Upful vibes @ ReggaeBus festival

On Friday, the first two Belgian sounds were scheduled to perform quite early at the Open Air area, fortunately with a roof over their heads as the weather gods were in a bad mood all weekend, although the weather hardly affected the turnout. Jahmbassador warmed up the audience for the Misty in Roots concert on the ninth of November in Leuven with 'Poor & needy', which he (rightly) played out completely, chanting on the dub. The wind and the dust on the needle did put a spanner in the works at times, but Kaya wasn't to be thrown off balance and regularly dusted off the needle and continued as zealously as before. When he took over with 'Sheep to the shepherd' by Prince Jamo ("Special request to all the Rototom crew!"), he had the audience in the palm of his hands. He finished with his popular first release, 'Home in Zion' by Dan I Locks. On account of some confusion about the time schedule he wasn't able to present us with his recently released 10" with Nya Azania en Danny Red.

On the opposite of this, Justice placed a tremendous wall of speakers, with extra scoops, borrowed from friendly sound systems. The tops may have been positioned a bit too high (and didn't last until the end), but their dub plate selection was really good. Thus after winning the facebook contest, they made their entry through the main gate! In the meantime Tsunami Wazahari from France performed in the (way too small) Alternative corner, backed by a live bass player and an energetic Saimn-I at the mic.

In the main hall we felt as if we were back at the Rototom festival with Black Board Jungle, the mega soundsystem which still rises above every Belgian Sound System, and smoothly passes every test. Neil Perch and Dubdadda of Zion Train were allowed to open with their firm stepper productions, as usual smothered in delays and other effects. Belgian-I Saimn-I was able to give his best with his truths en rights and a complaint about the Syrian situation (at least someone noticed!). The Sky Fire family from Ghent – who invited Perch in Ghent on several occasions - was also present backstage, and selector Sky Hit took hold of the mic at the end to promote the Mek It Burn festival in Vilvoorde next week (during which they will perform their own sound alongside the Jamaican singer Rohan Lee), after which the French O.B.F. walked on stage.

There was no trace to be found of the announced Lyrical Benji, but we believe that combination would have been strange anyway. We heard Shanti D sing his 'Revolution' on the sounds op 'Rub-a-dub anthem' (High Tone), followed by the 'Cuss cuss' riddim with an Horace Andy dub plate, but then we called it a day to spare some of our strengths for the following day…

And indeed, during the early Saturday afternoon the Clash Room was shaken to its foundations thanks to Jah Tubby's World System, who took up arms against the brave Legal Shot Sound System from France during a civilised sound clash. We risked life and limb when entering the arena where the clash lyrics circled the room and ear plugs were to no avail because of a pounding bass. If we were to decide on a winner, than surely it was Jah Tubby's who has been in the business for over 30 years. Legal Shot put up a fair fight with decent dubplates and a roll call of MC's, but appeared to be no match for the sound power and exclusive selection of Keith, who crushed the French from behind his compact control tower while Gregory Fabulous and Professor Natty finished it off vocally. Macky Banton was once again drummed away by the duo, en ultimately jumped from one sound to the other, which confirmed the friendly and respectful atmosphere of the event. Shinehead was not present with Legal Shot (unlike during Rototom), but instead we saw the young and promising Charlie P from England. Funny moment: Tubby's played a special by him straight afterwards. Counteraction!

Ionyouth was allowed to perform on the Open Air stage on Saturday and preluded the somewhat mediocre Reality Shock with Erroll Bellott, followed by a masterly roots session of Mighty Jah Observer, featuring both well-known classics and a number of forgotten jewels. The final hour was again reserved for Ionyouth, who suddenly pulled out all the stops!

With 'Burn Babylon' by Sylford Walker as their final tune, they totally mesmerized us...

Alternative Corner none other than Dubkasm entered the stage, alongside whirlwind Solo Banton. They presented their newest release, 'Jah Bible', with the voice of Ras Addis, one of the original Aba Shanti dubplates from the 90's, then exclusive, now released on the LP Brixton Rec. (referring to the location where Aba played at the time), and on 10". DJ Stryda paid tribute to the recently deceased Prince Jazzbo with 'Ital Stew' and the brilliant 'Jahoviah' by the Twinkle Brothers, deejay and dub versions included, during which Digistep and Solo Banton came forward for the first time: Digi on sax, Solo pon da mic. This order was repeated during the Dubkasm riddims 'Sensimilia addict' and 'From the foundation', and grew out to be a beautiful duet on their recent: 'Emotion' riddim: "Are you ready?".

They easily could have played on one of the sound systems alongside Kanka (who's hugely popular in Brussels ) something which they agreed to: "This one should be played on a real sound system like Blackboard Jungle!", Stryda commented on several occasions. Yet nevertheless both Dubkasm and Kanka provided a quality show as always, and during his 'Sufferah's choice' radio show on Monday (Passion Radio Bristol), Stryda praised the upful vibes of the Reggaebus festival in Brussels, and advised everyone to attend next year's edition.

Also from Bristol and for the first time with a fully live dub set: Kibir La Amlak, meaning 'Glory to Jah' in Amharic. The once called Teshuvah Hifi- once guest in Leuven at a incredible dance in the squat en this summer also seen in Kortrijk and Geel – has experimented before with live instruments, but this time MC Stamina Li and Mulu came to the fore, on saxophone and cello(!) respectively, while JT watched over the riddims and sound effects. There were some mistakes during their set, but the sublime interaction between Mulu and Stamina supplied a unique and beautiful show!

Although Young Warrior was seen for the first time on Irie Vibes with his own full sound, his set this day was not any less then his set back then. The son of Jah Shake may not have the same charisma as his father (yet), but he is beginning to intrigue and interest the dub crowd. We thought we had heard every song by Bob Marley by now, but Young Warrior still opened with a nyabinghi song by Marley which we had never heard of, followed by 'War'. He also took a moment to remember the death of Prince Jazzbo with 'Ital Stew', a modest moment in honour of the foundation deejay from Spanish Town, to which we owe some great memories. After a whole series of roots tunes, he mainly personal dub productions, or his father's, or co operations. Shaka Shaka Warrior!

Unlike yesterday less people showed up for the second day of the festival, despite the high quality of the acts. After two long days of festival the fatigue might have struck some of the festival goers. Finally Murray man chanted alongside Blackboard Jungle who spoiled die hard dub fans until the early hours with exclusive dub plates and a few brand new Mellow Vibes productions by Murray Man.

Big up to the organization of Reggaebus, which succeeds in surprising us every year en brings another big name to our country (for the first time) within the next month: the Japanese Mighty Massa. And this on the same night that our Red Devils are going to qualify in Croatia for the WT in Brazil, on a big screen before the start of the party.
Make it a date!