Top reggae, hip-hop acts head to Brooklyn festival

Thousands of Caribbean-Americans in the New York Diaspora will converge on the Aviator Sports & Recreation Centre on American Independence Day, July 4, for the third annual Brooklyn Music Festival.

The 2010 line-up includes Atlanta blaze-fire rapper and hit machine B.o.B and Fabulous, multi- platinum-selling reggae artiste Shaggy, Gregory Isaacs, King Yellowman, Barrington Levy, Lady Saw, Assassin, Tanya Stephens. D'Angel, Shabba, Daville, ska bands The Rudie Crew and New York Ska Jazz Ensemble, and several other acts.

This sizzling one-day festival has quickly become a premium item on the summer calendar of events in New York City, and its placement over a major holiday weekend will ensure a big participation from locals as well as out-of-towners in this celebration of the legendary and compelling Jamaican culture. In past years, the festival has attracted over 10,000 patrons.

This year, the festival is partnering with New York City's newly crowned CBS radio market leader 92.3 NOW FM in order to bring new layers of demographic energies to the event.

"This year, we have made great efforts to broaden the scope of the festival to make the offering culturally more full-bodied," said festival founder and promoter George Crooks.

"The event is still anchored in excellent reggae music, but this year, we've added pop and ska. Additionally, we have expanded vending to include classic culinary temptations, art & craft souvenirs and colourful urban wear from scores of small merchants," Crooks continued.

The festival comes as good news for Caribbean American New Yorkers hungry for entertainment and who have seen a downturn in recent months, in both the quality and quantity of ethnic entertainment in the New York tri-state region due to a litany of tribulations - from visa woes to artiste incarceration.

The timing of the Brooklyn Music Festival is smart too, coming as it does, at the startup point for the usually hectic summer concert season when reggae music lovers embrace the events of choice.

Part of the proceeds from this year's festival will be donated to the American Foundation of the University of the West Indies Scholarship Fund.

Gates open at noon and show time is 1 p.m. with free parking available to all patrons.

Children under 12 are free.

Tickets are now on sale at all leading ticket outlets throughout the New York tri-state region. For more informartion, go to www.TIX4ME.com or www.brooklynmusicfestival.com.