NEWS: New Zealand Bands Confirmed For Raggamuffin 2011

We announced the international line up for Raggamuffin festival on Thursday last week. You can read that announcement here. It includes Mary J Blige, Jimmy Cliff, Maxi Priest, Sean Paul, The Original Wailers and Ky-Mani Marley.

Today, the national line up has been announced and it includes Salmonella Dub, Nesian Mystik, 1814 and Sons Of Zion.

Press Release

Andrew McManus Presents is proud to announce that joining Mary J Blige, Jimmy Cliff, Maxi Priest, Sean Paul, The Original Wailers and Ky-Mani Marley for the fourth Raggamuffin festival in Rotorua on February 5th 2011 are NZ acts Salmonella Dub, Nesian Mystik, 1814 and Sons Of Zion.

Formed in Christchurch in 1991 Salmonella Dub not only became popular with reggae audiences for songs such as Baby I Love Your Ways but also pioneered the unique Pacific sound which combined reggae with dub, drum n bass, hip hop and the groove based rock that went on to inspire bands such as Fat Freddy’s and Kora.  They have successfully toured Australia, Europe, UK and Ireland multiple times and have worked with collaborators such as Tiki Taane, Paddy Free, Whirimako Black, Hirini Melbourne, Richard Nunns, MC Mana and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.  One collaborative project, their 2008 Feel The Seasons Change tour, saw them mix contemporary music and production with te reo, the ancient arts of taonga puoro and the Orchestra’s classical music tradition.  The resulting sound – featuring the birdsong of Richard Nunns on traditional Maori instruments with the outstanding vocals of jazz-blues singer Whirimako Black – also influenced tracks from the band’s Freak Controller album which was released in October.

Nesian Mystik was formed by students in the music room of Auckland's Western Springs College (although one member actually attended St Paul's College) in 1999.  Uniting the diverse cultural backgrounds of Polynesia to bring together Maori, Tongan, Samoan, Cook Island and English ancestry, Nesian Mystik became one of the biggest names in Aotearoa music.  Their 2002 debut single Nesian Style followed by It's On, and (the post album single) For The People all reached Top Ten, gold selling status.  In an unprecedented achievement, the group’s fourth single Unity also achieved Top Ten whilst the album Polysaturated went straight to #1 and sold four times Platinum.  In 2008 the track RSVP (featuring PNC) from the band’s third Elevator Musiq album became their 10th Top 10 making the group the first New Zealand artist to have ten top ten singles.   In July 2010 Nesian Mystik released their fourth and final album titled 99AD (featuring the reggae classic Sun Goes Down) and announced the band was set to break-up.  Luckily Raggamuffin has secured one of the bands final two farewell performances.  Don’t miss the chance to say good bye to this legendary NZ band Raggamuffin style!

Influenced by reggae greats such as Bob Marley, Steel Pulse, Burning Spear, Jimmy Cliff and Morgan Heritage, Northland band 1814 was formed in 2004 by Patu Colbert and his sons Shaun and Jimmy and has since grown to include five other members. Hailing from the hills surrounding Whangaroa Harbour, 1814 took their name from the year the Gospel arrived at Oihi, in the Bay Of Islands when missionary Samuel Marsden held the first sermon there on Christmas Day 1814. This event has become the band’s inspiration in delivering the message of peace, love and unity to all people throughout the world.   Their debut album Jah Rydem was released in 2008 and made the NZ top 20 album charts and placed #1 along with three top 10 singles in the IMNZ (indie) charts.

Sons of Zion are a six piece Auckland based reggae, rock, metal, dub and roots fusion band.  They describe their sound as having a reggae groove with melodic vocals, phat dub base lines and metal inspired guitar riffs.  Their self titled debut and independently released 2009 album and the single Be With You provides smooth R&B moments reminiscent of bands such as Katchafire.  Expect big things from these sons (and one guitarist daughter too!).

Full Line Up

• Mary J Blige
• Jimmy Cliff
• Maxi Priest
• Sean Paul
• The Original Wailers
• Ky-Mani Marley
• Salmonella Dub
• Nesian Mystik
• 1814
• Sons Of Zion

Festival Details

• Saturday 5 February (Waitangi Weekend) 2011 at Rotorua International Stadium

Tickets On Sale: 9AM Tuesday 26th October.

www.ticketmaster.co.nz or 0800-111-999.

For show details go to:  www.raggamuffin.co.nz, www.ampresents.com.