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Promise Karim dances with his one-year-old daughter, Brielle Karim, while Universal Xpression played at the South Bend Reggae Festival Saturday evening. Now in its second year, the show drew many reggae fans to the South Bend Regional Airport festival grounds.

August 27. 2006 6:59AM

Laid-back fun at Reggae FestRain holds off, lets local fans enjoy live music, DJs.


KAREN RIVERS
Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- "Let's get together and feel alright" is what Bob Marley suggested in his song "One Love" -- and that's exactly what the crowd was doing at Saturday's South Bend Reggae Festival.

The show started at 3 p.m., when the forecast sounded ominous and the sky was a decidedly un-Caribbean shade of gray. Organizers, however, had hope.

"The music, the booths, the festivities have kept people here -- nobody's left!" volunteer coordinator Mariclare Krzyzewski said early in the day.









Realtor and DJ John Pangani, the show's founder, said they'd been praying, but he refused to watch the weather. By the time things had gotten started, he bore a wide smile and not a trace of worry.

"I told myself, if God wants this to happen, it will happen," he said.

And while a stubborn layer of clouds filled the sky, as of 8:30 p.m., the rain did hold off.

Now in its second year, the concert, which is held at the South Bend Regional Airport festival grounds, featured live bands, DJs, hearty plates full of jerk chicken and a lot of relaxed, happy people. The show is a fundraiser for Dismas House of Michiana and the Pangani Foundation.

"My dream is even if there were five people here, I'd want them to all have a great time," Pangani says.

The festival, he knows, needs time to grow. He thinks in five years, it will really come into its own. Then, he hopes to make it a three-day affair that brings in an out-of-town audience.

While there was only a trickle of people for the first few hours, hundreds had streamed in by later in the evening (when the two major groups, Hydro Reggae Band and Indika, were still yet to perform). There was many a Bob Marley shirt in the crowd and the bright yellow and green of the Jamaican flag were out.

First on stage was Messenger and the Souldiers Crew, a group out of Traverse City, Mich. As they sang about the path to righteousness, Promise Karim of Mishawaka listened on with his family.

"That's a good band," he said.

A reggae musician himself, Karim is originally from Malawi. He's been listening to reggae, he says, since he was born.

"(Reggae) is the number one most popular music in all of ... Africa. They view it is as a special type of music," he says.

R&B, he says, is just for fun -- but reggae has a message.

"The beat, to me, it can be perfect or not ... as long as there's a message of peace and togetherness," he says.

Peace, love and unity were certainly the words of the day, and the beat seemed to be doing just fine. By the time the second act, Universal Xpression of Detroit were on, a crowd had formed by the stage.

The band flowed effortlessly from covering Sean Paul to chanting for "civil right and justice." Kids and couples and friends were dancing away to the high energy set. As they finished, a traditional Rastafarian spiritual group from Bloomington, Nyabinghi Livity Choir, gathered by the stage.

They chanted and drummed and a small crowd gathered, some joining in.

Their teacher, Abba Ras Auebana Tafari, looking rather resplendent in all white, spoke about the group.

"What we do with our drums is awaken the spirit. ... Every indigenous culture has that rhythm. That comes from your heartbeat," he says.

Reggae, he says, is born from the Nyabinghi tradition and that's why so many people love it. That's why it makes everyone want to dance.

Annie Tardi, of South Bend, was one longtime reggae fan who had her drum in tow. Usually she plays at church, and she had no problem kneeling down and doing her best to join in with the choir.

"This is my second time (at Reggae Festival) and I just love it. My girlfriend called me and I said I'm ready, just let me get my drum," Tardi says. "They need to keep doing this. It's good, clean fun ... I can't wait for Indika!"

Staff Writer Karen Rivers: (574) 235-6442 krivers@sbtinfo.com