Greensleeves Records
The free festival for the people, organised by Lambeth Council & Culture Promotions UK, returned on Sunday 11th June for their annual ‘Roots Day’ with an all-star line-up of some of the finest Reggae artists and musicians performing live and direct in the heart of Brixton. The day was a scorcher with temperatures of 30° and to kick off proceedings Greensleeves Hi-Fi, with special guest vocalist Donovan Kingjay set the pace with a heavyweight selection of classic material from the vaults, with a number of tracks that were championed by recently departed Jah Shaka. The sensational Macka B took to the stage next and had the South London crowd in the palm of his hand for the duration of his faultless performance of tracks from his immense back catalogue.
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Roots Day this year was dedicated to Jah Shaka, by way of tribute, his former Soundsystem crew played a special set of vinyl & dubplates from the late, great soundman’s personal collection with his son Young Warrior in attendance and many of The Zulu Warrior’s friends and family. The live music continued on in the same vein with the ‘We Salute Jah Shaka’ stage show which included knockout performances from The Twinkle Brothers, Tippa Irie, Earl Sixteen, Charlie P & Zakeyah Zebujah – all backed by the mighty Dub Asante band with Matic Horns. There was even a super special surprise performance by non-other than the legendary Horace Andy.
To close out the show Anthony B set the stage alight by performing some of his biggest hits and latest material with his boundless energy and enigmatic stage presence plus he was also joined on stage by yet another special guest, the South London phenomenon Stylo G.