Beautiful Benicàssim

Rototom Sunsplash is one of the largest and longest running Reggae, Dance Hall and Dub festivals in Europe. In fitting with the music it endorses, its appeal spans a cross-section of festival goers from the ignorant non-connoisseur to the dub-geek-stoner. The recipe is very simple: an entirely laid back dynamic, a hot climate and enough people to make you feel it was worth coming but leave you with space to move.

The festival is set outside the Spanish town of Benicàssim on the same site as the Festival Internacional de Benicàssim. With music beginning in the early evening the daytime sees a mass migration from the shanty-townesque campsite to the beach. However, for those who stick around the arena offers a mellowed atmosphere, hammocks and shade as well as lectures and presentations on topics ranging from The Life of Bob Marley to Man Vibes: Masculinities in the Dancehall.

Spanning ten days the festival manages to cram in a large number of musicians. The main acts finish at around 1 am but DJs continue playing on the Dance Hall Stage and Dub Station until much later. This year some of the best performances came from the charged and energetic Capleton; the evocative Marley clan (Stephen, Ziggy, Ky-Mani and Rita Marley) and the charismatic Luciano, who was kind enough to lend me a lift from the airport to the festival site. Both Jimmy Cliff and Toots and the Maytals were also reportedly very good.

The character of the festival draws more from hippy themes than Jamaican ones, indeed this year actual Jamaican people were for the most part conspicuously absent creating, at times, a distinct sense that some heavy cultural tourism was being indulged. This was underpinned by an ostentatious, pseudo-pagan inclusion of Bob Marley’s memory in nearly all aspects of the festival. For the relentless neurotic this might be a turn off, but if you want sun, don’t mind slowing down the pace for a week or so and like reggae music, even just a little bit, then Rototom Sunsplash comes highly recommended.