The rhythm and tempo of reggae, and its Rastafarian connections, are best suited to the pace of beach life — or island life. So it’s not surprising that Taiwan, which has only recently developed a beach culture, is now nursing an interest in reggae, soca, roots and dub.
Japan, which has been cultivating a reggae scene for over three decades, is “the Mecca of reggae music in the world over the last 10 years,” said Red-I, aka Patrick Chen. He will be performing with his band, The Radical Outlawz, at the East Coast Music Festival in Taitung this weekend, along with bands from Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan.
“People are always saying reggae is so underground in Taiwan,” Red-I said. “A few years ago it couldn’t have been any smaller; no one even talked about it.”
Red-I, who was born in Taiwan, raised in Canada and “reggae-ized” in Belize and Mexico for half his life, is one of the major progenitors of the genre here. He credits artists like Scott Cook, and the O’Brothaz Sound System (now Black Reign International), for promoting the sound, but said ultimately it was the emergence of surf culture that switched the Taiwanese onto reggae.
“The surfing crowd getting bigger brought people to the beach, and the beach culture started to grow among the young people ... The surf videos, they use a lot of reggae,” Red-I said.
The second annual Taitung festival enjoys official support: it’s put on not only by Socialroots Productions, but also by the Taitung Ministry of Cultural Affairs, and is sponsored by the county government.
Local bands on the lineup include Fan Yichen (范逸臣), Eat Music (吃音樂) and Song CD-farmers (宋唯農), to name just a few. The festival is an excellent chance to check out international acts such as Papa U-gee, aka Yuyuji Matsumura, from Shizuoka, Japan, who also played last year and is a veteran of the scene (with a roster that dates back to his high school band in 1985).
Red-I said that many of the acts, including Papa Dom, Tropical Depression and Machaco, the female pioneer of reggae in Japan, “have over 15 years’ of experience performing and recording ... Papa Dom hosts his own reggae show on Radio Manila, the first radio show like this in the Philippines.”
In addition to more than 20 groups from Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines, there will be workshops by dance instructor Maria Matsumura, also known as Phatty Maria, who is the 2008 Japan Dancehall Queen Champion.
The main acts will be Saturday and Sunday this weekend and next, but there will be workshops, including Phatty Maria’s free dance lessons, from Monday through Aug. 22.
The festival is free — in more than a monetary way: there will be an open stage for artists who want to join in, on a “first-come, first-served basis,” said Red-I.
Other scheduled bands like Digihai, Go Chic! and The Shine and Shine and Shine and Shine (閃閃閃閃) add an electro/punk edge to the proceedings.
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