Ostroda Reggae Festival 2016 ADD

Reggaeville.com presents World Reggae Contest 2016

05/02/2016

After successful first edition of the World Reggae Contest in 2015, Ostróda Reggae Festival in Poland calls international reggae artists to apply this year. The finalists will perform on the main stage of this well-known European event on Aug 14th, with the show streamed live on Reggaeville.com. The winners will go to Jamaica for a free recording session with the top Jamaican producers Stephen Stewart and Sam Clayton. Application form and rules at www.worldreggaecontest.com

“When we started the contest last year, we were not sure how it would work, but we always liked to be a platform not only the headliners, but also for some new discoveries of reggae. The results exceeded our expectations“ – says Piotr “Piter” Kolaj, the head of the Ostróda Reggae Festival, main Polish reggae event taking place in August in Ostróda for 16 years.

The World Reggae Contest is open to artists playing reggae and subgenres (ska, rocksteady, dub, dancehall) from all corners of the Earth.

Julian Schmidt, CEO of Reggaeville.com comments: “I think we gave the finalists good exposure they really demanded, as the level of the final show was really high. Our live stream from Ostróda was watched by the global audience and our Reggaeville representation in the contest jury returned from the festival full of great memories. We are happy to continue it in 2016.”

Last year the festival received more than 100 applications from the bands from almost all corners of the world. After the festival’s pre-selection of 10 bands, 5 finalists were voted out in FB poll and they performed at the final show on the Ostróda Reggae Festival main stage.

The winners of the contest, London’s band Chainska Brassika went to Jamaica for a free recording session at Harry J Studios in Kingston. They rised a lot of positive interest in Jamaica, were highly complemented by the session producer Stephen Stewart, even played some shows around Jamaica and went on local TV. The band gathered a lot of experience and spent great time in Jamaica. The recordings from Harry J will be their next release this year.

The rules in 2016 are quite similar. Thanks to exclusive media partnership Reggaeville.com, the bands will receive valuable promotion worldwide. It is a chance to perform at the hi-tech stage of the festival and, most of all, travel to Jamaica to record with experienced and friendly producers.

The recording session will be run by Stephen Stewart and Sam Clayton.

Stephen is a Jamaican engineer, producer, arranger and keyboard player. He worked with the legendary Harry J as a teenage trainee engineer in the 1970s. The legacy of Harry J's studio was continued by him, as he refurbished it and brought back into operation around 1999. Until leaving the studio in 2016 he worked there successfully with long tray of world-known artists: Sly and Robbie, Shakira, Papa San, Sizzla, Raging Fyah. He played keyboards for: Zap Pow, Rita Marley, Burning Spear, Melody Makers, Toots & The Maytals, Third World, Bob Marley & The Wailers, among the others…

Sam Clayton Jr. is a son of Mystic Revelation of Rastafari’s leader, Sam Clayton, one of the former creators of Rastafari movement in Jamaica. He recorded Groundation, Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari, Dub Inc, Steel Pulse and many others. He also travels around the world as a live sound engineer for countless high level artists.

Stephen & Sam have worked together for long time. Their status, experience, knowledge and positive attitude is a guarantee that a recording session with them can be only a valuable lesson for any young artists. They don’t allow any cheap tricks and music is MUSIC with them.

The recording session for WRC winners 2016 with Stephen & Sam will take place at one of the top Kingston recording studios.

All details can be found at www.worldreggaecontest.com

All good artists welcome!