The 17th edition of the Seasplash Festival, which premiered this year in Dalmatia at the Martinska beach near Šibenik, ended on Monday morning. In the last few days, this new festival site has become home to many reggae, dub, roots, ska and similar music genre lovers from the region and whole Europe. At the very entrance of the Šibenik channel, and with a beautiful view of the City of Šibenik, the new location left everyone speechless. The Seasplash program began with the first ever Opening concert last Wednesday, on one of the most beautiful stages of the Adriatic, St. Michael’s Fortress in Šibenik. On this stunning location the New York Ska Jazz Ensemble, Brain Holidays and Bass Culture Sound System took the stage.
The festival then moved to Martinska, where visitors could hear over 50 music names on four festival stages, but also enjoy the rich daily program of free workshops, the beach, bazaars, souvenir shops and merchandise, and free accommodation at the festival camp. In the past days, Seasplash and Šibenik have been an unavoidable destination for fans of good music and a relaxed atmosphere.
Thursday, the first day of the festival, was marked by the performances of the ingenious dub producer Mad Professor, the Italian reggae band Patois Brothers and the Austrian dub band Moby Stick at the MainSplash stage, and also various artists at the DubSplash and SoundSplash stages, where the dance lasted until early morning hours. Friday has brought an excellent continuation of the festival atmosphere with performances from Krak in Dub, Janaka Selekta, Cause4Concern, and local artists High5 and Kali Fat Dub.
Saturday was reserved for Adrian Sherwood, a legendary British producer, known for his diversity in working with various musicians like Blur, Nine Inch Nails, Sinead O’Connor, The Cure. There were also the leaders of the British roots and dub scene – Vibronics, a Belgrade based band Soulcraft with the new singer Ras Mc Bean, five-piece dub band from Zagreb Bamwise, and their fellows One Dread, known for their covers of roots, rock, reggae and dancehall hits.
Despite the fact that it was the last festival day, Sunday was hyped and cheerful because of the awaited performance by the Jamaican icon and the music revolutionary Lee “Scratch” Perry, who at the age of 83, came to the Seasplash Festival for the first time, only a month after the release of the highly praised album “Rainford”. The mixture of dubbing, dub, hip-hop, ska and punk genres was brought to the festival by the British band Dub Pistols, and there was also a joint performance of the energetic eight piece French band Joke and Dubamix. For the grand finale the unavoidable hip-hop ambassador of the region – Edo Maajka, took the stage.
Although Martinska is still alive and visitors are slowly leaving the camp, the 17th Seasplash Festival is officially closed. With the enthusiastic and contented visitors of the new location, great ambience and atmosphere, festival organisers are already preparing for the 2020. festival edition.