Downsound to make Sumfest announcement ‘any time now’
Published:Monday | April 27, 2020 | 12:00 AMYasmine Peru/Senior Gleaner Writer
The entertainment industry globally continues to reel from the massive blow inflicted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As it relates to live entertainment, the new normal is postponements and cancellations, and where possible, hosting online versions of events, an option which is becoming increasisngly popular.
With a string of music festivals worldwide reluctantly shifting their March to July 2020 dates to either the end of the year or deferring until 2021, concertgoers have been asking about Jamaica’s premier reggae and dancehall festival, Reggae Sumfest. Scheduled for July 12-18 in Montego Bay, St James, the organisers have so far been maintaining a ‘show must go on’ stand. And whether or not that will be the case will be unveiled this week, perhaps even today.
“We will be sending out a release any time now,” Joe Bogdanovich, CEO of Downsound Entertainment, which owns the Reggae Sumfest brand, told The Gleaner yesterday. “I’m just waiting to get a few more confirmations that everything is correct,” he said.
But, as far as the actual content of the release is concerned, Bogdanovich was cagey. “We will be making announcements about Reggae Sumfest 2021 and 2020. This virus is very, very serious, and the type of protection that is being instituted here in Jamaica is getting more intense, and we don’t know how long it will last,” he offered.
He added that the psychology of the COVID-19 measures globally is that people will perhaps want social distancing for another few years.
“Looking back, last year’s event was historic. They say it was overcrowded and I agree with them. There was no social distancing at all,” the Sumfest organiser said.
ONLINE TREND
The festival also had a live-streaming component last year, and with online now the newest trend in being ‘outside’, Bogdanovich gave his opinion on the benefits, but did not suggest that he would be utilising that route for this year’s Reggae Sumfest.
“Well, there are no hotel roooms to consider, no airfare, and there is always the benefits of profit-sharing,” he said.
But, while mulling possibilities for this year’s staging of Reggae Sumfest, Bogdanovich has been busy being philanthropic. He has been giving away food packages to those in need, and this, he tells The Gleaner, has been a great experience in humility and humanity. “We visited the farmers to get the food and their eyes are hollow. They have crops in the ground that are dissolving. Being able to give them support was tremendous,” he said. “It’s all about unity, and we will be playing our part in helping Jamaica in this time of need,” he emphasised.
For the Sumfest CEO, this time of COVID-19 is a good time to reflect. “I look at this as a change of consciousness. If we don’t behave properly, I’m frightened to death at what the wrath of God will be. I don’t want to sound like a know-it-all or anything, because I really don’t know anything,” he concluded.
Among the confirmed acts for Reggfae Sumfest 2020 are Shabba Ranks, Koffee, Spice, Stylo G and Daddy 1.