European reggae  

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The U.K. was a primary destination for Caribbean people looking to emigrate as early as the 1950s. Because of this Caribbean music in the United Kingdom, including reggae, has been popular since the late 1960s, and has evolved into several sub-genres and fusions. Most notable of these is lovers rock, but this fusion of Caribbean music into English culture was seminal in the formation of other musical forms like drum and bass and dubstep. The U.K. became the base from which many Jamaican artists toured Europe and due to the large number of Jamaican musicians emigrating there, the U.K. is the root of the larger European scene that exists today. Many of the world's most famous reggae artists began their careers in U.K. Singer and Grammy Award winning reggae artist Maxi Priest began his career with seminal British sound system Saxon Studio International. Also British reggae is played by UB40 and Ali Campbell.

Other U.K. based artists that had international impact include Misty In Roots, Janet Kay, Tippa Irie, Smiley Culture and more recently Bitty McLean. There have been a number of European artists and bands drawing their inspiration directly from Jamaica and the Caribbean community in Europe, whose music and vocal styles are almost identical to contemporary Jamaican music. The best examples might be Alborosie (Italy) and Gentleman (Germany). Both Gentleman and Alborosie have had a significant chart impact in Jamaica, unlike many European artists. They have both recorded and released music in Jamaica for Jamaican labels and producers and are popular artists, likely to appear on many riddims. Alborosie has lived in Jamaica since the late 1990s and has recorded at Bob Marley's famous Tuff Gong Studios. Since the early 1990s, several Italian reggae bands have emerged, including Sud Sound System, Pitura Freska and B.R. Stylers.

In Iceland reggae band Hjálmar is well established having released six CDs in Iceland. They were the first reggae band in Iceland, but a few Icelandic artist had written songs in the reggae style before their showing up at the Icelandic music scene. The Icelandic reggae scene is expanding and growing at a fast rate. RVK Soundsystem is the first Icelandic sound system, counting 5 DJ's. They hold reggae nights in Reykjavík every month at clubs Hemmi og Valdi and more recently in Faktorý as the crowd has grown so much.

The first homegrown Polish reggae bands started in the 1980s with groups like Izrael. In Sweden, Uppsala Reggae Festival attracts attendees from across Northern Europe, and features Swedish reggae bands such as Rootvälta and Svenska Akademien as well as many popular Jamaican artists. Summerjam, Europe's biggest reggae festival, takes place in Cologne, Germany and sees crowds of 25,000 or more. Rototom Sunsplash, a week long festival which used to take place in Osoppo, Italy, until 2009, is now held in Benicassim, Spain and gathers up to 150,000 visitors every year.

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Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "European reggae" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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