UCLA Jazz Reggae Festival 2010

CommentJune 11th, 2010 03:11

Article By: Lissa Prudencio
Photographs By: Kumasi Lewis

Outdoors under the blue sky with perfect weather, good music, and good food is how more than 30,000 people enjoyed their Memorial Day weekend in West Los Angeles. Some people brought picnic baskets while others sunbathed. Some painted designs on their bodies while others walked around the entire day. Most would agree that everyone had a great experience.

The 24th Annual UCLA Jazz Reggae Festival is a 2-day event on Memorial-Day weekend comprised of Jam Day (Sunday) and Reggae Day (Monday). With Raphael Saadiq headlining Jam Day and Nas & Damien Marley headlining Reggae Day, it comes as no surprise that the entire grassy area of UCLA’s intramural field was filled with people on both days. The event ran from noon to 7pm, giving attendees plenty of time to walk around, eat, listen to music, and just mingle under the sun. Performances from established artists such as Q-Tip, Bilal, Cham, Nneka, and Barrington Levy, among others, kept the crowd sizzling all day as the field slowly filled to capacity. In addition, rising stars such as Tha Boogie, Quadron, and others also took the stage to help fill the air with new music.

“I was here last year sitting on a blanket… it’s a blessing [to be performing],” says Korus of Tha Boogie. With music influences ranging from Missy Elliot and Timbaland to Outkast and Radiohead, Tha Boogie, who recently toured with headliner Raphael Saadiq, were ecstatic about the opportunity to perform at such a large event.

The music was a magnet—festival attendees ranged from Los Angeles locals to other California natives, and even a few visitors from out-of-state joined in the festivities. One attendee from San Luis Obispo made the 3-hour drive to Los Angeles to enjoy both days of the festival. As a first time attendee, she said, “I heard from my sister that this was a huge event, and I really wanted to see Nas, so it was definitely worth it.” Nas & Damien Marley’s album collaboration, Distant Relatives, was released on May 18^th. Having had a number of recent shows to promote the new album, the Jazz Reggae festival was the perfect place for thousands of locals to experience their collaboration.

“The music is great, but you can’t come to the festival without getting food too,” said one audience member. In addition to music, people enjoyed the large selection of food choices as well as vendors selling apparel, handcrafted jewelry, and other goods. The food selection consisted of Brazilian food, Indian food, $1 tacos, funnel cakes, and more. Other vendors were selling art, boutique apparel, and other items. Every year, the Jazz Reggae festival at UCLA is not only for music artists to showcase their talent, but also a place for food, art, and other businesses to thrive.

And it doesn’t stop there. The talent it takes to put together such an event is also worthy of mention.

Preliminary planning for the festival begins as far back as a year in advance (meaning next year’s festival is already in the works!). With an unpaid staff of about 30 students, this huge event all comes together with careful, meticulous planning, hard work, and dedication. Alongside classes, midterms, finals, part-time jobs, and other activities, the students involved with the Jazz Reggae festival take on many tasks such as contacting and organizing vendors, marketing the event, and managing press coverage. Finally, during the hectic 2-day festival, they get to see their hard work manifested in spectacular performances and people smiling, dancing, and having a good time.

Ask someone who was there, or who has been to the festival in the past. It is a fulfilling weekend for anyone who loves food, art, sun, and of course, music.

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Say Cheese!