A night of women and reggae and related beats with Marcia Griffiths and Les Testarudes. The former has a career that began in the 1960s and promises to continue for many years to come. The artist has no intention of retiring because, as she says, music is ageless. The songs on her latest album (one of the best reggae albums of 2023, Golden) reflect how she feels right now about this music, which is everything to her. The eleven songs on the album once again establish her as a key figure in the scene, with a voice that moves and still has the ability to surprise, despite all the years and albums she has recorded.
For the nine women of Les Testarudes, the ska, reggae, rocksteady and soul project from La Bordeta, it is no doubt an honour to share the stage with a touchstone of the style they cultivate, who is also a woman in a particularly male-dominated world. In fact, they proclaim the role of women in reggae, and do so (another example of the stubbornness expressed in their name, which means ‘the stubborn women’) with a kind of reggae that pays tribute to the classic sound of the genre from the 1960s. Madness, Perfidia and What a Day for Dancing are just some of the songs they’ll be playing.
Produced by the Grec 2024 Festival de Barcelona and Univers Paral·lel.
Music performed by: Marcia Griffiths, Les Testarudes Production: Paral·lel 62
