As the days get longer, Southern California gears up for its summer festival season. Over the last nine years, Reggae on the Mountain, founded and produced by Topanga locals Amit Gilad & Brooks Ellis, in coordination with the Topanga Community Club, has emerged as one of the musical highlights of summertime in Los Angeles. ROTM has also become a culturally unifying event, bringing attendees together from every corner of the city to enjoy music, art and world cuisine in the beautiful hills of Topanga Canyon. Through the years ROTM has hosted heavy hitting artists such as Steel Pulse and Julian Marley, but this year it has further elevated the level of booking by welcoming its most legendary headliner yet, Toots & The Maytals.

When it comes to Reggae Music, only a handful of artists are recognized as true godfathers of the genre. Among the most revered groups is Toots & The Maytals, who sit alongside the likes of Bob Marley & The Wailers, Jimmy Cliff and a small group of others who are credited with popularizing Reggae music in the 60’s and 70’s. These artists paved the way for the international success of the genre. Now on July 14, Toots and the Maytals will be coming for the first time to Topanga Canyon to perform at the 9th annual Reggae On The Mountain at the Topanga Community Center.

Internationally acclaimed, Grammy-nominated reggae legend, Freddie McGregor, has been confirmed to perform at the Canadian National Exhibition on August 22nd. This stop is a part of his Go Freddie Go / True To My Roots Summer 2018 Tour.

For more information about this event, persons should visit the CNE’s official website.

Reggae-soul recording artist, Ruach Ru, is currently talking to her lawyer regarding bringing a lawsuit against IIFold Creative Studios, the company contracted to shoot and edit her video for the hit single Mr. Player Man.

According to the song writer, the company has defaulted in their agreement on many fronts: 1) they did not meet the agreed deadline of June 26^th for the release of the video; 2) IIFold Creative Studios is making copyright claims, which they are not entitled to, on Ruach Ru’s song; and finally, 3) they did not present the video they initially guaranteed (this is regarding the storyline).

When asked to issue an official statement for the media, a displeased Ruach Ru said:

“I’m really frustrated and disappointed with two fold creative studios. I really believe that they are a creative group and was willing to continue working with them even after they missed the deadline for the video release. However their sudden and unexpected copyright claims against the video is one which forces me to take the necessary steps to protect my music and product. My apologies to the fans again for the delay.”

Described as Protoje’s most experimental album yet, A Matter Of Time channels an array of styles and sounds from reggae, dancehall, dub, hip hop and rock into a cohesive 10 track LP. All songs were produced by Winta James, and recorded at the legendary Marley-owned Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston. It maintains the essence of Jamaican roots music, while pushing the envelope.

Links to stream and download the album are available via Protoje’s website.