Gdańsk Ska Jamboree vol. 2

Festival had its debut last year, and surprised pretty much everyone here with its two day impetus. Most of polish bands worth your attention (that’s kinda sad) appeared in one place. As “they ran out of bands” there were some jokes and questions as “what’s next?”. Promoters took it serious and for this year they prepared a really impressive set of bands from abroad supplemented with a little drop of polish sounds. At first I was afraid that it might look like filling the lineup by grabbing every available band around, but I couldn’t be more wrong. It’s gonna be two days filled with really cool sounds of more and less famous bands, but for sure those of a kind keeping a really nice standard.

First day is gonna start with Ska Petarda from Cracow.

Ok, that’s true, I’m not a huge fan of this type of playing, but I must appreciate those guys, at least for ethusiasm they have for their music and generally for propagating ska sounds to the people. I haven’t seen them live and I’m honestly curious how am I gonna like them in Gdańsk. What they’re playing  is rather fast third wave ska with some songs that have a good hit potential – you can check them out before the gig by listening to an album “Niewypał” released two years ago. In the meantime, by watching a clip below you can see that those guys are really well prepared for the coming weekend.

The Downsetters are gonna be next on stage.

Interskalactic Ska & Luna Reggae – that’s how nice they describe their music. It can be quick, it can be atmospheric. While thinking about them, what comes to my mind is a great vocal, really cool organs and trombone, that fits really great info both genres mentioned above. I can’t wait to see them live. I’m hoping for a real banger.

Last friday gig will be The Bartenders i Dr. Ring Ding.

Doctor is pretty much legendary right now, so I don’t feel the need to introduce him too widely. It’s enough to say that this german pioneer of jamaican music has on his account really notable recordings in ska, rocksteady and even dancehall style. He’s known for his numerous cooperations with artists all over the world. It’s been a long time since we could see this beautifull set he creates with best polish ska-jazz crew, The Bartenders. Story of his cooperation with Warsaw Bartenders dates back to 2011. One of its fruits is a fantastic song “Polecat”. I’ve seen at least three gigs of this marvelous combo – everytime it was absolutely great. Check out for yourselves, below you can see and hear, what to expect.

Saturday begins with The Magnetics.

And it’s gonna be very much back to the roots. All this band’s music is one huge bow to the classics. Vintage ska and rocksteady – this slogan describes very well, what you’ll hear. Guys have recorded really good album, with not so original but perfectly fitting name “Jamaican Ska”. It’s a sure thing there’s gonna be also their fresh 7″ single “Coffe & Sugar” for sale in Gdańsk. In the meantime have a look at cool retro movie clip about one big ape.

Panowie mają na koncie świetny album o może niezbyt oryginalnej, ale za to idealnie pasującej nazwie “Jamaican Ska”. W Gdańsku natomiast z pewnością będziecie mogli nabyć ich najświeższy winylowy singielek “Coffe & Sugar”. Tymczasem zerknijcie w fajowy retro teledysk o pewnej wielkiej małpie.

Yellow Cap is next in this line of fun.

These true veterans from Pork Pie label will come from Germany. They’ve learned this and that during their 20 years on stage. There’s lots of mixing genres here and not every band can do that well. Here it’s really appealing. Stem of their music reamains in style of typical, fast, german-kind ska with solid 3-person brass section. You’re gonna dance to that!

Vespa – the oldest, the fattest, the richest

This crew with its roots in Szczecin is even older than Yellow Cap. Many years of lucrative, international career, made possible for them, to be so extravagant to occasionally play some small show in their fatherland. To gain “the richest” name, last few years they had to turn to some swing music, but for sure there’s also gonna be lots of jamaican sounds here.  I have this feeling, thht if they’ll feel comfortable enough on stage in Gdańsk, they just might want to come back to their youth times and play some tunes, they surely never played in Rio or Wembley.. Worth to check that out – so the motto for the weekend is the title of a song below. “You got dough – to the coast you go”.

Bottle of Moonshine – it might be the best show of the festival.

I wait for no other gig during this weekend as much as for Belgian moonshine. I really appreciate promoters bow to the soul genre. It’s not without a reason we’e got soul in the title of our website, although sometimes we kinda forget about that. It’s great bands like this one, who remind us about it. More than that, we’re talking here about beautiful mixing of soul with jamaican classic with magnificent female vocal. I have itchy feet just thinking about it., especially that “Believe The Numbers” album is playing right now in the background.

Spartan Allstars will be the grand finale.

This band is just perfect to close the whole party. I must honestly say, that I missed them few times at some festvals, but from what I heard, they should serve a really nice set of classic jamaican rocksteady, reggae and ska covers. They have a dozen or so years of experience, and their live performances in the internet allow me to suspect some really great dancing.

After shows you’ll be taken care by Karma Sound

There’s a party till the morning planned for both, friday and saturday. A dj and promoter of jamaican music known for his numerous activities is gonna make sure there’s everything fine with your hips rythmics. It looks like there’s only a positive karma for you this weekend.

If you’re still hesitating, stop, just stop, and go to Protokultura club tomorrow – Gdańsk Ska Jamboree is gonna be really huge!