Festiville 2014 - Reggaeville Festival Guide

8
Interview Raging Fyah
Kumar, you joined the band in 2010. Before
you were involved in various other outfits including
a brief spell in the Edna Manley band
Mystical Revolution.
KUMAR: Mystical Revolution band when they
were just starting entered a competition at
Jamaican Cultural Development Commission
– and they had a singer singing for them. But
at the finals of the competition something
happened and their singer left. So they asked
me to perform at the finals and I did and they
won some money. But I didn’t stay. I was just
helping them out. The stuff I used to do before
Raging Fyah was dancehall music.
Another aspect of the band phenomenon is
many of the bands having their own night.
You have Wickie Wackie Live at Wickie Wackie
beach in Bull Bay. How did it get started?
KUMAR: Wickie Wackie Live started in 2010.
The first one we kept was free and for about
a year we had the show for free. People used
to just come on the beach. The first event
had just five people sitting on the wall and
within the first year by the time we launched
the album on August 7th 2011 we saw
about 800 people coming out to see Raging
Fyah live. So that propelled Raging Fyah and
others like Chronixx and Jah9 and the whole
“Reggae Reload” as Bounty Killer calls it
(laughing) into a whole energy. It was free at
first but then we started charging and it has
been going on for three years now. The last
season just finished in February and we are
looking to start again for the second season
in October.
Do you listen to English roots reggae from 70s
and 80s? Tunes like Music Isn‘t Biased, Barriers
and Step Outta Babylon definitely have the
distinctively English roots feel.
KUMAR: We listen to English roots music.
Pele can tell you about Aswad as he is a part
of Aswad…