FOR many years, Jamaican reggae artistes have thrived in Europe, even when their roots sound was rejected by the more lucrative American market.

Singer Pablo Moses, who earned his stripes during reggae’s golden age of the 1970s, once described Europe as “my bread basket”.

The veterans still play the Euro circuit, but a new generation of reggae artistes has stepped up to fill their shoes.

This season’s summer reggae festival scene sees many emerging acts sharing the bill with the ‘elders’. That is good news for persons like Copeland Forbes, who has been booking agent/manager for countless reggae performers for over 30 years.

“There’s a great surge of new artistes in the reggae fraternity who are attracting a great level of new audiences to the concerts,” Forbes said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer. “They are all creating waves in quite a few countries which have never been exposed to Jamaican music genres.”

Forbes says Protojé, Chronixx, Konshens, Christopher Martin, Richie Spice, Mr Vegas, Jah 9, Tarrus Riley, Busy Signal, Iba Mahr, Queen Ifrica and Popcaan are some of the contemporary Jamaican entertainers in demand in Europe.

Italian singer Alborosie and American bands Groundation and Solja also command a lot of respect.

“They are a breath of fresh air, and are attracting the attention of many promoters in Europe and as far away as Dubai and the Indian Ocean,” said Forbes.

Jamaican music has had a presence in Europe since the 1960s. The growing Caribbean community in Britain helped to introduce ska and rock steady to white youth in that country.

The rise of Bob Marley and the release of the movie The Harder They Come, introduced Jamaican culture to the continent a decade later.

It was then that roots acts like Burning Spear, Culture, the Mighty Diamonds and Pablo Moses, began touring Europe and building lasting fan foundations.

Forbes notes that fresh reggae acts including Buju Banton, Capleton and Sizzla made similar moves in the 1990s, but that progress was stalled because of their differences with the gay community.

“Gone are the boycotts by the members of the gay and lesbian groups who for many years targeted quite a few of our artistes, mainly from the dancehall genre,” Forbes related.

The growth of festivals like Rototom in Spain and Germany’s Reggaejam in the last decade, Forbes points out, is largely due to the appearance of new-wave reggae performers.

Konshens, Protoje and Busy Signal are billed for Rototom, which takes place August 17-24 in the city of Benicassim.