Reggae.be is the oldest (since 2002) and largest portal for Jamaican music and culture in Belgium aka. Beljam. We offer our visitors extensive reports of concerts and festivals, news and travel stories, reviews and interviews, an up to date agenda and a lot of interaction with social media. Reggae.be is the main meeting point of the flourishing Beljam reggae community.
Reggae.be is an initiative of the non-profit organization Beljam Reggae Massive (BRM) and counts an average of 10.000 unique visitors a month.
Together with Jah Shakespear, one of the founders of Reggae.be, he first started as a critic and a reporter before in the end of 2014 becoming editor in chief. Divides his time between his two passions: music and Haile Selassie.
Jah Shakespear has been listening to reggae music since 1977, started writing about the subject in the early nineteen eighties (for De Morgen, De Standaard, P-Magazine, Highlife and a number of other magazines) and founded this website in 2002. He's also the author of 'De Rasta Revelatie' (2008) and 'In Het Spoor Van De Keizer' (2016).
Has been fascinated by Jamaican culture since childhood. As a student, co-authored the English part of a secondary bibliography on Caribbean literature, wrote two master theses on dub poetry and has conducted research on violence and resistance in Jamaican dub poetry and dancehall. She has been doing reviews, reports and interviews for Reggae.be for a couple of years now. She admits: "Nostalgic lovers rock is secretly my biggest love."
JP Linard - editorial staff
His parents being big amateurs of music and concerts, JP was attracted to the world of music from a tender age. As a youth he lost his heart to reggae, especially roots and raggamuffin. To do his part in the reggae movement, he started writing articles for our colleagues at Reggae.fr, and now also for Reggae.be. He's also a big ganja lover, a flower he defends with passion, among other things by being the distributor, editor and interviewer for the cannabis magazine Soft Secrets. In 2015 he joined the crew of Radikal Sound.
Benoit Vandenbroucke aka. Lord Lyta - editorial staff & Facebook
Has been an amateur of reggae and dancehall since the early nineties. Founded Flash it Up Soundmachine (the Remix-Machine!) in 1999 and Flash it Up Music in 2014. He actively promotes Reggae.be on Facebook and gives our website a French-touch, writing reviews and event reports in the language of Molière (or, better, that of Raggasonic).
Timo Sterckx - editorial staff
Timo is a theatre-maker and actor with an insatiable appetite for just about anything to do with reggae, and primarily sees himself as a passionate collector of everything from early ska to conscious dancehall. Through his collaboration with Reggae.be he can now finally give something back to the music that has given him so much.
Eric Rongé aka. Ras Mundele - editorial staff
Fell under the spell of reggae music in the late 1970s. Being the only white member of Burnin' Ash, one of Belgium's first reggae bands, he was rebaptized Ras Mundele (Mundele meaning "white man" in Lingala). Together with Aura Lewis was active as lead singer and keyboard player with Tsjaka Band until 2000 and, for a while, also collaborated with The Right Prophecy. A few years ago, Mundele picked up where he left off, returning to composing music and songwriting. Captivated by the social and spiritual ideas linked with reggae music for over 40 years, he now wants to share that message through Reggae.be.
Peter Verwimp - editorial staff & photos
During a summer in the mid nineteen eighties Peter was introduced to the vibes of Eek-A-Mouse by some of his leaders at Chiro Flanders, a Flemish youth organization. Later that same year, he asked Santa Claus for some "reggae", and got his first cassette tape version of Bob Marley's 'Legend' compilation. Has been a regular at reggae concerts since 1991, and these days combines his passion for reggae with that for photography, always on the lookout for the ultimate image capturing the performance and charisma of the artist. Mainly collects roots on vinyl and wheels through life.
Dries Talloen - editorial staff & photos
Dries already started collecting vinyl records age fifteen and quickly developed a passion for reggae and other related genres. Shortly afterwards he also started spinning tunes for a live audience, first as half of duo Rootikal Tree, followed by a stint with Dubrising HiFi and since 2016 he's an active member of Roots Explosion Soundsystem. Dries also hosts the biweekly Reggae Excursion radio show on Villa Bota in Bruges. As an historian he focusses his research on sound system culture and black history. As a member of Reggae.be, Dries wants to express his passion by publishing accounts from the reggae- and sound system scene in word and vision.
Erna Wouters aka. Erns - promo
The power of reggae made Erna believe in love again. She became Reggae.be's ideal promo-lady, spreading the message wherever she cans. You can always find Erns at dub, roots or dancehall parties, or at live reggae shows.
Peter Van Gampelaere aka. Gampie - varia
His first encounter with reggae music goes back to the late nineteen seventies, but it was only after spending some time in the rock, punk and wave scenes, that he found his way back. In the nineteen nineties, thanks to Joeri 'Chalet' Charlé, he rediscovered reggae and dancehall more in particularly. Since then Gampie has also started appreciating dub, ska and rocksteady as well. He's Reggae.be's handyman, always ready to lend a hand.