The Reggae Summerjam Festival

[PatriotWarrior]

http://www.summerjam.de/index.php?setlang=en

http://www.irieites.de/inhalt/onstagereviews/summerjam_logo_2005.jpg

The Summerjam Festival is great fun. Everyone here (at least here in Nordrheinwestfalen where I live and where this festival takes place) seems to know the Summerjam! It is Europe’s hugest annual Reggae act. This year’s festival is the 20th. It is now officially called International Reggae & Black Music Festival, or simply “Summerjam”, and features original Reggae and Black Music Bands, from Jamaica and beyond. This year, it takes place from Friday 8 July to Sunday 10 July.

For this year’s features line-up, follow this link: http://www.summerjam.de/programm.php?setlang=en

… However, it must also be mentioned that the Summerjam has become kind of ‘more commercial’ over the years … but the fun is still there, nevertheless! Anyone who loves Reggae, especially the Rootz Reggae, and ever happens to be in or near Köln/Cologne, Germany, around the first July weekend, any year(!), should make it a must to attend this unforgettable festival. It is a camping Reggae festival and there is more than enough camping ground for even a ‘million’ would-be guests for pitching their tents … It takes place at a place called Fühlingersee (which is German for “Lake Fuehlinger”, situated on the fringes of Cologne city) each year (since 1986) from Friday through midnight Sunday of the first weekend in July.

(A ticket this year costs in the neighbourhoods of €74 (or seventy-four euros) = US$90 = GBP[or £]50 … etc) ... Last year, I’m told a total of more than 200 000 Reggae fans streamed in from all over Europe & beyond! I for one first attended this fest in 1992 in Loreley near the city of Koblenz, Rheinlandpfalz, Germany, and that is where it used to take place then, but I have been attending it every year consistently since 1997, except for last year when it coincided with my journey to Afrika. It has also taken place at an ex-US Airbase/Airfield called Wildenrath near the city of Mönchengladbach, near here. It even used to be called “Reggae Sunsplash” in the beginning, but after a rough court battle with the originators of the original Reggae SunSplash idea in Jamaica, now called Sun Fest I think, I hear that name had to be changed to “Summerjam”, but it looks like even that name sells too …

Here are a few images from the area:

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http://www.reggaenode.de/summerjam/sjam2004/culchacandela3.jpg







http://www.argeurlaub.de/camping.jpg
Camping around Lake Fuehlinger/Fühlingersee. There is also limited parking space for those with caravans.








For more information about this wonderful festival, check out the official Summerjam website.

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Fühlingersee/Köln-Niehl, Festival Arena:

[PatriotWarrior]

SummerJam Impressions:

• Main Stage
• Big, Big Crowd!
• Toots (of Toots & the Maytals)
• Capleton
• Summerjam Bazaar

[Boogieman]

The crowd is too white and too hippy... At least it is my first impression. I would go , but it's too expensive fo InI. I would love to see Sizzla , Israel Vibration or Anthony B. Oh well...

[Kebo]

One thing about reggae is that it attracts so many whites - tho its a black consciousness music as far as i see black americans arent that into reggae - hip hop is the music of the blacks - interesting tho that the name hip-hop and the earliest influence of hip-hop also come from Kingston, Jamaica

[Boogieman]

Yeah I know. It's because of the "peace and love ,good music to listen when ya high", usually whites don't hear or don't want to hear the message, and most of them like Bob Marley because he a little bit than other more militant and Afrocentric musicians, whether it's roots or dancehall (not that I have some disrespeck for Mr. Marley. Hip Hop was mostly influenced by toasting, a Jamaican style of DJ'ing. By the way I'm white too...