Damian Marley, The Skatalites and Natiruts. Audiences from 77 nationalities travelled to Benicàssim to have fun. Spain, France, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom lead the list of people coming from the five continents: from Uruguay to Kenya, Thailand, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Egypt, New Zealand, Iceland, Indonesia and Vietnam.
The musical evening of Friday 19th August will once again be guided by the diversity of musical genres and the international mix of the artistic offering. The line-up for the Main Stage will be touching down from Jamaica and France. The stage welcomes eclectic reggae, with styles of the Jamaican multi-Grammy Award winners Morgan Heritage ranging from roots, dancehall, R&B, to pop and rock. In addition, the French sound system and production studio O.B.F. will take to the stage, who specialise in avant-garde Jamaican-influenced music with nods to the most powerful UK-inspired dub and classic dancehall. They will bring a special and original show featuring Belen Natalí, Sr Wilson, Charlie P and Junior Roy.
We welcome Aza Lineage for the first time, an emerging talent in Jamaican roots reggae; and the fun is guaranteed with the unique stylings and ever-changing appearance of Eek A Mouse from Jamaica, accompanied on his foray to Benicàssim by the legendary riddim duo Mafia & Fluxy Band.
With this Friday’s line-up, the Lion Stage proves we explore and guides the massive towards a musical experience full of diverse proposals. The night will feature the dub reggae of the Bristol band Dub Princess & The Hotsteppas, with touches of ska and afrobeat, as well as Mighty Mystic, who explore the link between Jamaican and American reggae, both of which are international examples of vibrant sounds.
Conversely, two huge national artists will also star on the stage. Firstly, the Pamplona collective Chill Mafia, which brings together influences ranging from black and Latin music to 80s punk, reggae, dub, reggaeton, hip hop and traditional Basque song. Secondly, the special show ‘Good Vibes’ by the Barcelona-based Balkan Paradise Orchestra, where this all-female group of ten wind instruments will alternate their songs with reggae and ska classics. In an exclusive format for us, they will enhance their staging with guests such as the Barcelona rap duo Tribade, the flamenco-pop singer Maruja Limón, the rap artist Santa Salut and Travis Birds from Madrid.
The futuristic dub sound of the UK’s Iration Steppas in the Dub Academy rounds off an evening that will continue to vibrate on the other stages, from Dancehall to Jumping and Voodoo.
The Social Forum analyses the theory of degrowth
The climate. Its changing. Its impact today will be a cross-cutting theme in the Social Forum, given this current heat wave that is devastating and setting fire to half the world, even reaching the province of Castelló, demonstrating the unstoppable nature of the climate crisis. This will be reflected in a special way in this Friday’s debate: ‘Degrowth: One Way Or Another’. The session will bring together four expert voices: CSIC researcher Antonio Turiel; scientist Joaquín Araújo; climate journalist Juan Bordera and biologist and documentary filmmaker Luis Picazo, to analyse the economic degrowth movement. The talk will focus on the threat posed by the depletion of the planet’s resources and ecosystem collapse that the current growth model is leading to. The Reggae University will host the world premiere of ‘Rockers Sound Station: The Kingston Dub Club Story’, directed by Julian Henriques, professor at Goldsmiths University of London. Henriques will also take part in one of the two sessions on the sound system scene planned for this area on Friday, which will deal with the experience related to Jamaica and the legendary Kingston Dub Club. Sonjah Stanley Niaah, PhD, Director of the Reggae Studies Unit at the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Kingston, and documentary writer, along with producer David Katz, will discuss the Sonic Street Technologies (SST) project. With funding from the European Research Council and the participation of several international universities, it aims to map the distribution and history of street sound technologies around the world, as well as investigate the social, economic and cultural conditions they arise from. 
Jamkunda – the reformulated African Village – continues to bring together African proposals for action and the Afro-descendant community that, through art, culture, sports and literature, are contributing to building a society that represents them. Cinema will also make this visible in the talk on digital arts, photography and film that will bring together the young artist Agnes Essonti, the photographer and artistic director Laurent Leger and Maimouna Jallow, founder of ‘Positively African’ and the ‘Nairobi Storytelling Festival’. After the debate, the area will give way to the Afro dance workshop with Makuriya, and the Voodoo Club dance floor. Its line-up stays in keeping with the eclectic style that the space itself breathes and which provides an immersive experience of intense evenings not only impregnated with afrobeat, but also with afrohouse, dancehall, funk and disco music.
