Teino Evans, Staff Reporter

Shaggy - Claudine Housen/Staff Photographer

It is no secret that reggae music is widely loved internationally and, as countries across Europe and other parts of the world invest heavily in reggae festivals and other major events, local artistes are called upon to perform some authentic Jamaican music.

One major festival that features a number of reggae acts each year is the Rototom Sunsplash which takes place every summer at Osoppo in the province of Udine, Italy.

The festival is patterned on Jamaica's Reggae Sunsplash and since 1994 has pulled thousands of reggae-passionate people from countries across Europe to enjoy concerts featuring international musicians, many of whom often come from Jamaica.

This year's festival, held from July 6-14, featured Shaggy for the first time and, according to his manager Robert Livingston, it was a great experience.

"Shaggy did well at the Rototom festival. It's 10 days of reggae straight and every day all two, three different reggae artistes. This is the first time that Shaggy was on and him gwaan real bad. People never wanted him to leave. Dem book him immediately for next year, but the experience was great; it's like yuh bring Jamaica guh there," Livingston said.

He also added: "It's one of the best achievements for Shaggy because is mainly roots artistes that they put on this festival."

Great experience

Warrior King - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Perfect, another artiste who performed on this year's Rototom Sunsplash says, "It's one of the biggest reggae festivals in Europe and it is an experience like no other.

"I've been there two times, in 2005 and this year, and it was much better this year. I was on the line-up with Sizzla, Anthony B, Junior Kelly and others. But reggae music is so huge that you have Italian stars like Stela Italia, that's a group, and you have Alborosie," he said.

"Fi real, reggae inna Italy crazy. They are the ones who speak less English compared to other places in Europe like Germany, but Italy has this special love for reggae music because, even after the event, people line up to do interviews and they dub plate sessions and a lot of art and craft on display from like Africa and like Jamaican flags and buttons, ginger beer and dem ting deh," Perfect said.

He said what he was also impressed with was the way in which patrons were determined to take whatever measures were necessary to ensure their comfort and preparedness for the festival.

"They have the camping ground and they set that area for the patrons, because in Europe they don't really keep dances they keep festivals and people start to camp out days before the festival even begins, so there are like thousands of tents. So people don't really go home, they stay there like for days, the duration of the festival," he said.

Perfect also said he felt that there was more appreciation for reggae music in Europe when compared to Jamaica for a number of reasons.

"Sometimes when we even go to these venues they request that we do specific songs, like I have a song called World Trade Centre that is big in the majority of European countries but in Jamaica nobody knows it. The Europeans listen to real music, so they are not influenced by the hype and what people push. So we really have to give thanks for the European market because the percentage of bias is very small," Perfect said.

Appreciation of the music

Perfect - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

He added, "people really appreciate the music more in Europe to me personally and each time I perform there I have to perform for an hour or hour-and-a-half and I have to sing out the entire song, from the start to the end, because these people are really into the music, is not just a hype. It's really touching to be in a First World country where the people don't speak English, but they are singing word for word the songs that we do. And the people are most thirsty for like the one-drop tunes."

Warrior King says it was his first time on Rototom Sunsplash and "the experience was great."

"Di people dem very receptive toconsciousness and di vibe nice. Yuh si true Italy inna Rome, dem people know a lot of history an many things weh wi sing bout dem can relate to it an dem know wah wi a sing bout," Warrior King said. "Dem people deh energetic and dem have a crave for reggae and dancehall music. There is a big following for the music."

Warrior King also said even with his experience he had to perform a much longer set than he is accustomed to doing in Jamaica, as "mi sing fi bout an hour an dem familiar wid all di songs dem, even more than mi local fans (in Jamaica), like Education Is The Key, Power To Chant, My Life, Nice Time, Ruff Road, just to name a few songs".