{"id":50604,"date":"2026-05-07T20:31:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=50604"},"modified":"2026-05-07T20:31:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:31:38","slug":"hong-kong-reggae-and-ska-festival-organiser-on-bringing-voice-of-freedom-for-10-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=50604","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong reggae and ska festival organiser on bringing \u2018voice of freedom\u2019 for 10 years"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Paul Thompson grew up in the UK during the \u201ctwo-tone\u201d wave, a musical movement born in the late 1970s that saw the fusion of English punk and Jamaican genres such as ska \u2013 the fast-paced, brass-heavy music often said to be the precursor to the slower, more bass-heavy reggae.<\/p>\n

Thompson developed a fascination for reggae and ska music, which followed him into adulthood. Now, the bassist for the 10-piece ska band The Red Stripes<\/span> is organising the 10th edition of the Hong Kong International Reggae Ska Festival (HKIRSF), the city\u2019s most ambitious showcase of reggae and ska music yet.<\/div>\n

The festival, taking place at PMQ in Central on May 30, will feature Mouse FX, a home-grown artist who sings reggae songs with Cantonese lyrics; Mexican reggae and rocksteady band Travelers All Stars; UK reggae DJs and producers Mungo\u2019s Hi Fi; and Errol Dunkley, the Jamaican music legend whose six-decade-long career has seen him collaborate with the likes of Joe Gibbs and Prince Buster.<\/p>\n

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Thompson (bottom row, second from right) sits with other members of The Red Stripes. The ska band will perform at the Hong Kong International Reggae Ska Festival 2026. Photo: courtesy of Hong Kong International Reggae Ska Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Hong Kong-based reggae artist Mouse FX will perform at the Hong Kong International Reggae Ska Festival 2026. Photo: courtesy of Hong Kong International Reggae Ska Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Thompson believes Hong Kong\u2019s multiculturalism makes it the perfect place to host reggae and ska music.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The music is] so diverse,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s also very open to the kind of different cultures taking it on. So this Mexican band, Travelers All Stars, they really have a little bit of a Latin flavour.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Red Stripes All Ska Orchestra, a specialised big-band iteration of the ska and soul band will also be included in the line-up.<\/p>\n

To commemorate HKIRSF\u2019s 10th anniversary, local reggae band Umoja Rootz will perform using the first-ever Hong Kong-made sound system, manufactured by Heavy Hong Kong.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Paul Thompson grew up in the UK during the \u201ctwo-tone\u201d wave, a musical movement born in the late 1970s that saw the fusion of English…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[1117,1901,9316,3569,5231,12428,22224,22225,3005,59],"class_list":["post-50604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-bringing","tag-festival","tag-freedom","tag-hong","tag-kong","tag-organiser","tag-reggae","tag-ska","tag-voice","tag-years","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}