When the Rototom Sunsplash festival exchanged Italy for Spain back in 2010, the Italian reggae scene went through a crisis of confidence. That setback has meanwhile been processed and the genre is once again very much alive. So much so even that in the past few weeks no less than three Italian releases landed in our mailbox.
Emanuele Sireci is a young Palermitano (inhabitant of Palermo in Sicily) who in recent years already made a name for himself under the pseudonyms Stone and BigFaya, but now goes through life as Shakya. 'NaturalMente' is a mix of styles, from new roots ('I Will Try') over dancehall ('Timpulata') to dubstep ('Living It Up Remix'), Shakya seems do to it all with the same ease and that both in English and Italian ('Sofia'). 'Think About You', a love tune sounding like a bad rock ballad is a real stinker, but proving he can do better Shakya does with 'Music Jam', a song for which he's joined by Flavio and familiar face Raphael, where yours truly is concerned, the best track on the album. Nice detail is that for the intros of several of the songs on 'NaturalMente' Shakya invited a number of local Italian radio presenters and musical colleagues.
Sassari in Sardinia is home to Train To Roots, an eight man strong band with 'Growing' already presenting their fourth long player. The album opens with the understated nyahbinghi intro 'Africans', but the band immediately goes full throttle for the solid roots tune 'Gangstar'. Personally we leant more towards the slower and quieter songs in the track list, tracks like 'Aprile' or 'Scegli Tu', and ska tune 'Le Leggi Dell'Ospitalità' ("the laws of hospitality"), a song which reminded us of the sound of Roy Paci & Aretuska, could also tempt us. The fact Train To Roots also dares to venture outside the boundaries of the reggae genre is illustrated by funky soul tracks like 'Change' and 'Just D Love' and for the energetic 'Hot Situation' the Sardinians combine dubstep with ska. Only guests on 'Growing' are the members of German band Jamaram, of which we recently presented the 'Best Of' compilation 'Almost Hits' and here offering their services on hip-hop track 'Life Is Beautiful'. Remarkably Train To Roots don't stick to singing one song in English and the next in Italian, but combine the two languages within the same song.
We finish in style in Grosseto in the beautiful Tuscany region of Italy, where Quartiere Coffee has been going at it since 2007. Their 'Italian Reggae Family' album is our favorite from the triptych we are presenting here. After a first album in 2008 ('In-A') and a successor in 2010 ('Vibra Town'), the Tuscans now present their third long player 'Italian Reggae Familia'. Opener 'Reggae History', a song in which a whole range of reggae legends are mentioned, opens with an excerpt from an interview with Bob Marley in which he explains the rhythmic differences between ska, rocksteady and reggae. In title track 'Italian Reggae Familia' influences from the Italian bel canto style (sometimes jokingly referred to as "spaghetti mandolini") can be heard. The album turns festive with the ska tune 'One Step Two Step' and continues in the same spirit with 'Party Fiesta', a song with a zouk-touch. Although the songs sung in English are beyond reproach, we had a slight preference for Italian tracks like 'Yahman!' or 'Tu Come Me'.
Tre album che meritano la vostra attenzione ("three albums which deserve your attention")!