Rototom’s Main Stage is being prepared for an authentic offering, highlighting Jamaica and Africa in particular this Wednesday. On the one hand, the crowd will be able to enjoy the well known Senegalese singer and composer, Youssou NDOUR, live and direct. He’s one of the headliners of this present edition of the festival who will deploy his full talent.
He is the pioneer of mbalax music and the ex-Tourism and Culture Minister of Senegal, whose enormous musical repertoire includes collaborations with such internationally well known artists as; Peter Gabriel, Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen and Lou Reed, among many others.
On the other hand, representing Jamaica will be the dancehall legend Beenie Man, who will use all his impressive amounts of energy full of successes. The ‘King of Dancehall’, who started on his musical path as a child prodigy and later as a DJ, will demonstrate once again why he continues to wear the crown that was bestowed on him as an infallible king of the genre.
The sweet voice of the Jamaican reggae promoter and singer Christopher Martin and his roots contemporary, Raging Fyah, complete the musical line-up for this stage.
Among the special shows that can be enjoyed this evening, the British sound system, Mungo’s Hi-Fi will be playing an exclusive concert outside the UK on the Lion Stage. It will be extra special because they’ll be joined by YT, Charlie P and Eva Lazarus.
The Film Fest of the Reggae University will also sharpen up for a large part of the day to enjoy the world premiere of ‘Soul Rebels, the Untold Story of Dancehall Music’, from Stéphane Delphin. It will be the warm-up for the next session, entitled ‘Anything for you’, where successful artists of the genre, who started out as young rising stars, Beenie Man and Nadine Sutherland, will be accompanied by the veteran author and journalist John Masouri to revisit their incredible careers.
An homage in the Social Forum
For its part, the Social Forum has programmed a debate titled ‘African Culture Conquers the World’, with the South Africa writer, poet and sings, Natalia Molebatsi and Thabiso Mohare, director of the association ‘Society of Literature Living Word N Sound’ for this day. The debate will be moderated by an expert on African culture, Javier Mantecón.
The same space will also be dedicated to a special session ‘Learning from Africa. Remembering Thomas Sankara’, which pivots around the figure and legacy of the assassinated ex-president of Burkina Faso, who contributed another conception of democracy, exercising power and the idea of citizenship. Boniface Ofogo, from Cameroon, who was one of the main students of the figure of Sankara, will host the session.
In addition, the African Village will embrace the presentation of the book ‘Those that dared’, which deals with the experiences of a range of Spanish women that got married, were with or were descended from black men under the Franco regime, being confronted in many cases by their own families. It will also welcome a session about the documentary ‘You’re in your house’, with the journalist Lucia Mbomio and the author and choreographer Gorsy Edú, from Equatorial Guinea.
There will be a range of activities for the whole public in an intense day that will go from Africa to Jamaica, passing through Rototom Sunsplash.