Reggae in Ibiza
Reggae: a global movement for a peace culture.
The deep Ibiza is ideal for Reggae. Despite a growing new general interest for reggae music as a way of life, a way to connect with other people with respect and share the culture and it’s different customs, is what draws attention. So the reggae flooded the island of good vibrations, peace, love and intercultural respect and finds support in a part of the world becoming each day more conscious in cultural differences.
In Ibiza this movement is becoming always more interesting between bands and djs who live on the island. Bands like Jahbless, Shakatribe, Skanking Players, djs like Selector Bogdan, Wisdom Sound System, dj Mighty, Eli Rojas, George Solar, Walk-a-Tone, DaviDub and the first Ibiza Reggae Festival in the summer of 2013, organized by Vibz Station, are a sign of the intensity of this movement on the island.
The Vibz Station promotions was born in 2009 by the hand of Pedro Morcillo, an Ibiza resident (Wisdom Sound System and Skanking Players): “born of a platform called Ibiza Reggae Station, from where the events were promoted and at this day are working Bo Henrick (Bogdan selector, ibiza global radio) and Dani Fernández that are fundamental and essential as Eli Rojas, George Solar, Victor Font, Antonio Rodrigo and Sergi Claramunt. All of them are now the new Ibiza Reggae Yard cultural association.
Why Reggae? Reggae music defends optimism and represents the hopes and inspirations of the Caribbean people who were taken from Africa. Taken to another country, Jamaica, on the other side of the planet, with the feeling that they don’t belong anywhere and there are many people around the world with this feeling of alienation that don’t feel at home. Reggae music is for those people. Reggae is rebel music, its Jamaican music but reaches all over the World and represents the whole planet.
“I am dedicated to making events ” continues Pedro “for several years I was dee-jaying in different venues and I felt the urge of bringing special guests, but it was complicated when it relied on third-parties, so I risked and took the step to open a new space for this music on the island, a large venue for a lot of people to meet. On the other hand, I missed listening to bands or Sound Systems in Ibiza since there was almost nothing except more individualistic acts”.
For the first Ibiza Reggae Festival, the promoter had the support of various businesses concerned with the quality and origin of their products on the island with the support of Rototom Sunsplash, one of the largest in the world born in the North-East of Italy (Pordenone) in the year 1991 and considered as something more than a simple musical reggae meeting, to invite international artists like Twilight circus dub sound system and the Jamaican singer dj Lone Ranger (studio one), specialized in rub a dub, dj style and roots, Half Pint (Jamaica), I-Shence (Italy), the afro reggae artist Beta Simon, who has five albums to their backs, 7 FT Sound System (from Cape Town, South Afrika) named as Sound System revelation 2012 y Tippa Irie (uk) or Dub trouble.
Lucia: In recent years there has been an effort to bring together fans of reggae to lbiza, but without satisfactory results. How do you get the support of Rototom?
Pedro: By working and working here with reggae we made some attempts to contact them until finally it happened, they became collaborators of the Festival Trenchtown reading centre, where Dawn Penn from studio one, Jamaica performed (It is a charity Festival fundraiser for school literacy in Trenchtown12 ) and they decided to open a path of collaboration here. Even though the artists are easy to contract, and so we have done, it is true that a backing from Rototom Sunsplash gives more strength to the project.
Lucia: Rototom Sunsplash every year pays more attention to the environment, working to ensure the lowest possible environmental impact. Here in Ibiza there are many movements that work in this direction. How do you approach this subject?
Pedro: We like to promote the awareness of social and environmental, collaborating with various associations, organizations and businesses on the island with similar concerns, promoting ethical values, social commitment and awareness. Now we work on our next season that will be filled with surprises. We will go ahead from our page in Facebook Ibiza Reggae Yard. A night out dancing and smiling until the early hours was the spirit of the historical concert of Bob Marley in the Plaza de Toros of Ibiza on June 28th 1978, performance that was fixed in the collective memory of many natives of Ibiza, is repeated and will continue thanks to the different events that lovers of this style will organize in Ibiza “…to unite the public in Ibiza of both international classical artists such as young newcomers within the reggae world and unify the islands reggae artists!” continues Pedro.
So, lovers of this style of music and peace philosophy of the reggae movement have their celebration guaranteed in Ibiza!
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