BY SADE GARDNER
Observer writer—
Protoje will become the first Jamaican act in 35 years to grace the main stage at the Reading & Leeds Festival in the United Kingdom. Steel Pulse appeared in 1983, but was forced to leave the stage after patrons threw bottles, demanding to see rock band The Stranglers.
Protoje has performed at major festivals like Coachella in California, Summerjam in Germany, and Glastonbury in the UK.
“I would say they (fans) are pretty receptive to the music. I feel, the way I play music is not down to one genre or one type of music, so they have open minds. So it tests very well most places I go,” Protoje told Jamaica Observer’s weekly Splash.
The festival will be held at two venues from August 24 to 26. Protoje will perform on the 25th at the Reading event in Richfield Avenue, then will head to Wetherby for the Leeds performance on the 26th. He will share the main stage with Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar and Panic at The Disco.
“It makes me feel very good to know that the work that we’ve been putting in has been noticed, and something like this is a great honour. For it to be three decades…I feel blessed to be the person,” he said.
Protoje is one of the leading voices of the roots-reggae revival alongside Chronixx, Kabaka Pyramid, Jesse Royal, Jah9, Iba Mahr, among others. He believes there is still a market for this renaissance.
“I think that people are very much still interested, it’s just harder to catch people’s attention these days. You’re in an open market with a billion-dollar industry like hip- hop and pop and the same person that sees your post on YouTube sees theirs, so it’s just harder to get their attention. At the same time, if you find new ways you can inspire new fans, and I think we’ve been doing quite well given our resources and getting better as well,” said Protoje.
He is gearing up to release his fourth album which features the ballad Bout Noon, his controversial single Blood Money which places a spotlight on corruption in Jamaica, and Truths and Rights, a collaboration with Mortimor.
“At this stage in my career it’s very important that the songs from this album connect well and reach a lot of people and make a global impact. I feel that this album has a bunch of very good songs on it and I think at this point it’s just to make songs that have a global impact now.”
His last album, Ancient Future, went to number one on the Billboard Reggae Album Chart in 2015. It was preceded by 8 Year Affair (2013) which featured This is Not A Marijuana Song and Kingston Be Wise, which was used for the video game Grand Theft Auto.
Protoje’s debut album, The Seven Year Itch (2010), featured No Lipstick and Rasta Love with Ky-Mani Marley.
Protoje and his Indiggnation band are currently on a United States tour which ends in May.
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