Reggae, with its laidback beats and dominant bass lines, invites a slow rolling movement of the hips and shoulders and the feeling of dancing under the palm trees in a tropical paradise like its birthplace, Jamaica.
Today is Island Jam’s Reggae Beachfest at WaLiLei (哇哩咧), an Italian restaurant owned by four surfers on Cianshui Bay (淺水灣, Cianshuiwan), a beach about 15 minutes away by car from Danshui (Tamsui) MRT Station (淡水捷運站). The venue has large outdoor seating areas facing the long strip of sand and sea directly in front of it, so the party will be half indoors and half outdoors.
“The feeling of that place is so good when you get there you feel relaxed directly,” said Oliver Harley, half of Island Jam, the organizers of the event.
Harley, aka Lion, is Jamaican and has been working on bringing reggae to Taiwan for the last six years: “A lot of people who newly come to Taiwan — we make reggae music, they say, ‘Reggae in Taiwan!?’ But that’s island music, man. You forget you live on an island — especially in the north … but people are getting it, Shao Chu [Chu Jian-hui (朱劍輝) one of the owners of WaLiLei] and those guys they really get it, you know they work and that but they know you got to relax, unwind, go the beach and take a break.”
Island Jam’s Thierry Cuvillier, aka Taili, of Martinique is confident about the festival and said people here “Are getting it, man,” relating a tale about a show at The Wall (這牆) where revelers were taking off their shoes to dance on the wooden floor: “After 20 minutes they are totally free, people are smiling. You see them later asking, ‘Hey, have you seen my shoes?’”
That today is a makeup day for last week’s holiday doesn’t seem to concern them: “Even if you miss two or three bands, it will be okay, the party will really get going around 10pm,” said Taili. “There are DJ sets between bands, then later from midnight to dawn is Black Reign, big sound system, big party. People who work Saturday, you tell them Taili says don’t worry, 3pm to 10pm is the warm-up, you get there after, then the party gets going!”
This is the first reggae festival in northern Taiwan, featuring the “most popular reggae bands in Taiwan since Red-I doesn’t play anymore,” said Taili. They were worried Taiwan wasn’t ready to accept reggae on a larger scale, but “High Tide [and] Skaraoke are doing larger shows,” said Lion. “Now we can see where this thing will take off a bit more. Guys back home or in Japan say it’s the same path, it’s good for everybody.”
Katzu, who was a reggae DJ in Tokyo, joined their crew after his job moved him to Taiwan. “He was just walking up and down the streets looking for reggae,” said Lion. “Then he heard the music coming from Jahmuna’s [Lion’s now-defunct restaurant on Yanji Street (延吉街)] … every night after that he’d be in there, couldn’t speak English … then his wife moved here and translated for him and we could figure out that he was a DJ.”
Since then he has been part of their sound system and has helped bring other Japanese artists over for the reggae festival, including Selectah Super Taro, who has come twice before, Selectah Saru and DJ Sister Mie.
Other artists include Selectah Zion (France), and local acts Taimaica, Matzka, Pan Africana, High Tide, Skaraoke, Sunny Smalls, Ice, Ras Junior Alpha, Black Reign International Sound and DJ Marcus Aurelius.
“Music is my life, it’s my food,” said Lion. “Listening to reggae, it’s like taking a break. Yeah you want to express, like Bob [Marley], but it’s a way to free yourself from the hardship of daily living.”
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