Line-Up: Steel Pulse, Alborosie, Hempress Sati­va feat. Pao­lo Bal­di­ni Dub­files 

The Reg­gaeville East­er Spe­cial returns this year for its 11th edi­tion. By now, reg­gae fans have a long-stand­ing tra­di­tion of not going away for East­er — unless it’s to trav­el across the coun­try from one show to the next. After all, you can nev­er get enough of the off­beat.

This year’s East­er Spe­cial show­cas­es the full breadth of the genre. Vet­er­ans Steel Pulse from Birm­ing­ham may have long since set­tled in the Unit­ed States, yet they still stand as quin­tes­sen­tial rep­re­sen­ta­tives of UK reg­gae — thank­ful­ly none the less sharp-edged or polit­i­cal­ly out­spo­ken for it.

Orig­i­nal­ly hail­ing from Sici­ly, Alborosie made the jour­ney to Jamaica decades ago. His music embod­ies the open­ness of a true glob­al cit­i­zen, espe­cial­ly cel­e­brat­ed not only through­out Europe but across South Amer­i­ca as well. At the East­er Spe­cial, he will present his lat­est album Nine Mile live on Ger­man stages for the first time.

Mean­while, Hempress Sati­va has trav­eled from Vine­yard Town in Kingston to Cal­i­for­nia, where her songs con­tin­ue to praise the sacred herb while chan­nel­ing spir­i­tu­al forces and play­ful­ly flirt­ing with dub aes­thet­ics. This nat­u­ral­ly brings Pao­lo Bal­di­ni into the pic­ture, with whom she record­ed the now leg­endary — and viral — Vinyl Thurs­day Ses­sions in Pap­ine, Kingston. For the East­er Spe­cial, the pair will arrive with their new­ly released col­lab­o­ra­tive album in tow.

So — have you dyed your East­er eggs in red, gold, and green yet? And have you tucked tick­ets for the Reg­gaeville East­er Spe­cial into your loved ones’ East­er bas­kets? With a line-up like this, reg­gae afi­ciona­dos of every per­sua­sion are bound to get their share of the groove.

The Edi­to­r­i­al Team