"The Greatest Reggae Show on Earth, Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest, the 15th
Anniversary 2007."
Wow, every year the number of visitors to attend this
show goes up. From July 19 - 21, 2007 - sixty thousand
musical connoisseurs and Reggae lovers graced the
ground of St. Catherine in Montego-Bay, Jamaica's
second largest city, in the parish of St. James, to
enjoy Red Stripe's three nights of exquisite
entertainment of an incomparable musical extravaganza.
Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest Photo Album
http://picasaweb.google.com/TonyRankin07/UntitledAlbum
Local and international superstars of Reggae, R&B, Hip
Hop and Dance Hall music, as well as budding new stars
came to "bust out" on stage, to join the arena with
Beenie Man, Buju, Shaggy, Beres, Lady Saw and Macka
Diamond. We were not dissapointed as Tanya Stephens
and Taurus Riley gave brilliant outstanding
performances.
This splended annual event brought together a galaxy
of musicians from the Diasporas from R&B, Hip Hop and
Reggae reaching across the oceans to display their
talents.
On Thursday July 19th the MC's Richie B -
Hot 102 and
GT Taylor - Irie FM set the stage for the Explosion to
take place, and it did. The record breaking 25,000
estetic fans came to the the festival to see their
favorite stars Movado, the female superstar Lady Saw;
Macka Diamond; Ninja man; Bounty Killer and the King
of the Dancehall The Doctor Beenie Man, who came clad
in the colors of the national flag of Jamaica. The
backing band Live Wyya was dressed likewise. Beenie
Man thrilled the crowd till the early morning light.
He was joined on stage by a beautiful lady called
Barbie. Unfortunately her voice was not audible for us
to hear and enjoy, as we had the other female singers
who accompanied the male superstars.
Because the Dance Hall stage has now become like the
African griots who critized their political leaders
highlightened corruption and abuses in the society,
the dancehall performers have seized the opportunities
to do this also.
The explosive Lady Saw continues to mesmerize her fans
especially the male. Wrapping them around her little
finger, she inquired "if dem want de work?" Her time
on stage was more fun than work, and we all enjoyed
her as usual. Macka Diamond marched out with her cane
and gave a sublime performance, and although she is
the greater of the two females performers, she still
has to catch up with Lady Saw when it comes to lyrics.
Movado has a chilling, pulsating voice, and is
destined to go far if he has a good management team.
His album Gangsta For Life captures the ills of the
dispossessed in the society, He reminds me very much
of the late great Jacob Miller.
Elephant Man stormed the stage in his Darth Vader
suit with a group of dancers who were as hyped as he
was. Not only did he get a visitor to participate
under some hard grind but one dancer jumping off the
stage to perform dance with a one legged man who comes
to the show every year. The fan was then hoisted on to
the stage where another dancer did "too
much."
Munga the upcoming star was unfortunately not holding
the microphone close enough to his mouth for his voice
to be heard and appreciated. The Trio, Voice Mail
made a fashion statement but vocally they were
lacking.
Ninja Man, Vybz Kartel, Cham, Vegas, Chuck Fenda and
Anthony B, Gyptian, Kip Rich, were all entertaining.
Friday, July 20th, It's Evolution night and MC's Elise
Kelly of Irie FM and Cordell Green were working it.
The Hard Drive Band takes charge professionally, and
the star of the night LL Cool J was fabulous. He
worked the stage with the mike in his hand taking us
thru two decades of his reign in Hip Hop and invited
the reggae lovers into his world. He thrilled the
ladies with his muscular trimmed body, clad in
oversized blue jeans and a diamante t-shirt which he
tore off during his performance. He called for one,
then fifteen, then twenty ladies to come up on stage.
To my delight I was one of those ladies, hoisted up on
the high stage by ardent Reggae lover, Tony Rankin of
Rankin Media, and the camera man with the best moves.
LL also made it plain that he knew who the king of
Jamaica was as he gave respect to the Reggae King Bob
Marley rapping to Bob's melody.
Shaggy, clean as the Board of Health, was clad in
white hat, light red jacket, white shirt, red tie,
white shorts and white shoes. He was spectular but
following LL was an AM fete. Morgan Heritage gave a
stellar performance lifting up the Rastafarian culture
as usual. Buju Banton was as great as ever. He came
out on the stage at about 4:30 and held us captive
till about 6:30, no controversal songs but Til Shilo
and Driver were filling.
Saturday night was the Zenith the MC's were Francois
St. Juste - Fame 95 and Paula Ann Porter of RJR 94.
The brightest star of the night Mary J Blige was
radiant as she worked the stage in her black and white
stiletto heels. She gave of herself vocally taking us
thru her dark passages of life. During her act she went
into a crouching position singing from her soul to
delight of her fans. The tears were visible in her
eyes as well as ours as she took us through her touch
Love experiences in song. Mary was as blown away as
We sang "I'm going down." she just turned the mike
Over to the audience. It must truly have been a
splendid experience for her and LL Cool J, when the
audience sang out their songs on Friday and Saturday
night respectively.
Beres blessed us with ninety minutes of pure bliss. He
was at his best and very relaxed as he sat and even
conversed with his ardent fans. He made it crystal
clear that he is most deserving of his super star
position in the music industry.
Tanya Stephens and Taurus were exceptional crafters.
They spent their time on stage showing their fans that
they had not only worked hard on their art form but
had traversed the ranks to be respected as talented
sophisticated international stars. Tanya's husky voice
relating to her flirty boyfriend "the street don't
love you like I do" and Tarus acclaiming Black woman's
beauty as he closed his eyes and sang "She is Royal",
is worth anything more than money can buy.
LlOYD parks & We the people were there to save the old
timers so that they could sing along too.
The Mighty Diamond was the cream of the crop putting
the iceing on the cake.
The organizers out did themselves this year with the
abundance of food, internet surfing, and great
entertainment, serving the spiritual nourishment that
the music provides. I was great to see Ms. Janice
Sylvera mingling with the crowd in the press section.
The only sad note of the whole event was the news that
Johnny G's mother had passed away, we send our
condonances and may her soul rest in peace.
May we all be blessed to see next year and to attend
this the greatest Reggae Show on earth.
http://picasaweb.google.com/TonyRankin07/RedStripeReggaeSumfest2006
Written by: Gladys Rhodes/aka Sista Cindy Simeon
Photos by:Tony Rankin Winn
Clyde Williams
Photo Links From Rankin Media and Easy Star Records Coverage of 2007 Red Stripe REGGAE SUMFEST
Red Stripe Regge Sumfest 2007 SLIDE
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