Here are the 3 first confirmed Czech bands so far…….

09. 03.2010 After great success, tradition and last but not least support of the Czech scene, we confirmed for you again Sto Zvířat, Švihadlo a Mr. Cocoman & Solid Vibez. We believe that they deserved their place at the festival, after many years of hard work and trust! And all of them are presenting something new! Švihadlo released already the single V SITI and until the holidays should be the whole Album ČASU JE MÁLO (its not enough time) out – which is btw. right, because until the festival are just 144 days left! Sto Zvířat released their newest album – POSTELOVY SCENY- already last year, but we are not afraid, that they won’t be entertaining anyway. Mr. Cocoman & Solid Vibez is one of the hardest working bands of the young generation. They are always coming up with something new and the next international success is coming soon for sure, we are crossing our thumbs for that :) These are so far the 3 first confirmed Czech bands. Please feel free to write your wishes or ideas into the guestbook! We will try to reacted on it, so you will feel in Žizníkov like at home :)

Main star for the festival will be Toots & The Maytals!

08. 03.2010 Finally we have it confirmed!! In Žizníkov will this year dreams come true for those, who love reggae and ska – the concert is confirmed:Toots Hibbert & The Maytals will be the main act of the RealBeat weekend! The legendary singer, owner of the golden gramophone and mainly, a Jamaican hero, gave with his hit “Do They Reggay” in the year 1968 the genre its name. Singer Frederick “Toots” Hibbert is more than just the lead singer of The Maytals. He inspired over the year of his long carrier a long list of artists like Bob Marley, Eric Clapton or the Rolling Stones. Even he may not be the youngest anymore, he is still moving on stage with grace and full of energy and also his voice is still strong! The band, after 40 years on stage, is still active and innovative. For their albums they are always inviting very special guests like The Roots, Bootsy Collins, Keith Richards, Ben Harper, No Doubt, Gentleman or Manu Chao. And still: their songs are great hits! For more details and the whole discography go to www.tootsandthemaytals.com

Mungo's Hi-Fi for the Dub Station confirmed!

08. 03.2010 We are still working on the whole program for the RealBeat-weekend, but one name is already sure: Mungo’s Hi-Fi! They are one of the leading sounds in Great Britain, known for their own studio productions and own hi-fi sound system. It is an honor for us to have them in Žizníkov the whole weekend, directing the Dub Station. Mungo’s Hi-Fi has their base in Scotland and is specialized in dub, dancehall and dupstep, in the traditional roots way. The members of the trio are Tom Tattersall, Douglas Paine and Craig Macleod. Their first production “Wickedess” came out in the year 2001 under the London label Dubhead, with Brother Culture on the microphone. It was a great start for them, even Jah Shaka and Iration Steppas played this track. This success was followed by work with people like Mr. Scruff, Andy Weatherall or Paul Peel. Mungo’s Hi-Fi now belongs to the British champion sound! Stars like Ranking Joe, Top Cat, Tippa Irie or Kenny Knots are many times part of the sound. Please check out for more: www.mungoshifi.net

Alborosie confirmed the warm-up concert in Prague, 30.3. !!

02. 03.2010 The new year started, the summer is coming closer and with it the hot RealBeat-festival! But still few month to go, so we prepared few concerts to “warm up” :) First confirmed delicacy is the talented Sicilian Alberto D'Ascola, better known as Alborosie! The all-round-talent was famous as the “little wonder” already before he went from Italy to Kingston and since his early ages he performed with many different bands. In the year 1993, Alborosie was 15 years, he found the band Reggae National Tickets, which was in the same year signed under BMG Records Italy. The year 2000 was with 200.000 sold records the best year for the band, a year after Alborosie was performing at the festival Jamaican Sunsplash. For sure you know his debut album SOUL PIRATE or the hymn “Kingston Town”, “Herbalist”, “Call Up Jah” or the duet with Mykal Roz “Waan The Thing” . In summer 2009 Alborosie released the album ESCAPE FROM BABYLON, which is nominated for roots reggae album of the year! The concert in Prague is already long time a dream for many of us, so don’t forget to get your ticket in time! P.S: If you buy the ticket directly at the Lucerna Bar, you save the fees ;)

Third World are coming to Prague!!

03. 07.2009 In case you still don’t have enough of reggae music after 3 days and 3 nights of festival, then we have another highlight for your ears, eyes and hearts. At the first Tuesday in August is for the first time Third World coming to the Czech Republic! The band was founded in 1973 and belongs till now to the best bands in Jamaica. They were an inspiration for many other artists, not at least for Damian Marley or Sean Paul; Inspiring with their hits like \"1865 (96° in the Shade)\", \"Now that We Found Love\", \"Raggae Ambassador\" or with the duet with Stevie Wonder \"Try Jah Love\". Third World is the last band of the fictive “golden three giants” (we think of The Wailers and Inner Circle), which never performed in the Czech Republic yet. The 4th of August will be a premier, for which we were waiting already for years. Third World was founded in 1973 by Stephen “Cat” Coore and Michael “Ibo” Cooper, who played together also for Inner Circle. Both were studying at Kingston Royal School of Music and both had experience with other bands and also as a solo interpret already. Immediately after came Richard Daley, Milton Hamilton (also form Inner Circle), Irwin “Carrot” Jarrett and Cornel Marshall to the band. It was already from the very beginning an independent project, which lead to the fact, that compared to the other Jamaican bands they were not accompanied many different singers, but concentrated to there own music. Read more at thirdworldband.com>>

