The first three days of the Rototom Sunsplash put into figures the desire of the international audience to meet at the raggae festival. Since August 16, and until this Saturday, the venue has already hosted about 90,000 people from over 70 nationalities. Spain, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the United States are the main countries of origin.
It is important to emphasise that more than 13,000 people are under 13 years of age. Therefore, it reinforces once again the family profile of the musical event. Also its most inclusive side: 9,000 people over 65 years old and more than 4,000 people with functional diversity and their companions have joined the Rototom experience.
A festival that accumulates followers from every corner of the planet, this is largely because of the streaming. Among the most followed live performances, the Concert of Burning Spear last Friday, August 18, “which has reached incredible figures coinciding with the release of his new album”. According to festival organisers, ‘No destroyer’ is among the best selling albums in the United States.
The musical event faces this Sunday, August 20, its fifth day of celebration. A lively venue with leisure proposals for all ages, energises the audience before giving way to the concerts.
Tasting a vegetable crepe, a sirloin pita with Greek sauce, Senegalese gluten free cuisine or having a bite of Mediterranean food such as an Ibiza ‘espeto’ is possible in the most international restaurant of Rototom. You can also lose yourself in its market with lots of handicrafts items. Climbing on the recently inaugurated climbing wall of MagicomundoThe venue is equipped with a children’s playground, a baby play area, and there is a parkour area for beginners in the Teen Yard. Also, you can try Afro dance with the best crew of dancers in the world. Jamkunda.
Rototom also reserves in its agenda social reflection conferences. This Sunday, August 20, it will take place the session ‘In the margins’.It is about the drama of evictions, which will host the screening of the film under the same name (5 p.m.) followed by a debate with the director of the film and actor Juan Diego Botto, his co-writer, the journalist Olga Rodríguez.; and Javier Rubiolawyer of the Platform of People Affected by Mortgage (PAH).
After all these wide range of activities in the festival during the daytime, when the sun sets, the musical profile begins in Rototom Sunsplash. On the Main Stage, a new parade of global reggae. Firstly (8 p.m.) one of the most awaited shows by the lovers of the Jamaican foundational sounds, the one starring Linval Thompson and Willie Williams. Well known artists in the history of reggae will be on stage, such as Roberto Sánchez and his Lone Ark Band. They are the absolute excellence of the European roots sound. After the concert with Linval Thompson and Willi Williams, Roberto Sánched will take the stage of the Dub Academy with a selection of his productions.
On the other hand, on the Main Stage will also be present the young argentine rapper Trueno (10 p.m.) He studies and emulates american hip hop legends such as Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Trueno is the son of art, as his father is the MC Peligro, an uruguayan rapper famous for his numerous ‘battle’ victories.. After winning numerous freestyle trophies, Trueno has become one of the new forces in Latin American hip hop.
The evening will also be dedicated to the Jamaican singer Johnny Osbourne. With a soulful voice, his greatest triumphs came through the productions of Studio One, and later King Jammys, whose favorite artist he is. At the age of 75, he has just released ‘Right Right Time’, one of his best albums. His set will feature a guest appearance by Lone Ranger, a crucial DJ regarding the sounds of the 1970s and 1080s. Lone is Johnny Osbourne’s fellow in both Techniques and Studio One.
Steel Pulse is the icing on the cake, one of the most acclaimed reggae bands worldwide. They began in the 1970s in Birmingham with a hard-edged sound, a child of the racial tensions affecting Caribbean immigrants in England. They showed an adherence to Rasta orthodoxy from the start. In the 80s, they were one of the first European groups to perform in Jamaica, and their fame spread around the world due to their international scope always linked to a political and spiritual commitment.
Sound power will also exhibit the the Lion Stagewhere the presence of Valencian bands will be presented for the first time with Maluks (10.45 p.m.), a young band born in 2019 in the neighborhood of Benimaclet (València).They transit through a range of styles, from dancehall, reggae, cumbia, drum and bass, to put together their lyrics of social themes narrated from a feminist perspective.
The staging of the Lion Stage also adds Chicha Dub, with Lucky Salvadori & Chalart58 ft Mauritoslap; and the german Sista Argie with her enormously catchy reggae. Not to mention Pongo in its climax. With the Angolan-Portuguese artist, Africa is once again the protagonist. Pongo is a mix of pop and kuduro, a dance genre developed in Angola from the union of African percussion, zouk and Caribbean soca. His most mature work is his latest release ‘Sakidila’, in 2022.
