Beenie Man, Bounty Killer To Perform At Rebel Salute 2023
Dancehall heavyweights Bounty Killer and Beenie Man will be among approximately 60 artists in a stellar line-up, set to perform at this year’s staging of Rebel Salute, one of Jamaica’s biggest music festivals, scheduled for January 20-21 in St. Ann.
At the launch of the show at the Roc Hotel in Kingston, show promoter Tony Rebel said that the event, which will be held at the Grizzly’s Plantation Cove in Priory, St Ann, will see the two superstars giving cultural performances using their given names: Rodney Price in the case of Bounty Killer and Moses Davis in the case of Beenie Man.
Bounty Killer’s last performance at Rebel Salute was a well-received half hour in 2019, but he had also graced the show’s stages in 2014.
Beenie Man also performed twice at the event, in 2017 and in 2020, as have Popcaan, Lady Saw and Mavado using their given names, Andrae Sutherland, Marion Hall, and David Brooks respectively.
Bounty will join his contemporaries, Lady G, Louie Culture, Terry Linen, Bling Dawg, show promoter Tony Rebel himself, as well as younger acts such as the Grammy-nominated Kabaka Pyramid, Yaksta, Rytikal and Nation Boss, who will all perform on Night One (Friday night).
The list of Night One performers also include Third World, Big Mountain, as well as veterans The Abyssinians, Horace Andy, Papa Michigan, Pluto Shervington, Ernie Smith, Glen Washington, among others.
On Night Two, Beenie Man is expected to join other Reggae/Dancehall stalwarts such as Capleton, Sanchez, Josie Wales, Iwayne and IOctane, Echo Minott and the Messenjah Luciano. The list of artistes also include Teejay, who will perform using his given name Timoy Jones, Chezidek and Ghananian artiste Stonebwoy.
Also on the vintage list are Leroy Sibbles, Leroy Gibbon, George Nooks, Johnny Clarke, as well as a slew of young Reggae acts who are descendants of Jamaican stars, among them Christopher Ellis, son of the late Rocksteady singer Alton Ellis; Tony Rebel’s daughters Daviannah and Tanzi, among others.
The announcement that Rebel Salute, would return to its home base, the Grizzly’s Plantation Cove in St Ann, after a two-year absence, was made from as far back as August 2022. At the time Tony Rebel had promised that the January 2023 show would “be the most memorable yet” and would have a good line-up.
Rebel Salute, whose mantra is “The Preservation of Reggae”, made its debut in 1994, at the Fayor’s Entertainment Centre in Mandeville the capital of Manchester, Tony Rebel’s home parish. Rebel later moved the show to Brook’s Park, in the town and then the Port Kaiser Sports Club in St Elizabeth before moving to Grizzly’s in 2013, which has become its permanent home ground.
The festival has, over the years, featured other contemporary Reggae Acts such as Sizzla, Richie Spice, Queen Ifrica as well as Jesse Royal, Chronixx and Koffee, but the show has largely been predicated on bringing back many veterans from the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
In an interview with The Gleaner last summer, Tony Rebel hinted that there would be more Dancehall artists on the show this year.
He had told the publication that during its 28 years, the Reggae show has also made a concerted effort to book Dancehall artists using their given names, in order to showcase their cultural sides.
“We want to show that some artistes have two sides. They may talk gunman lyrics, but they can also be cultural; so when I want their cultural side, I use their birth names…,” he had explained.
“For the process of booking these entertainers who act as cultural ambassadors through their work, I zoom into their catalogue of music and see what they can bring to the inspirational and motivational process,” the Teach The Children artiste had added.