Victoria Ska Fest outgrows its name to become more inclusive
No matter how popular the annual Victoria Ska Festival became, or how far and widespread its reputation grew, festival producer Dane Roberts always had to answer questions about the musical nature of his event.
Ska — the strain of Jamaican music at the heart of the festival — was a topic of frequent discussion leading up to each instalment. So after 15 years of having to explain the genre that gave reggae icon Bob Marley his start, Roberts and his team at the Victoria B.C. Ska Society, the non-profit group that stages the festival, went back to the drawing board.
They have emerged, in time for edition No. 16, with a thematic adjustment. Now known as the Victoria Ska and Reggae Festival, the five-day event has broadened its horizons to incorporate more traditional reggae into the mix. In doing so, they hope to clear up any confusion.
“We want to make sure we capture all the people that would like the music and programming we are doing,” said Roberts, the festival’s founder. “It was a natural progression based on the programming that we had been offering for the past 10 years.”
This year’s instalment features an array of genres, from electronic (Stickybuds, Dubmatix) and hip-hop (Sweatshop Union, Def3) to the many strains of ska (Keith and Tex, the Slackers, Hepcat). Of course, reggae (Morgan Heritage, Third World) is well represented, too.
Roberts, who works year-round on his festival, spends a great deal of energy making sure Skafest, as it is known to the faithful, has an exotic flavour. While the majority of acts are from Vancouver and Victoria, a handful — including House of Shem (New Zealand) and De Bruces a Mi (Colombia) — are coming from overseas.
“We always try and keep an international focus every year,” he said. “We make a point of it. It’s not just coincidental. We offer music people otherwise would not hear.”
That doesn’t mean some of the acts closer to home are frequent visitors, Roberts added. Hepcat, Mustard Plug, and Keith and Tex are making their Vancouver Island debuts this week, while Morgan Heritage is playing Skafest for the first time in their 20-year history. Third World have not played Vancouver Island in 15 years.
Skafest began in 2002 as a one-day, one-venue showcase for ska-punk acts such as the Pietasters and Pressure Cooker. The event has flourished in the years since, moving ahead incrementally from its beginnings to include more rock-steady and roots-based artists, the bulk of which blurred the line between up-tempo ska and laidback reggae.
“It just became more diverse as the years went on,” Roberts said of the decision to add the word reggae to the festival’s title.
“It was more reggae-leaning than punk. [Reggae] is more familiar to people, especially when you consider all the waves that ska has gone through.”
The current trend in ska today looks back to the classic form from the 1960s, with an emphasis on rhythm and blues and soul. Skafest is nothing if not a barometer, Roberts said, so Skafest 2015 will reflect the current trends in ska.
“Not only have the bands we book changed their style, we’ve grown with that.”
With an influx of reggae bands, to go along with his festival’s new branding, Roberts expects to see more first-time fans than ever at Skafest this week. He upped the profile of acts he booked into clubs as a result, so there should be something for everyone, he said.
“We put a lot of time and energy into the planning so that we could capture some of the general public that knows some of the bands, and mixed them with some underground diamonds. One of the things I like about this year’s festival is that it’s not about one or two mega-headliners. It’s strong all over. I like that approach.”