Sumfest will be Virtual with Approximately 20 artistes

Approximately 20 artistes will be performing at a virtual staging of Reggae Sumfest, in less than two weeks.

This was revealed  by CEO Joe Bogdanovich of Downsound Entertainment, in an interview recently.

Bogdanovich said, ” a general feeling of disappointment lingered although many accepted that a cancellation of the physical staging of this year’s event was in everyone’s best interest”.

He also said he and his team heard the fans cries for a virtual show and they acted on it, “We worked for a number of years to strengthen our partnership with the online platforms and it looks like now it is showtime”.

This kind of virtual show has never been done in reggae music before on this kind of platform, and they believe it is a very positive move that everyone will benefit from.

Maxi Priest, Daddy 1, Ding Dong, Chronic Law, Sizzla, Protoje and Lila Ike are among the acts scheduled to perform.

Bogdanovich revealed that getting the artistes on board presented a few challenges as the Sumfest stage is such a coveted platform for many artistes.

“Many entertainers are excited about working on the Sumfest stage whether they are there physically or virtual. It’s one of the biggest stages in music and I think they (the artistes) know that the goods are delivered every time and so it was very easy to get them to decide to perform. It will be mad. This one is something for the books,” he declared. 

He believes It’s a great platform, a global one, and this will be the game changer for reggae artistes, reggae music and the entire music industry especially in these COVID-19 times.

Added to the performances, Bogdanovich said that this year’s event will see parts of the past years as the organisers took a look at the past 27 years. There will be a recap of some of the show’s biggest moments during the week of July 20 to 25.

There will be a showing of the best of Sumfest throughout the 27 years in the Spotlight series, and there might be a good lead-up to the performance day this year.

The organisers thought It would be good to look back at some of the spectacular performances they had on the show through the years and it will show why they couldn’t allow this year to pass by without doing a show.

“The rich legacy must be continued no matter what happens.” Bogdanovich added.