Reggae festival comes to Saskatchewan

The Saskatoon Reggae and World Music Festival kicks off today (August 11) in Saskatchewan with a series of free workshops and seminars, reports Canada Tourism News.

This evening’s events kick off at 6:00 p.m. at River Landing and will include an African dance and drumming workshop, a performance by DJ Juan Valdez and a Saskatoon Salsa performance and workshop.

The festival continues on Saturday, August 13 in Saskatoon’s Friendship Park. Headliner Jah Cutta will be joined by other musical acts, including Lyndon John X, Oral Fuentes, Ritmo Latino, def Sol Productions, Sabor Salsa, Kari Alba, Saskatoon Salsa, Sephoria, and Veronique Poulin.

"A reggae and world music festival is a wonderful complement to the other genres of music that are celebrated each year at events such as the SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival, the Saskatoon Blues Festival and the John Arcand Fiddle Fest," explained JoAnne Wasko with Tourism Saskatoon.

The festival began in 2005 at an indoor venue, when festival director Oral Fuentes – who is also one of the performing musicians – began hosting Caribbean and Latin parties with local DJ Juan Valdez. The event continued to grow over the years and now attracts people from all over Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia.