Charlemont is a community of just 1,200 residents tucked into the hills of northern Franklin County. Just above town center lie the fairgrounds, a public park on the National Register of Historic Places that has been in use since the mid-19th century. Musician Shanti Starr knows the grounds well.
“Being up on the Charlemont Fairgrounds is just such a special energy," she told WAMC. "It's like you're up high on this little hill, and you look out and you have this beautiful mountain view. It's open, the air is clean, you can just go right down and dip in the river if you want. There's a vastness and a mystical energy that definitely, I feel like is held there. And it's true, it's the home of the Yankee Doodle days and a whole ‘nother kind of frequency.”
For almost 30 years, the fairgrounds have been the home of the Charlemont Reggae Festival- though the music’s history with the land goes back even further.
“Apparently, the very first reggae concert that Loose Caboose did with Ras John in the 80s – in 1983 or 1984, something like that – at the Charlemont Fairgrounds, that was the first time reggae music was actually played at the Charlemont Fairgrounds," explained Starr. "And then in ’97, Abdul Baki created the Charlemont Reggae Festival.”
Since then, the festival has been a beloved local tradition- and not just for the reggae fans who travel to vibe out at the fairgrounds.
“It's something that's a long-standing event and something that we do encourage people to come to events like that at the fairgrounds. So, it is something that we are excited about each year," Charlemont Town Administrator Sarah Reynolds told WAMC. “It is a positive thing. It's a good event, and they've been doing it a number of years without problems, so I think it's a good event.”
After passing through a series of hands over the last 20-odd years, Starr – who will also perform at the event – now finds herself leading the celebration for the first time this year.
“As a woman myself, like I just feel like I have a natural tendency to be very, checking the details, being very conscious of details, also communication, just being really clear with communication as much as possible," she said. "But it's been a beautiful journey, and everybody's been really happy to hear that I'm helping with this festival.”
She sees the task as a labor of love.
“No one's making big money," laughed Starr. "We're just literally trying to create a beautiful event for everybody, and if we break even, we're going to give thanks and praise. And it's nice to bring in a lot of other women musicians. Even some of our stage crew will also be women. So, there's, it's a good balance. It's a good balance of the masculine, feminine coming together and creating really beautiful event that I think everybody's going to really feel a nice nurturing energy around it this time this year.”
The lineup is chock-full of reggae talent from across the scene.
“We have one sis, Nefertiti, who is an incredible lyricist, and she'll be doing chanting with with percussion backing her," Starr told WAMC. "And she's just got such an angelic voice, beautiful voice. We have Ras Iba, who's representing from the Virgin Islands, St. Croix- So if anyone is a Midnite fan out there, familiar with the music of Vaughn Benjamin, this is definitely in that realm. We're going to have another artist named Clatta Bumboo, who's out of Jamaica. He has a Peter Tosh kind of amazing presence and voice, very well versed in the music.”
The 28th annual Charlemont Reggae Festival is set to kick off at noon Saturday.
“It’s amazing- It's been a full-on community renaissance," Starr said. "We're bringing back a lot of the original players who used to play at the Charlemont Reggae Fest back in the day, and it's just been so nice tapping into the community and just having all the artists come together and really bringing it out as, this is their festival, this is our festival, it's the community’s festival.”
