One Love Reggae Festival set for London

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

The One Love Reggae Festival which takes its name from one of the most momentous events in Jamaican popular culture, is scheduled for August 6-8 in Hainault, north London.

According to organisers, the event will feature reggae acts like Luciano, Tippa Irie and the veteran Winston McAnuff. But there will also be a trade fair, and performances by spoken word artistes.

"It's going to be a really special event, we've had some real positive feedback," said festival promoter Dan Wiltshire.

The festival was first held last year with several of Britain's leading sound systems and local reggae acts dominating its card. This year, however, music will share the spotlight with poets.

"The spoken word will feature more heavily this year with a number of lectures taking place," read a statement from the festival's website.

Caribbean literary figures have figured strongly in British culture.

Trinidadian thinkers C L R James and V S Naipaul are the best known.

There is also Clarendon-born dub poet Linton 'Kwesi' Johnson who moved to Britain in his early teens and sparked a movement among young black Britons with a series of biting writings and albums for Virgin and Island Records.

INSPIRATIONAL WORKS

His 1978 album, Dread Beat An' Blood, inspired upcoming reggae bands like Aswad and Steel Pulse.

Caribbean literature has also been highlighted at other high-profile Caribbean events in Britain, such as the annual Notting Hill Carnival.

Wiltshire says Britain's One Love Reggae Festival was inspired by the April 1978 Peace Concert at the National Stadium in Kingston, where an all-star cast performed to help ease tension among politically aligned gangs.

It featured performers like Peter Tosh and Bob Marley and was attended by Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones. During his performance, Marley brought then prime minister Michael Manley and Opposition leader Edward Seaga on stage for a symbolic clasping of hands.