ROTOTOM Sunsplash, one of Europe’s major reggae festivals, has announced that it, too, will have to postpone its 2020 staging due to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

The organisers of the event — which has been held every year since 1994 in Benicàssim, a few miles north of Valencia in Spain, and which attracts thousands of reggae fans from all over the world — broke the news via its website.

The statement noted that it was with regret they would not be able to stage the festival which was slated for August 16-22. Among the Jamaican acts booked for this event were Toots and the Maytals, Barrington Levy, Julian Marley, Protoje, and Inna De Yard featuring Winston McAnuff, Kiddus I, Var Pentateuch, and Steve Newland.

“We have worked up to the last minute for a memorable edition wrapped in a hopeful theme, ‘We can change the world’, but this shared dream will have to wait. A Rototom Sunsplash without hugs would not be Rototom. It would lose its essence, something that we want to preserve. We have therefore put the 2020 edition on hold, but not our efforts and the desire to continue,” the statement read.

“A difficult year awaits us. After months of work by a large team to organise the festival this summer, it is time to reactivate the machinery to prepare for the next edition. We have enthusiasm and energy, but we need more than ever to continue counting on the support and involvement that you have shown us these 27 years. You have helped us to overcome every obstacle along the way,” it continued.

With regard to persons who had already purchased tickets, the organisers are already making plans to refund these persons, but not that such tickets will be valid for the 2021 staging of the festival.

“Acquiring your ticket in advance was already a gesture of confidence. Transforming it now into a direct passport to Rototom Sunsplash 2021 would give us oxygen to build your next reggae holiday in Benicàssim. It would go a long way to ensuring that this dream does not end. However, we know that the current situation is complicated for everyone and that maintaining your ticket is not an option for some of you. We promise you a memorable 27th edition, more exciting than ever, and we will fulfil our part of the deal: from August 16 to 22, 2021 in Benicàssim,” the organisers stated.