KINGSTON, Jamaica – Rastafarian firebrand deejays Lutan Fyah and Jah Mason are set to kick off the first date of the highly-anticipated Roots and Culture tour with a gig in Berlin tonight (March 1) at the Club Maaya.

Emerging reggae fusion singer Zhayna will open for the headliners on the 25-gig tour which will criss-cross the European continent.

“We are the true warriors of reggae music; we are doing this tour for the culture. As you can see it is in the middle of winter doing a series of club shows to keep the spirit and fire of reggae music alive,” Cabel ‘Jeffrey’ Stephenson, tour manager and head of Free People Entertainment, told Observer Online.

“I wish all the managers and handlers of our artistes will see the vision, understand the importance of touring and groom our artistes to rebuild the reggae fanbase throughout the clubs and colleges. From these interactions, we can gain cult followers in their youth and fill the festivals every summer,” Stephenson said.

The Roots and Culture tour will then head off to the Junkyard in Dortmund, and then Groningen, before pulling into Amsterdam on March 5 and Deventer in The Netherlands on March  7. Other stops include Lille, Rennes in France, and then Bilbao in Spain on March 16th. The artistes will also do a show in London, UK.

The tour will snake through regions of France before ending in Paris on March 27.

The Roots and Culture tour is organised by Michel Jovanovic of European-based Mediacom and Free People Entertainment, led by its chief executive officer Cabel Stephenson.

-Claude Mills