Summerjam:Bumayé!

Summerjam kickstarts the season, probably as the first traditional reggae festival on the European mainland. An island in a river, and a mass of people. Two big stages and more than enough after-vibes. It has been working for 28 years, especially when the weather is good. Not only does it make the reggae sound even better, but the water in the lake is also refreshing instead of cold.

Air mattresses and inflatable boats galore! It was ten years since I last was there, but the only thing that had truly changed was the dancehall-tent. Which is now open air, on the former camping-car-parking. A lot of things stayed the same. The bar is still coming to you on the site, the German police is still looking for softdrugs, while the festival bracelets are being sponsored by "Smoking", a producer of rolling papers, yes, those big ones. Kind of funny, except when you see the line of cars during a police control, with mainly non-German license plates, but that could be dumb luck of course.

We walked from one stage to the other, but with two acts programmed at the same time, we didn't see much of either one. Making choices is hard, even for reporters. We'll start with the fixed values, the artists that have been there for quite a while. Regrettably Summerjam, as well as Reggae Geel, got cancelled for Ken Booth. It's a real pity, because it's been a while since we saw him and he's known for his fun, mostly rocksteady vibes! As a replacement we got to see Max Romeo in Cologne. Not many innovations to his show, but at least there is a show.

And that's it for the lovers of artists that have been active for over 20 years. Unless Morgan Heritage counts too.

Morgan Heritage brings a sturdy but not very innovative show, even though they included some new songs from their new album in the set. Morgan Heritage is and stays very strong and popular. The set was a little bit longer than the one at Couleur Café last week, something that was clearly for the better. They preached the 'return of roots & culture', with which they started their show and then we're off for a host of gems. Don't haffi draad, jah works, jah comes first, reggae bring back love, down by the river, my friend, how come… and next to Jah Jah City by Capleton, What a bam bam by Toots & The Maytals also gets Morgan-mixed. Enjoyed it a lot!

Also more than 20 years on stage: the French Raggasonic. Not reggae but dancehall, in French, and for the first time(!) at Summerjam. What a show. The audience did not always catch up because it was, of course, in French. Bt there are clearly enough French speakers to keep the vibe strong and to even spur on the Non-French speakers. Kudos to Raggasonic. Now I understand why there was such a mass before the main stage at Dour, where I saw them before, but clearly with half an eye and from too far away. Society-wise very accurate lyrics, steady flow ànd show with the two front men, and you can't have a band that's tighter than this, if you ask me. Even the Summerjam-presenter was clearly very impressed!

On Sunday we flew from California to New Zealand with The Aggrolites and Fat Freddy's Drop. The Aggrolites bring dirty reggae, as they like to call it, with a strong dash of rocksteady, some ska, some funk and some soul. A fun combination, especially for the fans of keyboards and organs. They don't say lightly that Jackie Mittoo is one of their big inspirations, next to The Upsetters and Delroy Wilson. The organ sound reminds a little of The Doors, especially since the The Aggrolites are being announced just like The Doors: "From Los Angeles, California…". Fat Freddy's Drop from New Zealand brings loungy, funky reggae and brings along a charismatic singer and bonkers trio of copper blowers. Every now and then there was a toaster/rapper on the stage, but no one was completely wild about that. The singer also showed off some of his rap-skills and before we knew it, the Music evolved into some kind of trip-hop-ish reggae with a.o. the song 'Roadie (feel so good)', but without female raps (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29MgzHUhHws). Ideal soundtrack for a sunny picnic on the meadow.

A completely new generation (in Jamaica referred to as the Reggae Renaissance) is strongly present at Summerjam. The young heroes of the rootsreggae Protoje, Chronixx and Romain Virgo sign present, just like dancehall-hype Popcaan.

We enjoyed Romain Virgo, since you can't do much else with him. 'Tasty' was the summary in my notebook. We only saw and heard Protoje for a minute, but it was a very strong minute. You better reserve your spot before the main stage for both Romain Virgo and Protoje at Reggae Geel on Saturday. Chronixx also makes a strong impression once more. Not too long ago he was playing for a small crowd in Petrol, but, again, this was completely unjust. Making an entrance with 'days of slavery' by Burning Spear, meanwhile bringing a few winks at Tarrus Riley ànd Protoje, and ending with a strong and well-made hint at Supercat. His musical range is set. A hint for the reader: buy these songs: Start a fyah, Warrior, They don't know, Aint giving in, Here comes trouble, Smile Jamaica, behind curtains, nah follow nobody… every single one is a very nice track, not yet an album(!).

There are some more musical newbies. Diplo, or the producer/dj behind Major Lazer, is omnipresent at Summerjam. With what has been called 'the logical next step for dancehall-music', or "Tropical bass". There was a soundsystem-ish liveshow by Major Lazer on the programme, a dj-set by Diplo himself and there was no soundsystem without a Major Lazer hit. Especially that one new greasy summer hit on which Busy Signal cooperates: Bumayé. Busy Signal is also on the main stage and brings this hit very long and very live, something that was, to be honest, a little bit too much. Furthermore, Busy Signal was very strong and I'm gonna be present again at his show in Geel. Diplo is also one of the producers that tried to convert Snoop Dogg into Snoop Lion. We were able to see a little bit of Snoop Lion and Major Lazer, thereby forsaking other heroes like Tarrus Riley and even Gentleman. Major Lazer booms, stays original thanks to the high soundsystem-content, but can't impress me in the field of dance-act on the smaller green stage of Summerjam.

I saw many things before with innovating dance-acts like The Prodigy (the air balloons), Ken Ichi, Leftfield, Chemical Brothers, 10-15 years ago and Fat Boy Slim or Faithless or other, younger, 'alternative' dance-acts. The sound was off every now and then and the light show was flashy, but not very special to my experience. Snoop Lion did not bring what we wanted to hear from him, viz. his reggaetunes, and so we didn't stick around for long. For starters, he let a series of other hiphop heroes pass the revue through his DJ, and first and foremost he brought hip hop. We didn't come there for that. No idea if the second part of his show contained more reggae. We were, by then, already enjoying the second half of Tarrus Riley's show. Sweet vibes, always!