The ska of the British Bad Manners and the special show ‘Alborosie & Friends’ come to a Main Stage that will also receive the Ibizan rapper Fernandocosta.

The case of Julian Assange returns to the Rototom Sunsplash Social Forum this Monday, August 19, after the session organized last year to demand the freedom of the journalist and co-founder of WikiLeaks, who has spent thirteen years in prison for leaking U.S. military secrets. Pursued during all this time by the American justice system, Julian Assange was released from prison last June, after reaching a plea bargain with the latter, having previously admitted his guilt.

Stella Assange, a lawyer specializing in humanitarian law and Julian Assange’s partner, and Alessandro Di Battista, journalist, writer, activist and former Italian MP expert on international issues, will lead this debate (Teatre Municipal de Benicàssim, 5.30 pm, free access), which will be presented by journalist Javier Gallego, director of the independent radio program ‘Carne Cruda’ in carnecruda.es and eldiario.es.

Under the title ‘Assange case: check on freedom of expression’, this session will address the independence of the media and the freedom to express oneself. The case of the journalist is one of the most transcendent examples at a global level. According to the Social Forum, its process constitutes “an authentic examination of the democratic health of the so-called free world”.

Line up for Monday, August 19

The ska will burst with force in the artistic proposal of the evening of Monday, August 19, at the hands of the British Bad Manners. They belong to the generation of the so-called ska revival of the late 1970s, when in the midst of the punk era some young bands were inspired by the original Jamaican ska sound of the 70s, practically unknown. The band arrives at Rototom Sunsplash with its vocalist Douglas Trendle (Buster Bloodvessel) at the front, a showman capable of shaking and entertaining the audience in equal parts.

Born in Ibiza and artistically cultivated between this island city and Granada, Fernandocosta is one of the great protagonists of the new Spanish hip hop scene. Together with the Sevillians SFDK, he has led the most rapacious bet of the Rototom Sunsplash. He will give in Benicàssim his only Concert in the Comunitat Valenciana during the summer. His ‘old school’ style, with incursions into urban music and lyrics about everyday and street themes, have made his album ‘Tirititando’ a success.

The special Alborosie & Friends show will crown the evening on the Main Stage on Monday, August 19. Strongly linked to the history of the festival, the Italian artist based in Jamaica has been inspired by the classic sounds of the seventies and rub-a-dub, although he has been able to give his music a very personal touch. In this special Concert he will be accompanied by several guests such as Italian rappers Guè Pequeno and Clementino, French producer Manudigital, as well as Sud Sound System and Nina Zilli and some surprise artists.

Midnite’ s mystical and reflective style lands on Lion Stage. The Santa Cruz band returns, this time led by Ron Benjamin, producer, co-founder and brother of Vaughn, the charismatic frontman and voice of Midnite, who passed away in 2019. Ron Benjamin will present in Benicàssim a preview of his next solo album, without renouncing the classics of Midnite, and his intense spirituality openly Rastafarian, with which he will pay tribute to his brother.

Since their first album ‘Movement’ in 2008, Jamaicans Rootz Underground have come a long way in continuing the rich tradition of island reggae bands like Inner Circle, Third World and In Crowd and paving the way for artists like Protoje or Chronixx. His discography has been enriched this year with his latest album, ‘A Dread Fire Tower’.

In a geographical and stylistic leap, but without leaving the Lion Stage, emerges the Catalan rapper Santa Salut representing the Spanish hip hop scene in the lineup of the festival with this genre. After her debut in 2019 with songs like ‘El Rap No Es Una Moda’ or ‘Perros Enmascarados’, the artist will offer in Benicàssim her only date in the Valencian calendar accompanied by surprise guests to bring to the stage her vindicative themes about gender and social injustices.

Kybba, from the Basshall Movement crew and founder of the label of the same name, emerges in DanceHall celebrating the versatility of his proposal, between dancehall and afrobeats, which has led him to harvest tracks with more than one hundred million views on social networks. Afrobeats, and many other styles of Afro-modern music, will sound one more night in the collective party of Jamkunda Stage, which will star Zsongo on Monday 19.

Dub Academy will go on until the early hours of the morning with Word, Sound & Power Sound System (RU) in an evening that will also welcome Kemadito Sound from Argentina .

Daytime Festival: from a Fallas workshop to a Guinean and Senegalese cooking workshop

The Rototom Sunsplash day festival will have multiple proposals for this Monday, August 19. Magicomundo will host the Fallas workshop ‘Tradition, satire and utopia’, in which the family saga of Fallas artists Espinosa will address with the youngest the origin and meaning of the tradition of the fallas, its social and artisanal value, also making a small collective artistic creation with Fallas techniques. Rototom Circus Show will add Colokolo with his acrobatic show ‘Chouf Le Ciel’, from Morocco. The company will stop in Benicàssim as part of its summer tour of Spain.

The talk ‘Regenerating the Earth’ will take over on Monday, August 19, at Pachamama. A meeting point for experts who advocate regenerative agriculture – which proposes cultivating without plowing, using flowers instead of pesticides and saving labor and agrochemicals, sequestering carbon and creating life – to change the world. The documentary filmmaker Carles Pons, director of ‘La voz del viento’, will present some examples of regenerative agriculture.

In Ataya, the area of debates and activities of Jamkunda, the Guinean cook Mayra Adam and Soli, Senegalese entrepreneur and cook of the restaurant Abarka -present in the international open-air restaurant of Rototom Sunsplash- will show in the Workshop ‘The ingredients of good coexistence’ the power of union and collaboration through cooking.

Talk and literary presentation by Johnny Clarke at Reggae University

The Reggae University will experience on Monday 19 one of the most anticipated moments of its program: the session with Johnny Clarke, a historic roots reggae artist who is still active, and who will burst onto the Main Stage of the festival on August 20. Clarke will be the focus of the talk ‘Rockers time now’, in which the new edition of the book ‘Solid Foundation: An Oral History of Reggae’ by writer David Katz will also be presented. In addition, on the same day there will be a review of King Tubby’s career with the Screening of the film ‘Dub Echoes’, by Brazilian Bruno Natal, and a workshop by Xavi Lizárraga, one of the founders of Audio Merge, and the renowned musician Chalart58. Together they have prepared a Workshop in which they will present the recreation and use of the famous pass filter that the Jamaican producer designed in the 1960s.

In addition, and within the Rototom Sunsplash initiative to share its essence with the prison population, this Monday 19 the cumbia of Lxs Nadie will pulsate with Chalart58 in the Concert that will host the Castellón I penitentiary center.