Résumé of the festival

01. 07.2009 Five month of organization found their culmination in 3 days of festival, where 5000 people were enjoying 25 bands and 50 other deejays and selectors. We are happy, that we could welcome so many people and listen to so much great music. Our effort was to have a various program, for sure you chose out of this big program your favorite bands. In spite of the weather, which was not too bad, we enjoyed it from Friday to Monday morning. Also the main stars were thrilled by the audience and had unforgettable performances. Although thieves and customs tried to corrupt the action, we are sure, that you nevertheless enjoyed it. We are working on different things to make it better for next year, for example the security. If you have any suggestions or ideas to make the festival even better, feel free to write us or post it on the “guestbook”. We appreciate it very much. In view of the number of foreign visitors and artists, we have a good feeling to go into the right direction of an international reggae festival. We still try to combine roots reggae, ska and world music with a new flavor with the ambition to satisfy all of you. We are already looking forward to next year! But that’s not it! Our activity is with the festival not finished! We are already working on next delicacies. The closest event will be a concert of the Jamaican reggae legend Third World on Tuesday, 4th of August in Lucerna Music Bar in Prague! More information you will get here during the upcoming week. Thank you for your support and interest!

Enjoy the delicacies from the dancehall stage

25. 06.2009 Next to the great program at the main stage, we want to point out to the Radio 1 dancehall stage! Enjoy already at Friday night the French sound from Guiding Star, which is belonging to one of the best sound systems in Europe! These guys have an unbelievable number of original dubplates from all the Jamaican Interprets you can think of! On Saturday enjoy after the concert of Buju Banton an exclusive and the only Czech performing of Mystic MC, which won the European Reggae Contest for Denmark and who will, the same like Mr.Cocoman for Czech Republic, perform at the Rototom Sunsplash in Italy next week. There is waiting a big program for you on Saturday, because after this showcase will perform Daddy n Hypa, a top French sound with luxurious remixes not just for Jamaicans, but also for USA and Japan! Next to many many different other Czech deejays and selectors 3 days and 3 nights long, will on Sunday the French Roots Survival Sound perform and after that Soultrain from Berlin. After the question, which of this great sounds you want to see/hear first, comes the question, when there will be time for sleep :)

Which weather we will have to expect for the weekend?

25. 06.2009 Just one day left to the festival!! And at this point we are all asking us the same question: should we take a swim dress and flip-flops or better gummy shoes and winter jacket? As you already experienced, this year the weather is changing from sun to rain and from rain to sun nearly every day, so it is maybe the best to be prepared for all eventualities. Anyway, the official weather broadcast says, it will be the nicest and most sunny weekend in June! And if you have a look at the picture to the left you will see, that even if it is raining in Mělník or Prague, in Žízníkov will the sun shine like in the Caribbean…

Derrick Morgan

24. 06.2009 Derrick Morgan, born in Jamaica, is a musical artist popular in the 1960s and 1970s. He worked with Desmond Dekker, Bob Marley, and Jimmy Cliff in the ska genre, and he also performed rocksteady. In 1957 Morgan entered the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour, a talent show held at the Palace Theatre in Kingston. He won with rousing impressions of Little Richard, and shortly after that, was recruited to perform around the island with the popular Jamaican comedy team, Bim and Bam. In 1959 Morgan entered the recording studio for the first time. Duke Reid, the acclaimed sound system boss, was looking for talent to record for his Treasure Isle record label. In 1960 Morgan became the only artist ever to fill the places from one to seven on the Jamaican pop chart simultaneously. Among those hits were "Don't Call Me Daddy", "In My Heart", "Be Still", and "Meekly Wait and Murmur Not". But it was the following year that Morgan released the biggest hit of his career, the Leslie Kong production of "You Don't Know". In the mid-1960s, when ska evolved into the cooler, more soulful rocksteady, Morgan continued to release top quality material, including the seminal rude boy classic, "Tougher Than Tough", "Do the Beng Beng", "Conquering Ruler", and a cover of Ben E. King’s soul hit, "Seven Letters". Produced by Bunny Lee, "Seven Letters" is often cited as the first true reggae single. However, failing eyesight then forced him to give up regular stage appearances. Morgan still performs occasionally at ska revival shows across the world and is producing different reggae artists under his own label. We are more than honored to have the precursor of ska and rockstady coming to our festival in Žizníkov.

Buju Banton: RASTA GOT SOUL

22. 06.2009 We are excited to have a great star, such as Buju Banton coming to the Realbeat-festival in Czech Republic! Buju Banton was one of the most popular dancehall reggae artists of the ‘90s. Debuting with a series of popular “slack” singles, Banton converted to Rastafarianism and revolutionized dancehall by employing the live instrumentation and social consciousness of classic roots reggae. Over the years he worked with many different artists, on his album “Unchained Spirit” (2000) for example are features with Luciano, Morgan Heritage, Stephen Marley and Rancid. But because he is one of the artists, who tries to destroy the borders between reggae and hip hop, he worked also with artists, such as Wyclef Jean, K Salaam, Fat Joe or John Legend. His new album “Rasta Got Soul” was released in April of this year under his own label Gargamel Music, an album full of conscious lyrics and great beats and unlike the dancehall album TOO BAD (2006) nearly just full of reggae rhythm (check out our media player). The album has the highest ranking debut on Billboard’s Top Reggae Charts, sitting at #2 and is currently the #1 reggae album in Japan! Buju Banton still is one of the most representative Jamaican artist in the whole world and he still has what it takes to be at the top of the dancehall game.