The worldly cocktailbar Mama Matrea has put together an amazing Poolparty Festival on the Badboot at the Kattendijkdok for the first time. Not a lot of people, but all the more vibes.
DJ Baba Kush opened with a mixture of reggae, funk, worldly music,… in short, something for everyone. Little by little the first visitors turned up. By the time I arrived, Jah Heavy Load had already started. These boys have built up a good reputation and guarantee a set of solid reggae filled with spectacle. Co-founder and Rupelsoldaat Reflexo immediately knew how to amaze the crowd with a couple of freestyles. He created some summer tunes on his melodica and to top things off Missing Link accompanied him on stage.
The Flemish DJ KISA has been hanging out in Barcelona for years. On the upper deck she brought a real oldskool hiphop mix. Which was perfect to acclimatize with a cold beer in hand. Despite the low turnout, I'll remember the friendly atmosphere and the feeling like I had ended up at an exclusice boteparty (which was of course partially true). Meanwhile Nathaniel M'baye had unleashed an entire orchestra on the audience all by himself. He is not the only artist (Lisa van der Aa, Reggie Watts…) who uses a loopstation, an ingenious device that records sound clips which can then be repeated endlessly. By recording each instrument, you build up to the big picture. Nathaniel mainly used percussion instruments in order to take a musical journey around the world. In my opinion this should have been by the pool.
After half an hour i was longing for the sun again. On the upper deck Verse Ital gave the best of himself, The MC-winner of the Benelux Reggae Contest 2014. Great lyrics, positive message, good reggae. No coincidence the sun broke trough the clouds. You do not want to miss this on Smile, where he will be backed by Asham Band.
DJ KISA left the nineties behind and changed over to summer newschool and club hits. Busta Rhymes, Notorious BIG, Jay Z, Blackstar… A lot of smiling faces, dancing bodies and a superb, almost familial vibe. Nonkel Guy, known as a member of the Halve Neuro crew, took over the turntables and served us with an original playlist with room for Dutch hiphop.
Dinnertime! We know Mama Matrea as a nice cocktailbar where you can eat, which was no different on the Badboot. A large assortment of tacos, chicken on the bbq with a side salad, pizzas,.. Simple but delicious food, and not too pricy. Gradually, the evening fell in and the audience began longing for the main acts of the day: Jeru the Damaja and Tony 'Toca' Touch. This transitionfase sadly went on for a bit too long, even thought there were other options beside waiting: swimming by sunset, a massage, laying in the hammock.
We had to wait until 11 o'clock before Jeru the Damaja appeared on stage, the dirty rotten scoundrel. He went to school with none other than Guru and DJ Premier (Gang Starr), the latter produced his first and second well received albums. Rapping fits Jeru like a glove. His voice, looks, flow, lyrics, freestyle… it all fits. I thought the scarce crowd was quite noisy, but Jeru obviously disaggreed. After just over half an hour this unique experience had already passed. The transition to relaxing chill out music and a fireshow was too abrupt. We wanted to keep surfing on the hiphopwave with Tony Touch, the mixtape-king who has cooperated with some of the greatest rappers in the world and gave many people's carreer a boost. His greatly varried set was very much appreciated by the remaining die-hards. It was unfortunate that, partially because of the unexpectedly free Ringlandfestival, there weren't more people on this first Poolparty Festival. It is set at a unique location with a swimming pool,nice food and drinks and good performances by artists who loved to socialize with the audience. We would like to spend every summer's Sunday like this. Translation: Lena De Keersmaker
.Dl7BAwhJ_ZJXLLF.webp)
