{"id":157882,"date":"2018-08-02T10:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-08-02T02:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thehoneycombers.com\/hong-kong\/?p=157882"},"modified":"2018-08-02T12:03:18","modified_gmt":"2018-08-02T04:03:18","slug":"hong-kong-international-reggae-ska-festival-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehoneycombers.com\/hong-kong\/hong-kong-international-reggae-ska-festival-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong International Reggae Ska Festival is back! Paul Thompson explains what it’s about"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good news for music lovers. There\u2019s a diverse range of <\/span>Hong Kong concerts<\/span><\/a> happening this August, such as lo-fi indie musician <\/span>Mellow Fellow<\/span><\/a> and shoegaze vocalist <\/span>Tamaryn<\/span><\/a>. And for those who are into reggae and ska music, there\u2019s also the Hong Kong International Reggae Ska Festival. Returning for its 4th edition on 25 August at PMQ, the festival has invited some of the world\u2019s finest full size bands, including The Toasters (US), ORESKABAND (JP), Rude Paper (KR) and more. We chatted with Paul Thompson, one of the co-founders of HKIRSF, about the reggae scene in the city and this year\u2019s highlights. <\/span><\/p>\n

Find out more about the Hong Kong International Reggae Ska Festival 2018<\/b><\/h3>\n

Tell us a bit about the reggae scene in Hong Kong.<\/b><\/h3>\n

The reggae scene in Hong Kong has always had a good presence with Heavy HK and True Skool bringing great MCs and sound systems to the city for years, but full live bands playing the genre have only recently began to make a presence. It has been great to see larger festivals and events such as Clockenflap and the Rugby 7s bringing bands like Madness, UB40, Fat Freddy’s Drop and The Skatalites to a wider audience.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Paul Thompson is one of the co-founders of Hong Kong International Reggae Ska Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What\u2019s your personal relationship with reggae music?<\/b><\/h3>\n

Personally I was interested in reggae and ska from listening to The Clash when I was around 14 and started playing bass. They fused reggae and ska with punk and this lead me to listen to acts such as Mikey Dread, King Tubby and Bob Marley. The history of reggae comes from ska in Jamaica, so I started to listen to ska more which has a faster \u201cskank\u201d and upbeat vibe. In the UK, bands like The Specials and The Beat became huge by reinterpreting ska music, so I started listening to the two tone era.<\/span><\/p>\n

How did you first get involved in holding the Hong Kong international Reggae Ska Festival? <\/b><\/h3>\n

Stephane Wong (co-founder) and I are in two different bands (Sensi Lion and The Red Stripes); one playing reggae and one playing ska. We thought it would be a cool idea to broaden the network of reggae and ska in Asia by inviting top bands from around Asia and beyond to perform here. It\u2019s also great to have a regular event in the city purely for the genre to help build up the scene with the Hong Kong audience.<\/span><\/p>\n

What can we expect for this year\u2019s Reggae Ska Festival? <\/b><\/h3>\n

This year is the biggest event yet with five overseas bands performing from the US, Korea, Japan and China as well as some local acts. Reggae and ska are very broad genres and the tunes this year reflect this with Future Reggae mixing with old school ska and uptempo J-pop style vibes. It’s an eclectic mix with the main focus on full size bands and live performances from full horn sections, percussion and the joyous upbeat skank all day!<\/span><\/p>\n