VITAL: RIDDIMUP

RiddimUP is on the way at BANG.

RiddimUP is a strand of BANG’s Communities, Culture, and Heritage offering that focuses on using the arts to galvanise communities.

In May 2024, a select group of UK-based Rastafari musicians had the unique opportunity to join RiddimUP and embark on a journey of artistic enlightenment, through music and international artistic development.

The project, which began in March, welcomed the artists— Subajah, Judah Dareign, Askala Selassie, and Bongo Kanny to collaborate with BANG.

In May, the artists travelled to Jamaica to commence recording an EP and immersed themselves in the culture with some of the island’s most skilled musicians.

This included the legendary Dean Fraser, a Jamaican saxophonist who has contributed to hundreds of reggae recordings since the mid-1970s. He was awarded the Musgrave Medal by the Jamaican government in 1993 in recognition of his services to music.

Alongside this, the group had the opportunity to be interviewed on Jamaica’s national TV station, facilitate a musical storytelling workshop in Trench Town, and paint a commemorative mural in Tivoli Gardens.

Now back in the UK, refreshed and inspired, the four artists are working with BANG to deliver ViTALFEST, showcasing on October 27th. This will be a culmination of months of work – celebrating the artists through food, festivities, and of course, their music performances, fortified by their experiences in Jamaica.