by Sally Streeter

The 2010 Kuranda Roots Festival pulled out all the stops despite wet weather to put on a phenomenal cultural event for Far North Queensland on the weekend. This popular festival brought together a plethora of reggae and roots musicians from around the country. 

It also celebrated the historic highlight of the reunion of the North’s first Indigenous reggae band Mantaka, who reformed for a special one-off performance to celebrate local music icon Willie Brim’s 50th birthday.

Other acts on the 2010 line-up included national headliners The Beautiful Girls and local burgeoning reggae act Zennith, as well as a host of Brisbane’s finest roots musicians such as Chocolate Strings, Darky Roots and Kooii.

The dub contingent of Kuranda Roots Festival was also present with the return of The Nomad and other acts such as Babylon 4..20, The Rude and Jobstopper.

Festival co-director Andrea Gower said this year’s line-up brought the festival up to a different level. “The line-up on the main stage brought in the local aspect with Zennith and Mantaka,” she said. “And The Beautiful Girls brought in a new element of mainstream music that hasn’t been part of Kuranda Roots before.”

One of the music highlights though was undoubtedly the reunion of Mantaka.

“The atmosphere of the event was phenomenal due to the historic reunion,” Ms Gower said. “The magic that they created through their music and the inclusion of the Welcome to Country and the Mayi Wumba dancers brought the community together through culture, which is really important for Kuranda Roots. This year brought everyone together regardless of their different backgrounds.”

Festival organisers estimate more than 1500 punters came out to celebrate Kuranda Roots, despite the ongoing wet weather. Ms Gower said they were initially concerned about the prediction of rain, but in the end it didn’t affect ticket numbers.

“The music brought the people out and everyone danced in the rain,” she said. “The rain continued lightly throughout both Mantaka and Zennith’s sets, but it didn’t deter the crowds who still gathered in force at the front of the stage.”

Kuranda Roots kicked off in suitable roots-style on the Friday night with the Amphitheatre Understage dance hall concert series. What is an unusually relaxed laid-back affair was a sellout that forced organisers to close the gates after the Understage area packed out.

Ms Gower said this was a great start to the weekend festival and was a perfect taste of things to come for the Saturday full-day event. Saturday kicked off with the traditional Welcome to Country and didn’t stop as bands performed across two stages, culminating in the massive headline performance by The Beautiful Girls.

Organisers are already planning the 2011 festival. Ms Gower said due to the ongoing success of the Friday night and Saturday event, the directors were considering stretching Kuranda Roots to a full two-day festival.

“The plan for next year is to create a festival that showcases art, culture and music that will boost the economy of Kuranda,” she said. “It will showcase Indigenous artists specifically unique to the North Queensland region. I feel very passionately about involving the community with Kuranda Roots and working together, collaborating with Kuranda and including the young people of the region. We want to really put North Queensland on the music map of Australia.”  Dates for 2011 will be confirmed soon.