Sierra Nevada World Music Festival was all that it should be despite some 
unfortunate cancellations by some of the artists I would have loved to have 
seen.


For the most part SNWMF was about pure, sweet, conscious, and sometimes 
angry reggae music. There was a lot of other world music included but this 
writer did not catch any of that due to the remaining great lineup of 
reggae, usually on another stage.


The opener on Friday evening, Earl Zero, was an appropriate start. His band 
was tight and he sang with zest and livication. After hearing his recent 
release .Roots And Romance. I was very impressed by his live efforts. The 
rest of that evenings schedule was cancelled but to save the show we were 
treated by a last minute replacement by Don Carlos with Wadi Gad singing 
back up. While Don has not had any recent work released he serves up a great 
performance every time. So he did, this day! Then another late addition but 
none-the-less awesome was Barrington Levy. Barrington came out strong, was 
strong throughout, and finished stronger, killing hit after hit!!!


Saturday brought a really great opening performance from John Browns Body 
playing a lot of their older material and a bit of work off the new release 
.Spirits All Around Us.. JBB is on tour and coming to a town near you. I 
suggest ya check fi dem! Mutabaruka followed them. Muta is one of my 
inspirations in reggae and he inspired me well that day with some past works 
as well as some from the new release .Life Squared.. Later, after his set 
Muta forwarded an upful and edutaining press conference. Sugar Minott was 
next although I missed most of his set. I was told he killed it well! I did 
catch some of Cultures show and they were their usual stellar selves, 
singing many of their classic hits.


Marcia Griffiths did not show and this opened the next few acts to do longer 
sets. Benaiah backed Dean Frasier in a solo set, after a set of their own, 
that expressed his livication to reggae music. I ask, .where are the horns 
in reggae these days?. Dean, later in a press conference assured us that 
he.ll be working to bring horns back to the forefront in reggae in the 
future. Then comes forward the young but no less talented Abijah. This 
youth, in my humble opinion, will someday RULE reggae music. He has all the 
ingredients: the foundation of having come from a RasTafarian musical family 
(his papa was the .pope smasher. drummer of Count Ossies Mystic Revelation 
Of RasTafari), he has a great voice and good singing mechanics, he has 
awesome stage presence and can win over the crowd with ease, and (learned 
from his subsequent press conference) he loves the music. Look for this able 
youth to come strong with conscious lyrics, always forwarding the message of 
One Love and Unity!!! Everytime!!! The Fab Five played somewhere in the 
Saturday evening lineup but I did not catch their set except for the first 
few songs from backstage. Fab Five, like their recordings, sound like a 
great cover band, tight, crisp, and well versed in the reggae genre. They 
were there originally to back Leroy Sibbles as he would only work with them. 
They showed up, he did not.


Toots And The Maytals closed out the days reggae festivities with his highly 
charged and danceable set that has always (and WILL ALWAYS) made the massive 
get up and dance!


On Sunday, while the bulk of the reggae lineup was on the Village (or 
smaller) Stage, The first reggae act came on one half hour earlier on the 
Valley (or main) Stage. Groundation impressed in that they sounded so much 
better live than the great recordings that they have released. Then I walked 
over to the Valley Stage and took in the sounds of Martin Campbell and the 
Jah Soldiers Band (featuring Santa Davis) Martin impressed me with the fact 
that he too, sounded a lot better live than on his recordings.


Next, Prezident Brown took off killing every song he sang. Here is an artist 
that has always stayed true to his message. And in return has been blessed 
to be able to bring to the massive an unbelievably awesome performance, 
everytime. I often feel that he would win a crowd with his voice alone, even 
without a backing band. The Orchestra Of Judah Band, comprised of veterans 
of the reggae scene, was tight and enhanced the Prez.s work.


After Prez Brown came forward the group I had most wanted to be at this 
festival to experience. An experience was what it was!!! Midnite started out 
with .Love Jah. setting an irie Rasta presence and gained momentum as they 
went through only a small portion of their already vast collection of 
conscious works. It struck me during the singing of .Banking In The Pig. 
that Vaughn Benjamin was changing or adding new lyrics in many of the songs. 
In speaking of this later with him he expressed that he always works that 
way, however the inspiration at the time guides him, and the band is well 
aware of and ready for it. I have almost all of the recorded works now that 
have been released by Midnite and I must say that although I have listened 
to their work over and over and over again, I was NOT prepared for what an 
awesome entity they are to behold when live. I could almost physically feel 
500 years of African pain, frustration, and anger from these well spoken 
brethren. I always tell my listeners .if ya dun nuh, ya bettah check fi 
Midnite!!!. Midnite was, for I, the total reason of my being at SNWMF.


Midnite gave up the stage to Niney The Observer, The Melodians, and Johnny 
Osbourne. They all in their own fine style brought us all into the early 
days of roots reggae music. I only caught a little of each set but was truly 
impressed by the work of these able veterans. The performer I heard the most 
of in this trio of groups was Johnny and he was killing every tune just as 
if it were the .70.s! Niney gave a great press conference later with some 
long descriptive tales about the burgeoning days of reggae.


The festival was closed with a performance by Steel Pulse on the Valley 
Stage. Their set was much the same as it has been in recent years although 
they sang two new songs that will appear on their soon come new release as 
yet un-named.


The Sierra Nevada World Music Festival and those who make it all happen, 
such as Warren Smith, Gretchen Franz, and the Epiphany Artists crew deserve 
massive respect for bringing such a fine program everytime! All the artists, 
staff, volunteers, vendors, and the massive in attendance; Big Big Ups to 
ALL. Let.s all keep reaggae movin forward in these times of trouble and 
uncertainty.


JAH RasTafari bless each and every one.


Ras Danny RAW# 301, Higher Reasoning Reggae Time, Sat,LateNite 3-6 AM
KBOO Community Radio 90.7 FM    www.kboo.fm
2520 NE Couch #3, Portland, OR, 97232, rasreddanni@hotmail.com