Reggae-tastic

Every year the city hosts a Reggae festival right in the city park. The festival starts a day before weekend commences. This year I had planned well in advance to be a volunteer for the same.

The bands were mostly from Jamaica and Sweden, with the odd ones from Croatia  and UK. The event is of a huge magnitude that drew crowd from Stockholm and Norway mostly. There were others from Sweden who treated it like  the great gig that happens at 'T in the park' or Glastonbury festival. There was a  designated campsite for those who had their dwelling in a backpack. That site was located at a 15minute walking distance from the stage and 15 minutes walk from the nearest supermarket. The site was supplied with fresh water, bathing booth and dry portable toilets.

The jobs of us volunteers was broken to shifts for two split teams. Starting early in the morning, one batch would be given grabber sticks to pick trash and litter en route to the stage deposited by legless participants. Recyclable cans/pets were collected in seperate bags, later to be exchanged for cash. Oh yeah, volunteers werent paid but were given a non transferable wrist band that allowed access to the concert for all 3 days.  The best band I thought, was 'The Heptones' with live music. The rest seemed to have a singer speaking with a Rastafarian accent but was backed up by music from a DJs box.

There was zero tolerance policy when it came to the use of narcotics or marijuana. Some artistes pointed out that a reggae festival is incomplete without a 'spliff's justice' but Swedes are known to abide by the legislation, except for the two members in the campsite who were chucked out by the cops after a warning for use of Marijuana.
Some pictures from the gig-

 Mini restaurants that were set inside.

Happy feet

The nights are getting longer than usual. A peek at whats coming soon to Uppsala- fall. A time when nature prepares us for darkness and cold round the corner. Trying to make the best of what they have are the Lindy hop dancers I discovered recently.

One thing that brings people together is this spontaneous art called dancing, a mash up of music and good mood thrown in with energy. Lindy hop dancing is a dance for couples that originated in the USA. A time when jazz music was an indulgence in New York city. Described in colloquial lingo as Jazz dance or Swing dance is this art where couples portray a number of aerial moves to a fast tempo song. A delight to watch in its own. Me, being a man of classical taste was invited by a new friend of mine that I met at a house party. He had taken up Lindy hop dance lessons in Uppsala, sometime last term. He and a bunch of fellow learners decided to put it to use or practise amongst themselves at a particular venue every tuesday of this summer, atleast, till the weather remained inviting.

The venue is a wooden plank platform by the river that runs through the heart of town. Members had decided on an area that is suitable for dancing, while not disturbing the mood. Alongside the city park was the common favourite of the lot. The friend and myself took all the equipment that went with the arrangement. A stereobox with decent decibel output and a collection of American classic jazz music. And off they went. It was a fusion of tap dancing with the usual swirls and twirls.

I am a person who is so scared of dancing that I wouldn't even dance in private. The reason? I ve been told that a brick is more likely to be better looking at it than me. While I was there, I did not attempt to dance but I was enjoying the evening by the river. Dished up some new friends when they took a break from it. Later on when most of them had left and the pavement crowd thinned, I learnt a few steps from a member of the group.

I am going to enjoy it while I still can, cos only Penguins danced in the cold (the movie Happy Feet). Now on, tuesdays are going to as dancing nights.