Festival Destination Soleil

When we arrive on Thursday evening, Manjul, the rasta from Barbès now settled in Mali after his wanderings in Réunion, Mauritius and Mayotte, is already on stage. As usual, the backing band offers an impeccable set, drawing the best from Manjul's compositions, which blend African and jazzy sounds under the banner of dub. We recognise his signature tunes such as Causeries de flûtes, Wanted and Free the colonized. When Takana Zion takes the mic on a well-felt nyabinghi riddim, the crowd catches fire. In pure deejay style, the young Guinean demonstrates all his stage qualities with tunes such as Depuis Asiingue on a hybrid version of the Istanbul riddim, I'm a freeman, and the bluesy Sweet Words. Takana Zion communicates very well with the crowd, and his set ends with a very personal interpretation of Rebel Music, acclaimed by the audience.

For reggae fans, the night continues with the eagerly awaited Californian band Groundation. And it is with a genuine ovation that festivalgoers greet them as soon as leader Harrison Stafford appears. He delivers a small, caustic message about respect for musicians, aimed at the DJ backstage who hasn't turned his sound system down. Their well-oiled, flawless show runs through the classics, drawing heavily on their best albums "We free again" and "Hebron Gate" (Weeping Pirates, Undivided) but also on their latest opus "Upon the bridge", from which we hear What could have been, Me na in de, Upon the bridge and Fight all you can. The band leave the stage after a Redemption song with no encore, because it is already time for the second local group to get set up. And to get the rough end of the stick: they start to the whistles of a frustrated crowd.


The next day, the venerable Skatalites are expected. Or rather what is left of them: with the band's drummer Lloyd Knibbs absent after a recent operation, Doreen (vocals) and Leister (sax) are the only survivors of the original group as the Skatalites take the stage. Be that as it may, the musicians on stage impress, as much by their flawless playing as by their stage presence, and the fathers of ska and reggae are saluted by the crowd for more than an hour as they play their biggest hits: River Bank, Rock fort Rock, Eastern Standard Time, Swing easy, Rivers of Babylon, Guns of Navaronne. Surprisingly, the crowd is not as receptive as the night before. The Skatalites, however, did not deserve this. The varied programme of the Festival Destination Soleil, taking the paths of world music, reggae, rock and rap, drew a large crowd on both nights.