Jamaica's capital is a magical place for the genres central to ADE Beats. We take an in-depth look with Kamal Bankay.
ADE celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. One way the event will be celebrating this mile stone, is with the MyCity series in a 20 X 20 sessions shape: 20 minute talks by key influencers about their base of operation.
As part of these sessions, our dedicated ADE Beats conference for hip-hop, bass and beats will focus on three musical hotbeds in specific: London, Kingston and New York.
In this first ADE Beats-edition we take a look at Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, through the eyes of Mr. Kamal Bankay, who is known all around Kingston for throwing the biggest events. Bankay was raised in Jamaica for most of his life and has been a true maverick of entertainment in Jamaica and more recently the Caribbean.
Starting out with an obsession of turntables and being a DJ in the mid-nineties as a kid, he quickly developed a love affair with the entertainment industry as a whole by the time he was 20. Throwing the biggest New Year's Eve events in his hometown Kingston, Kamal quickly became famous for events to celebrate the biggest and best occasions. He has founded one of the biggest event festivals in Jamaica, Dream Weekend, and owns the Major Lazer events in Jamaica that gave Diplo and Major Lazer their entertainment base in Jamaica.
“If you are ever in Kingston Jamaica, do stop by my bar/lounge Ribbiz for some of the best food, drinks and entertainment 7 days a week,” says Bankay. He talks about Kingston with a passion. “It is the cultural mecca of Jamaica.” He emphasizes.
This year ADE Beats will have a special focus on the Jamaican roots of international DJ and remix culture and the way the exciting Jamaican scene keeps on influencing international electronic music from grime to hip-hop to electronic dance music. Bankay will be one of our special guests and speakers on this subject.
“Jamaica has a huge global footprint,” says Bankay. “Its culture has probably the biggest impact per square feet per capita in the entire world. Coming out of this rich island culture various musical styles were born, like ska and rock steady. With reggae as the most famous and iconic of them all, Jamaica made a huge impact internationally. Reggae became synonymous with a lifestyle and religion – Rastafarianism – and spawned a global movement that is alive and vibrant today all over the world.”
Kingston is a magical city for the genres central to ADE Beats. It is the city DJ and remix culture call home, the birthplace of so many exciting musical, technical and sonic developments in sound system culture and a city that has been crucial for the development of hip-hop and electronic music at so many different stages.
As an accomplished DJ playing the great events on Jamaica and in the Caribbean, including Trinidad carnival, and an upcoming producer that is redefining the way people view the sound of Jamaican fusion music and taking it to the world, Bankay is connected to all the current developments, including the strong revival of young roots musicians on Jamaica, the on-going power of the highly productive dancehall scene, and the way Jamaican artists have been tackling electronic dance music recently.
“Electronic dance music is popular in Jamaica now,” says Bankay, “because it is interpretational arts. It is essentially a fusion of a fast, high energy beat along with local sounds and vocals from all countries over. When the electronic dance music wave started hitting the Caribbean, Jamaica vocalists used their distinctive voice and accent and gave the hard hitting drops some of that ‘ragga’ treatment.”
This movement is one of the hottest in Kingston right now, Bankay says. “Kingston is definitely the pioneering city for this, now and for many years to come.”
ADE Beats
MyCity: Kingston
Date, Venue: October 16th, De Melkweg
Time: TBA
Tickets for ADE Beats are available here (also accessible for 1- and 5-Day conference tickets holders).
Photo credits: Island360.net
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