Reggae Sumfest 2020 Goes Virtual
Reggae Sumfest, dubbed as the world’s greatest Jamaican Reggae /dancehall music festival, will be staged virtually this year. This annual event normally takes place in the popular resort town, Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Last year, (2019) over 48,000 persons worldwide gathered at the venue to enjoy musical performances from popular local and international talents.
With the coronavirus pandemic, it was announced earlier this year that the show was canceled. Joe Bogdanovich, Chairman and CEO of DownSound Entertainment, which owns and produces Reggae Sumfest, was quoted as saying “while we hope and expect COVID-19 to be contained with the public’s continued cooperation, we take the safety and health of our guests, staff, and community very seriously.” Hence the decision to cancel. Patrons were even advised of the methods they could use to request refunds for tickets that were already purchased.
Earlier this week, the announcement was made to instead, give patrons “a taste of Sumfest” virtually, as the Sumfest team formed a partnership with Facebook and Pandora to bring workshops to the people.
Sumfest 2020 will be staged from July 20-25.
We've missed you as much as you've missed us!
Mek we give yuh a Taste of Sumfest! 🔈🇯🇲 Check out our calendar of events for our Digital Sumfest experience for the week of July 20 – 25💫 We cya wait !!#ReggaeSumfest #OurMusicOurFestivalOurRoots #ATasteofSumfest pic.twitter.com/tpmIeZ3VKR
— Reggae Sumfest (@reggaesumfest) July 15, 2020
On July 20, the spotlight will be on Lady Saw, Elephant Man, and Rygin King. There will also be a workshop entitled “Music Monday with Facebook.” This will be lead by Alyssa Talovic Garcia, Head of Music Label Partnership at Facebook, North America and Jade Lewin, Strategic Partnerships Manager, Content Licensing. This workshop will be from 2:30-3:30 pm EST and will cover topics such as, how to upload music on Facebook in a way where it will not be removed. It will include how to promote new albums and the best practices to use in order to reach one’s audience.
July 21 will be all about music sensations Koffee, Cocoa Tea, and Aidonia. “Talk about it Tuesday” workshop will also be held with Diego Herrera who is Pandora’s Reggae and Caribbean Music Curator and Amanda Jonat who is a Partner Manager at Content Licensing. The time of this workshop will also be 2:30-3:30 pm EST and will focus on the various ways to use Pandora’s artiste/producer platform, setting up playlists and radio stations and generally, making the most of the platform.
On July 22, Masicka, Spice, and Aidonia will be featured on Sumfest X Facebook influencer panel. The time will be from 12:30-2:30 PM and will focus mainly on Facebook in the Caribbean.
On July 23 Vybz Kartel, Mavado, and Shabba Ranks will be the main focus and awards will be presented to the best DJ, best female/male reggae, and dancehall artistes of the year. This will be from 6:30 PM-8:30 PM
This digital event will culminate with live performances on July 24 & 25 at 9PM where popular artistes such as Ishawna, Daddy1, Chronic Law, Ding Dong, TeeJay, Shenseea, Konshens, Agent Sasco, Gyptian, Freddie McGreggor, Tarrus Riley, Protoje, Lila Iké amongst others will be featured.
Be sure to register online if you wish to access this event.