Couleur Café 2011 Brussels’ musical cocktail

The Couleur Café music festival in Brussels, 24-26 June 2011 had a big party feel. Eighty thousand people went through the gates at the Tour and Taxis venue and were treated to headliners: Seal, Ziggy Marley and Ivorian, Tiken Jah Foley, as well as up and coming artists like Belgian Ghanaian afrobeat singer, Gloria Boateng.
       
When first launched in 1990, the event was “a tolerant and exotic festival dedicated to fusion music, taking place against Brussels’ colourful backdrop rather than in the middle of a no man’s land field”, says one its organisers. Back then, it featured a cocktail of African and Afro-Cuban artists. Today, there’s a wider mix of music:  R & B, hip hop, world afro, reggae, raga, dub, dancehall, Latin, salsa son, raï, rock and dance performed by musicians from Belgium and continents the world over.

This year, Tiken Jah Foley’s wowed with tracks from his new album, African Revolution and Ziggy Marley, son of Bob Marley, sang tunes from his new release, Wild and Free as well as covering some of his late father’s songs. Former policeman, ‘Alborosie’, a white Sicilian with blonde dreadlocks who emigrated to Jamaica, gave the crowd a taste of his latest releases: Soul Pirate (2008) and Escape From Babylon (2009) which pay homage to some of the reggae ‘greats’: Black Uhuru, Burning Spear, Steel Pulse and Bob Marley.

Debra Percival