July is Reggae Sumfest Month
Published:Thursday | June 30, 2016 | 1:57 PMShereita Grizzle
Today, as the world celebrates International Reggae Day, organisers of Reggae Sumfest have declared July as Reggae Sumfest month.
'The Greatest Reggae Show on Earth', scheduled for July 17-23, is one of the biggest reggae festivals in Jamaica to date and has a legacy that spans more than two decades.
Josef Bogdanovich, chairman and CEO of DownSound Entertainment, who is now the new producers of the festival, said the decision to declare July Reggae Sumfest month was a no-brainer.
"July is already a special month for Reggae music, with July 1 being International Reggae Day," he said. "And with Reggae Sumfest being held in July for more than two decades, the decision was a good fit. This is also a very special year for Sumfest as we transition to a bigger format."
TRANSITIONS
On the topic of transitions, the 2016 staging of the highly anticipated festival has been met with some level of negativity after it was announced that the organisers had decided to do away with having an International night. Since that announcement was made, there has been a lot of speculation as to whether the recent adjustments would be good for the show's reputation, but Bogdanovich is assuring fans that they have nothing to worry about.
"We're trying to raise the bar this year to show that home-grown reggae music can compete with reggae from everywhere else in the world," he said. "I think people are going to find out that some really good things are going to happen this year. I think the show is going to be amped up in terms of production, and I think this show is going to be magical."
In commemoration of July being declared Reggae Sumfest month, the Reggae Sumfest team has added a special 10 per cent birthday discount to celebrate the move. This discount will be available to persons born in July who will be attending the festival.
"For each show night, persons born in the month of July will receive this birthday discount of 10 per cent. It will only be offered to patrons who are buying their tickets at the gate and they must bring their IDs to prove that they were actually born in July," he said. "Offering this discount is really in celebration of Jamaica's culture and what Reggae Sumfest represents."