Andy Collins gives the first of our reviews on the Uppsala Reggae Festival 2009

August 9th 2009, Sweden, and I’m standing in a tent with a group of eager reporters holding outstretched microphones. On the chair in front of me is the man behind the voice. It’s his second visit to the Uppsala Reggae Festival and although I have always known 58-year-old David Rodigan is white, I still find myself incredibly fascinated by this short, bespectacled, balding man. I listen attentively as he describes his first meeting with Reggae legend Bob Marley on the Fulham Palace Road, London. He actually talks quite quickly and softly but the tone and passion ebbs from every word. He’s a perfect symbol of how Reggae encapsulates love and music, not colour or drugs. Uppsala Police should take note.

As a ‘selector’ Rodigan doesn’t write or play an instrument, but instead selects the best tunes in such an order, he’ll keep any dance floor filled. It’s a skill and Roddy is good at it, very good at it. His sound clashes are legendary. A ‘sound clash’ is a musical competition where crewmembers from opposing Reggae sound systems pit their skills against each other. Rodigan is a self-confessed clash junkie.

Rodigan has stated that his passion for Jamaican music was initiated by watching Millie Small perform her 1964 hit My Boy Lollipop - a tune he later plays in a packed crowd.

-  Selectors are worse than crackheads, they are addicted, says Rodigan as he explains his obsession for Reggae music.

It’s crucial for selectors to have the newest and best Dub plates and cuts, and it is here that Rodigan explains where he is starting to struggle.

– Jamaica is obsessed with hip-hop and what is being produced is bullshit, shallow and vacuous, he says grimly – Wake-up Jamaica!

– Where are the new Heptones, Bunny Wailers or the Skatalites? he asks and it’s easy for Reggae lovers like myself to understand his requests.

On the plus side he is excited by the music coming from Europe and cites Sweden’s own Million Stylez as a shining example.

However, now Rodigan has to rush off as he’s due on stage and he makes a quick exit. Later the Urbanlife team and I are rocking, skanking and twisting as Roddy fires up the crowd with a superb Bob Marley selection that has everyone singing, followed by timeless classics from Desmond Decker and the legendary Prince Buster.



Personally there’s something simply hypnotic about his name ‘Roddy’. It’s on almost every song he plays, every jingle and it’s not long before I’m jumping with my hand in the air and shouting – Roddy, Roddy, Roddy!!!

If I was due anywhere next I was going to be late.

TOP PHOTO: Xulio Gonzalez // BOTTOM PHOTO: Andy Collins

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