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Upper Park Reggae Festival
Upper Park Reggae Festival
The first edition of the Italian festival took place on June 18th at Arena Parco Nord, Bologna featuring Jimmy Cliff, Alborosie, Derrick Morgan and more.
Since when the most important Italian reggae festival, the Rototom Sunsplash has moved to Spain in 2010, Italy didn’t give up to the good vibrations of reggae music. That’s why new festivals are taking place all over the country.
The Upper Park, a brand new festival at his first edition, took place on June 18th. It was designed and realized by a group of young lovers of reggae music, with the intention to promote the various styles and many facets of this music, to help it to grow and diversify over the time. Aimed to veterans of the genre, but also to newer listener of this music, this event was a big reggae party, an open space day, with a rich line-up of national and international artists, a 12 hours of live in a single day, in the beautiful and historic location of Arena Parco Nord in Bologna.
In this beautiful hot and sunny Saturday of June, several thousands of young and old people came to attend to the reggae-marathon! The Live session was opened by a young Italian reggae band, The Kingstoned, followed by the veteran of the Italian reggae, the SUD SOUND SYSTEM from Salento (the Jamaica of Italy). Then it was the time for other new artists of the Italian reggae scene such as Gamba The Lenk, Nico Royale, Lion D and Miss Linda. 
Another promise of the Italian reggae scene that performed on the stage of Upper Park was Anansi, a young boy that participated to the last edition of the Sanremo, the world famous festival of the Italian song, bringing there reggae music with his tune Il Sole Dentro, an unusual genre for this kind of festival.
Then Boom Boom Vibration -an Italian reggae band that recently collaborated and recorded their new album 'Vibra Unica' with the Italian/international reggae star Alborosie- went on stage. Despite to the sweltering heat and the scorching sun, the Italian reggae massive was large, dancing and breathing the good vibes.
They prepared in a masterly way the massive to the first awaited headliner, the king of ska DERRICK MORGAN! A very charismatic man, with a great vitality, performing some of his historical hits, dancing and feeling the great vibes together with the massive.
Another Italian artist, loved and appreciated by the youths, took the stage: Brusco and the Roots in the Sky preparing the massive for the next performance: the second headliner and most awaited artist was ready to take the stage: I’m talking about a legend of the reggae music, coming back to Italy after several years: JIMMY CLIFF! The whole audience sang along with his idol, some of the most beautiful successes like The Harder They Come, I Can See Clearly Now, Many Rivers To Cross, with an exciting performance of the Nyabinghi anthem Rivers Of Babylon and the world famous Reggae Night.
Time is going fast and it’s time for the last performance of this wonderful reggae marathon…. And the better way to end this day is calling on state the artist that the whole reggae world envy to Italy: his name is… ALBOROSIE! Acclaimed and celebrated by the crowd, and happy to come back to Italy and Bologna, Alborosie performed some tracks of his just released new album '2 Times Revolution', but also some of his greatest hits and among them, the inevitable Kingston Town.
It’s midnight and this day is almost over… it’s time to turn off the music and turn off the lights... but nobody and nothing could ever turn off the great vibes and the feelings that we lived in Bologna today! And we are already looking forward the second edition of Upper Park reggae festival that will surely take place in the next year! See you there…!
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