Live at Reggae in the Park

Reggae In The Park was held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on October 7th and 8th, 2000. This year's event was the 11th annual benefit for Global Exchange, a human rights organization dedicated to promoting environmental, political, and social justice around the world.

Saturday's festivities featured performances by Detour Posse, Shinehead, Pato Banton and Burning Spear, who was awarded a Grammy earlier this year for his album 'Calling Rastafari'. Burning Spear is currently in the middle of the longest North American tour in the history of reggae, spanning 102 cities in 3 months. Spear's performances are always entrancing, laced with wicked drum beats and percussions blended with mesmerizing horns.

Sunday's lineup included Amandla Poets, The Skatalites, Third World and Mutabaruka, who had previously performed at Reggae in the Park back in 1995. Muta performed for slightly more than an hour, backed by Maurice Gordon and the Sounds of Resistance band.

Their set included 'Dis Poem' done on a riddim similar to the one found on Muta's 12" release of last year. He also played 'Junk Food' over a new rhythm, and a wicked version of 'I Am De Man' spoken over the classic nyahbinghi song Never Get Weary Yet. At one point, Muta asked all the men in the audience to apologize to the women around them for all the harm and pain men have caused.

The Navy's Blue Angels were giving an aerial demonstration over the San Francisco during Muta's performance. They made one low-flying pass over the park just as Muta could be heard singing 'Bring down from sky, got to die, a big sam fi lie'. No crashes were reported.

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Photos by Mark Siebert