Reggae Day at the UCLA's JazzReggae Festival (Recap)

On Memorial Day, UCLA hosted the second day of their two-day JazzReggae Festival . Repeated attendees from the previous Jam Day session were there and then some. The Reggae Day crowd knew exactly who and what they wanted to see, and showed excitement from the first act to the closing act, even in the blazing Los Angeles heat.


The first act was the reggaeton/ hiphop duo Los Rakas . Los Rakas have Panamanian roots, but also call the Bay Area their home, which also sparked a loud cheer from the crowd. With love shown from the first introduction, Los Rakas gave a high energy show, while still reciting their spit fire lyrics effortlessly, which are in Spanish and English. Whether the crowd understood all the lyrics or not, it was not noticeable as the crowd kept their hands in the air, and stomped their feet to the tracks, " Tu Gial Esta Ready " and " Mi Amor ". Although Los Rakas was the opening act this year, based on the line of teen girls who waited to take pictures with the duo, it is expected they'll be headlining more of their own shows as well. Los Rakas has a new EP coming out, however, you can visit their site for free downloads as well.


As the show progressed, the festival lineup mostly featured male artist, however one woman was able to balance out the testosterone without bruising the male ego too much, and that artist was Tanya Stephens . Tanya Stephens sung about every situation a women could go through, and also gave the women a little advice about staying out of jail, and handling disputes in court, where the money is. If you need advice check out Tanya's hits "It's A Pity" and "Cry and Bawl".


Although music is the main focus of the festival, it also combines other forms of art as well. Throughout the festival art from Hit+Run , THINK Tank Collective , HVW8 Gallery , Teebs , and Man One was on display. Man One, worked on a live painting on a 360 degree canvas which featured the late Gil Scott-Heron , which gave the crowd a chance to enjoy visual art off and on the stage.


Back on the stage, most acts primary concern was to make the audience dance along to their song, however, Jamaican artist Gyptian , was looking to do a little more, perhaps steal a young man's girlfriend. Gyptian , also known as "everybody's boyfriend", jumped on the stage to screaming females before his first song got started. With a growl at the end of each song, Gyptian kept the seduction going while performing, " Mama Don't Cry ", and " Thousands Miles Away ".


As the festival celebrated its 25^th year, it was also appropriate that the band to close the show had just as much longevity, Steel Pulse . Steel Pulse started in 1975, and has enough hits that there was not a moment when the audience did not know a song. Crowd favorites included, "Life Without Music", and "Here Comes Rasta Man". Steel Pulse left the stage stating how appreciative they were for the invitation, however, the audience was just as appreciative to be able to watch the reggae legends. Steel Pulse returned to the stage to perform an encore of "Blazing Fire", and to announce they will be back next year.



The Party Continues.




For more event photos check out Kai Kuusisto's blog