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R.I. reggae festival continues 18-year tradition
Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2009, 5:56 pm
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By Jonathan Turner, jturner@qconline.com
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One of the last summer parties kicks off Friday in The District. The 18th annual Ya Maka My Weekend starts at 5 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday, filling Rock Island's 2nd Avenue, from 17th to 19th street, with reggae music, a sandy beach, cold beverages and spicy Caribbean foods. "With palm trees, tiki torches, beach balls and cold Red Stripe, it will feel just like a trip to the islands," promises Carl McClaskey, The District's special-events coordinator. Admission is $8 for a one-day pass, and children 12 and under get in free. From 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Quad City Arts will host many island activities for kids, including sand painting, search for sandbox treasures, and more. In addition to reggae music on two stages and Caribbean food, an open-air marketplace will sell unique items like tie-dye clothing, sarongs and other apparel, cowrie-shell and handcrafted jewelry, incense, oils, glow necklaces, Caribbean flags, wood carvings, drums, African wares, and sunglasses. Official Ya Maka My Weekend T-shirts will be sold for $12. Ya Maka My Weekend was the very first festival in The District, starting in 1992. Since that time, the event has changed yet stayed the same, Mr. McClaskey said. Visitors will "still find the same great reggae music and Caribbean food with a different twist each year." Among the 11 bands in the festival lineup this year, new bands taking the stage are Taj Weekes & Adowa, Dred I Dread, and Nite Flight, he said. Taj Weekes has hit it big in the reggae world. A review of his 2008 disc "Deidem" (on www.reggae-reviews.com) said it's "smart, inspirational, musically vibrant and just plain gorgeous. No reggae fan can afford not to know Taj Weekes." "With wry trenchant lyrics, a haunting dusky quiver in his voice and the knock-down sound ofhis band Adowa, Taj Weekes has managed to weave a rare social consciousness with an unforgettable reggae groove," according to the Ya Maka Web site. "The moment he steps on stage, locks flowing, he reveals the regal bearing of a mighty lion, his voice rising from a hoarse whisper to a throaty growl." Born and raised on the island of St. Lucia, Mr. Weekes grew up the youngest of 10 children in a family where music was ever-present. By age 5, Mr. Weekes was singing in church, and by the time he was 9, he and his brothers had formed a band. "We were always singing and playing in my house,"he says on his site, http://tajweekes.com. "My father was an incredible singer ... We took that from him." "Reggae is what you call the poor man's cry," Weekes says. "It's music you can sit and listen to." Mr. Weekes grew up unaware of musical category or genre. To him, great music was, and still is, great music, no matter what the style. "My musical influences were quite varied, 'cause the radio stations played all kinds of music," he said. His "unabashed views on the shared concerns of the world at large are stated with the certainty of a man who has seen and lived through much," his Web site says. Of the other new Ya Maka bands, Dred I Dread is a Minneapolis-based reggae and hip-hop band, its name meaning "fear my dreadlocks." Nite Flight includes members from St. Kitts and Trinidad, infusing its Caribbean style with reggae, calypso and soca music. To hear band samples, and for more information on the festival, visit www.yamakamyweekend.com. 
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