There are reggae bands from Africa, the US and even Indonesia but this one is different – it’s homegrown Swedish. Kultiration belongs to the town of Gothenburg in Sweden and has become hugely popular because of their distinctive music style.
There performance focuses on an indigenous hybrid of jazz, rootsreggae, and folkmusic, which they have aptly named as, “organic folk-reggae”. The picture is complete with the musical instruments used in their album or in live performances like accordion, doublebass, and the violin.
Primary Influence
Their music derives their inspiration from different types of root music, which has moved from the heart of Sahara to the coastal areas of Southern Africa. According to them, their music reflects mostly Earth Culture and help in spreading positive and uplifting vibes. Respect due.
Music has always been the unspoken language and reflects a promise for all age groups who find different genres of music soothing to their soul. For us, Kultiration reflect that.
We tried to define this new age reggae band in a particular genre but honestly they don’t belong in any genre. One of the most remarkable things about Kultiration is that they have garnered a very good reputation in a small period of time and all this through terrific and vibrant live shows as well as three major studio album releases. Of course, they have also released dub plates as well as live albums.
Walk in the Past
Way back in 2003, a young man named Marcus Berg gathered a group of musicians in Gothenburg Sweden, for recording their debut album, which incidentally turned out to be the debut album for Kultiration as a band as well.
The debut album “Om Gaia” was not the regular kind of reggae music that you have been listening on FM and radio channels, the few that play reggae in Sweden that is – there was something different about the music. The album brought to the forefront a sound that had a raw feel to it and came straight from the analogue recordings at the Studio Folkhemmet. Somewhere the first album could only be classified as something that was a mix of both reggae and Swedish roots music – a very interesting combination.
“Grogrund”, their second studio album was definitely different from the first album as it had more traditional influence with a subtle mix of roots reggae. With this album, Kultiration was able to share their own vision and dreams with their fans and other music lovers. The result was tremendous as the band’s fan following increased and they drew in crowd from various subcultures, which in a way was far more that what they had bargained for initially.
Soon after, Kultiration were on their live tour to promote their second album. It was in this tour, at the Rubadub studios in Stockholm, that they were able to build a relationship with the legendary dub-master Internal Dread. The result of this new relationship was their first dub album. The highlight of this album was bringing the best of traditional dub right to a Swedish audience – live and unadulterated!
The dub album was followed by Kultiration’s third album called “Döden Föder” (Death Feed/food). The suggestive name somehow lends more meaning to the album as it contemplates over death & destruction as well as life and construction.
This is an excellent contemporary roots reggae album. The album went up the Swedish album chart and opened the doors for a Scandinavia tour post-release. The band went on to release the album on classic vinyl (remember those!) as well, which was dubbed by Internal Dread (left). Who else could have mixed the original cuts so well?
The name Kultiration means footprints, which is what the band is all about. They have so far left their footprints in the world of music in Scandinavia and in other countries as well and they look to spread their reggae sound worldwide.
Kuluration will be performing at this year Uppsala Reggae Festival, check them out and let us know how you feel about their organic folk-reggae!
Music 
This is an excellent contemporary roots reggae album. The album went up the Swedish album chart and opened the doors for a Scandinavia tour post-release. The band went on to release the album on classic vinyl (remember those!) as well, which was dubbed by Internal Dread (left). Who else could have mixed the original cuts so well? 