My, oh my, what Bob Marley hath wrought. The music, the man and the myth still intertwine, nowhere on earth more markedly than Montego Bay and perhaps at no other festival as fully as Reggae SumFest.
Billed as the biggest Reggae festival on Planet Earth, this year’s SumFest runs through July 21. Top Reggae artists the world over gather in Montego Bay to belt out the seductive, syncopated patterns that make real Reggae so singular.
Among the artists who will perform are Damian ‘Jr Gong’ Marley (Bob’s youngest son), Tarrus Riley and Third World. Jr Gong performs hits like Affairs of the Heart while Third World brings back songs such as Try Jah Love and 96 Degrees in the Shade.
Although the festival is already underway, one of the biggest nights of the celebration is still to come. It’s Vintage Night. Set for July 18 it should be all the name promises, with more than a tad bit of nostalgia.
This year’s SumFest is the 20th such celebration. It’s also the 50th year of Jamaican independence. The coincidence of the two makes for high-energy and an appreciation of just how music can bridge divides and bring people together.
To get folks together there’s ample nonstop airlift from the United States down to Montego Bay. According to OAG Delta and AirTran both field nonstop flights from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, AirTran makes the nonstop trip from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, US Airways files nonstop from Charlotte-Douglas International; Frontier, United and American make the trip nonstop from Chicago O’Hare; American and Sun Country offer nonstop Dallas/Fort Worth – Montego Bay flights, United will get you there in similar fashion from Bush Houston Intercontinental; JetBlue, Delta and Caribbean Airlines do the honors from New York Kennedy while United makes the trip from Newark Liberty International, JetBlue and AirTran compete out of Orlando, US Airways will get you there from Philadelphia international and United makes the Montego Bay journey from Washington Dulles.
(Image: Lindsay Sorensen)
