South Florida Family Reggae Festival

It's only fitting that Miami, the Jamaican music mecca of the U.S., would host a reggae festival that transcends the typical concert parameters. The South Florida Family Reggae Festival will feature your usual procession of stalwart supergroups such as Third World, Marcia Griffiths, Chrisinti, and the Fourth Dimension Band. But...

By PATRICIA MESCHINO

December 1, 2005

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It's only fitting that Miami, the Jamaican music mecca of the U.S., would host a reggae festival that transcends the typical concert parameters. The South Florida Family Reggae Festival will feature your usual procession of stalwart supergroups such as Third World, Marcia Griffiths, Chrisinti, and the Fourth Dimension Band. But unlike other stage shows, it will include an added element: an exhibit dubbed "Reggae Music Row," which highlights South Florida's long-term involvement with Jamaican music. From the area's most vital musicians to the businesses and labels based here, Miami reggae will be front and center. The festival will also honor one of the greatest contributors to this city's status as reggae's epicenter: Clint O'Neil. The late trailblazing radio personality was the host of WLRN's Sounds of the Caribbean program for 25 years, and SFFRG has selected O'Neil as the inaugural recipient of the South Florida Reggae Pioneer Award. The veneration of Clint's triumphs and travails in championing indigenous Jamaican music in Miami's multicultural landscape ensures that SFFRG will provide an education as well as a great day of reggae music in the Grove.

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