Sashi Festival still ‘hot’ after 22-year hiatus

Sashi founder and music producer, Horatio Hamilton, said despite the long break since his event was last held in 2002, he believes it's one of the most anticipated concert series to grace the Jamaican entertainment scene for 2024.

Notwithstanding the current fast-tempo and upbeat flow of today's musical space, Hamilton said he believes his show will offer a heavily packaged hip hop/R&B line-up, infused with dancehall artistes, that will still be relevant.

"People use music to go through [different emotions] so there was never an inappropriate time for music. If I was around, Sashi would always be around, so now I'm back, Sashi is back and I think in Jamaica right now, the reception of hip hop is even 10 times better than 22 years ago. It's more appreciated now [because] back then, it was only a few artistes you could've brought to Jamaica because only a few of them songs would be known," Hamilton told THE STAR.

"The world is flat now because of the Internet. The second a song or movie is released it's on the globe at same time, thanks to the Internet; it's now a level playing ground," he added.

This year's staging of the hip hop-dancehall concert series will feature four major international acts, Keisha Cole, Ne-Yo, Jadakiss and Busta Rhymes. They will be joined by local superstars such as Bounty Killer, Valiant, Skeng, Kraff and Tommy Lee Sparta.

The show, which Hamilton said "sets the precedent for showcasing the most overseas acts", has seen performances from artistes including Eve, Usher, Brian McKnight, Missy Elliott and Snoop Dogg. Sashi will be celebrating its 25th anniversary this year with the return of Busta Rhymes who performed at the event's last staging in Oracabessa, St Mary.

Another uniquely outstanding feature, which the promoter said will set his festival apart, is the reintroduction of 'live sound clashes' on Sashi's dancehall night.

"It's nothing like what these younger people under 40 has ever experienced before. Back in the day, sound systems used to come with their own artistes on it. So with this concept I selected four sound systems (Sound Trooper, Bass Odyssey, Tony Matterhorn and the Metromedia) and I've already selected 40 artistes from the 80s/90s and I'm gonna have like a draft where each sound operator randomly picks 10 artistes and those artistes will perform live on their sound system instead of playing straight dubplate like what they're doing now," Hamilton explained to THE STAR.

The four nights of fashion, cultural and musical experience will kick off on May 23 with a fashion show and after-party. May 24 is set as Dancehall Night and will feature the dancehall sound clash, dubbed 'Sashi Synergy', followed by the highly anticipated concert on International Night on Saturday, May 25. Patrons will then wind down with a beach party on Sunday, May 26.